Dr. Alexander Nagel, chair, Art History and Museum Professions, and assistant professor, History of Art, has co-edited a volume on Cave and Worship in Ancient Greece with Dr. Stella Katsarou from the Greek Ministry of Culture in Athens. The volume, comprising of 10 chapters, is the first major contribution to understanding the material cultures and importance of cave sanctuaries in the first millennium BCE Mediterranean.
An introduction written by Nagel and Katsarou explores the emergence and growth of caves as centers of cult and religion. The chapters then probe some of the meanings attached to cave spaces and votive materials such as terracotta figurines, and ceramics, and those who created and used them. The authors use sensory and gender approaches, discuss the identity of the worshippers, and the contribution of statistical analysis to the role of votive materials. At the heart of the volume is the examination of cave materials excavated on the Cycladic islands and Crete, in Attika and Aitoloakarnania, on the Ionian islands and in southern Italy.
For more information, contact Nagel.