Sacred place : contextualizing non-urban cult sites and sacred monuments in the landscape of Lusitania from the 1st to 4th c. AD
This thesis is a study of the religious life of the rural inhabitants of one peripheral Roman province, Lusitania. From archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence it uncovers a wide array of cult spaces and monuments. These range from sacred springs, mountain shrines, rock inscriptions and sanctuaries, to temples, votive deposits, and clusters of altars. Together, they pertain to the countryside environment and date to between the 1st and 4th centuries AD: a period when the Romans were securely established in this corner of the Iberian Peninsula. The aim of this thesis is to contextualize these cult spaces and monuments by grounding them within the broader historical evolutions of the period, as well as the natural and man-made landscape of which they were a part. More specifically, this work sheds light on certain important patterns in rural Lusitanian worship. Chief among these are the observations that this worship was primarily small scale and private in nature, intimately associated with idealized natural settings, yet indivisible from the rural territorial infrastructure of its day. Rural cult spaces were not immune to historical developments affecting the province. The 1st to 4th century sacred
Richert, Elizabeth Anne
Lusitanian ; religion ; Roman ; sanctuary ; landscape ; rural
Sacred place : contextualizing non-urban cult sites and sacred monuments in the landscape of Lusitania from the 1st to 4th c. AD. This thesis is a study of the religious life of the rural inhabitants of one peripheral Roman province, Lusitania. From archaeological, epigraphic and literary evidence it uncovers a wide array of cult spaces and monuments. These range from sacred springs, mountain shrines, rock inscriptions and sanctuaries, to temples, votive deposits, and clusters of altars. Together, they pertain to the countryside environment and date to between the 1st and 4th centuries AD: a period when the Romans were securely established in this corner of the Iberian Peninsula. The aim of this thesis is to contextualize these cult spaces and monuments by grounding them within the broader historical evolutions of the period, as well as the natural and man-made landscape of which they were a part. More specifically, this work sheds light on certain important patterns in rural Lusitanian worship. Chief among these are the observations that this worship was primarily small scale and private in nature, intimately associated with idealized natural settings, yet indivisible from the rural territorial infrastructure of its day. Rural cult spaces were not immune to historical developments affecting the province. The 1st to 4th century sacred
sacred place contextualizing non urban cult_site sacred monument landscape study religious_life rural inhabitant peripheral roman_province archaeological_epigraphic literary_evidence uncovers wide array cult space monument range sacred spring mountain shrine rock inscription sanctuary temple votive deposit cluster altar together pertain countryside environment century period romans securely establish corner iberian_peninsula aim contextualize cult space monument ground within_broad historical_evolution period well natural man_made landscape part specifically work shed_light certain important pattern rural worship chief among observation worship primarily small_scale private nature intimately associate idealized natural setting yet rural territorial rural cult space immune historical_development affect province sacred