Shrine diplomacy: Turkey’s quest for a post-Kemalist identity

ABSTRACT

Shrines are many things to different people: war memorials, places of pilgrimage and even venues for shared festivities. The Sultan Murad shrine complex in Kosovo was raised to commemorate the strategic Ottoman victory at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389. Over the past decade, however, it has assumed significance for Turkey as at no other time in the Republic’s history. Not only is it a key part of state visit itineraries, it also hosts dignitaries of various kinds, tourists and even schoolchildren from Turkey. Taking inspiration from historical and anthropological studies on shrines and memory, this paper dissects the significance of the Sultan Murad I shrine complex in Kosovo to contemporary Turkish foreign policy imaginaries. The shrine allows us to explore the wider motifs and symbols used in presenting the state’s attachment to physical spaces outside of its borders.     

关于日本神社原初功能的考察

神社是日本神道的重要组成部分,在神道信仰中扮演着重要角色。本文通过与同样是祭祖场地的中国"社"的对比和对日本早期神社地面结构物和活动状况、神社附加功能的发展、神社的蛇信仰等方面入手,推测神社最初的部分功能可能和中国的"社"等一样,做祈祷生殖繁盛的道场之用。换言之,神社的原初功能有不少,但其中之一可能与生殖崇拜有关。     

‘That was natural. This is just artificial’!: Displacement,memory, worship,and connection at a Kashmiri Hindu shrine replica

This paper explores how religion influences place-making for forced migrants, taking the case of a replica of a prominent shrine built by displaced Kashmiri Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir. I explore how the replica provokes a discussion among forced migrants about their relationship to homelands left behind and to places of exile. I also show how place-making for the displaced is marked by uncertainty and creative engagement.     

唐代“诸尊佛龛木雕像”考证

2010年10月,在上海博物馆举办了《中日文化交流的见证·鉴真和空海》展,其中有日本和歌山金刚峰寺保存的空海大师从中国带回日本的"诸尊佛龛木雕像"。本文通过对该像的分析和研究,提出了该造像由印度高僧金刚智在中国所造,并为密宗所特有的观点,同时对其他相关问题进行了探讨。     

An Insular Reliquary from Melhus: The Significance of Insular Ecclesiastical Material in Early Viking-Age Norway

THIS PAPER presents and discusses a unique insular reliquary shrine discovered in an early 9th-century woman’s grave at Melhus, central Norway, over a century ago. In addition to a detailed re-evaluation of the shrine and its use in its original ecclesiastical context, the paper also proposes an alternative interpretation as to how the local pagan population may have conceptualised this Christian object after it arrived in Norse hands. While most of the insular ecclesiastical items in Scandinavia were broken up and transformed into personal ornaments, the Melhus shrine was kept complete, suggesting it was considered to be of special value. It is argued here that this status should be seen in association with the shrine’s involvement in local narratives and ritual aspects connected with the earliest voyages across the North Sea. The woman with whom the reliquary was buried may have played a central role in these rituals.     

A Nabataean and Roman shrine with civic and military gods at Humayma,Jordan

The lifecycle of a Nabataean and Roman community shrine at Humayma, Jordan reflects the evolving values of the town's inhabitants from the first to the third century CE. This paper reviews the evidence for the shrine's appearance and significance over this period, as well as the nature of the cult practised there. Beginning its existence as a Nabataean shrine, whose design incorporated the rising sun and the town's primary peak, the building was damaged when the Romans converted Nabataea into Provincia Arabia. The Roman garrison initially dismantled the shrine to build their fort, but a few decades later the shrine was restored with a centrally placed Nabataean betyl and legionary altar symbolising harmony between the garrison and the town. The garrison's god, Jupiter‐Ammon‐Serapis, and possibly Isis, were now worshipped alongside the town's Nabataean deity. This shrine stressing military‐civilian harmony was later deliberately damaged, most likely during Zenobia's revolt.     

Shrines and neighbourhood in early nineteenth-century Pune,India

The roadside shrine, and similar such objects of devotion, are a characteristic feature of Hinduism and the Indian city. The distribution of such shrines is examined in Pune city for the early nineteenth century just prior to the British conquest. Evidence from vernacular Marathi documentation is available to map shrines by Pune's traditional neighbourhoods. Distinctions are drawn between the major temples of the high Sanskritic Hindu tradition with their subsidiary shrines and shrines of regional and folk deities. The relation of Muslim shrines to Hindu places of devotion is also considered. Analysis reveals shrines in the ritual, ceremonial and political core of Pune with a strong degree of place rootedness. The evolving suburban neighbourhoods however show a prevalence of new shrines of regional and folk deities.     

Anglo-Norman Parks in Medieval Ireland

Abstract

Lincoln Cathedral's Angel Choir was built in the second half of the thirteenth century to house the shrine of St Hugh of Lincoln, canonised in 1220. Although he was never a major saint, the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln sought to emulate the settings newly created for more venerable saints by constructing a completely new building to house his shrine. Despite considerable study of the Angel Choir the site of the shrine has not been established, neither has the site of the original burial. This is perhaps the more surprising when it is considered that contemporary documentation survives to describe the events of St Hugh's death and burial. There is sufficient evidence within the cathedral to reconstruct the sites of the original burial and the later shrines and this is supported by documentary evidence, so far overlooked, that is presented here.     

Shiʻi Piety and Dynastic Legitimacy: Mashhad under the Early Safavid Shahs

Mashhad, the site in northeastern Iran of the shrine of the eighth Shi?i imam, is arguably one of the largest and wealthiest sacred shrines in the world. The gilded dome over the imam's mausoleum stands amidst an expansive complex of courts, monumental gateways, libraries, museums, guesthouses, and administrative offices that cater to thousands of pilgrims each year. This paper examines the period, under the aegis of the early Safavid shahs, when Mashhad was established as the preeminent Shi?i pilgrimage center in Iran. Appropriating the Timurid ecumenical vision for the shrine, the Safavid shahs refashioned the holy city into a site that celebrated the triumph of Twelver Shi?ism in the Safavid realm and reinforced Safavid claims of legitimacy. While highlighting Shah Tahmasb's personal devotion to Mashhad, and his privileging of the shrine within Safavid sacred topography, the paper focuses on Shah ?Abbas's urban reshaping of Mashhad and the architectural and institutional expansion of the shrine during his reign, thereby enhancing its status as the leading spiritual center in the Safavid empire.     

The Dormition of the Virgin Mary on the Island of Tinos: A Performance of Gendered Values in Greece

On the Greek island of Tinos, the Dormition of the Virgin Mary is celebrated on 15 August. This death, fertility, and healing festival is important for several reasons: the church of the “Annunciation” owes its fame to a miraculous holy icon; the miracles worked by this icon have made Tinos a centre of pan‐Orthodox worship; and pilgrimages are particularly made to the shrine during the Dormition. The celebration is also an important ideological festival for the Greek nation‐state, as illustrated through several ceremonies, particularly the procession when the icon is carried from the church to the harbour. The date 15 August is a special one for Hellenism; it combines religion with patriotism, and the Dormition is a profound social event. There are several meanings and values connected to the festival — female and male, popular and official — the pilgrimage site on Tinos presents an interrelationship of history, ritual, and gender.     

STYLE IN SWIFT CREEK PADDLE ART

Abstract

Woodland period Swift Creek designs have received considerable attention in recent years. Bettye Broyles and Frankie Snow, among few others, have created a working corpus within which stylistic aspects of Swift Creek designs can be explored. Here, we focus both on “observer” models that governed acceptable visual form and on “task” models used by Swift Creek artisans to produce that form by creating paddle designs. Reconstructed procedures for several paddle designs emphasize the stepwise nature of creating art in this style. We discuss the key importance of guide points, guidelines, and creatively manipulated bandwork in Swift Creek compositions. Using this approach, we hope to demonstrate the value of reconstructed whole paddle designs in the study of layout, symmetry, design concept, and other stylistic domains. Finally, we chart the historical trajectories of selected style characteristics through time and offer suggestions for future research in this domain.     

Dating the Ramat Saharonim Late Neolithic desert cult site

The Ramat Saharonim site, located in the central Negev desert, Israel, consists of four shrines in a shallow valley and 30 tumuli, aligned on two cuesta cliffs on the valley's sides. Previous assessments based on site surveys suggested a general chronological span from Late Neolithic period (ca. 5000–5500 BC) through the Early Bronze Age (third millennium BC). Excavations in one shrine and three tumuli revealed a well-constructed double wall at the shrine and seven primary adult burials in the three tumuli. Quartz from sediment samples post-dating the construction of the burials and shrine was dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) using the single aliquot regenerative dose (SAR) protocol, and charcoal and leather samples were dated by ¹⁴C. The OSL results for a burial in one tumulus are 7500 ± 700 to 6000 ± 600 years. In a second tumulus, OSL ages of 2000 ± 200–1800 ± 170 years and a ¹⁴C age on leather of 390–200 BC (2340–2150 cal BP) imply that this burial is Nabatean and that the site was used also in the Hellenistic period. Two ¹⁴C ages on charcoal from the shrine give an age between 5280 and 4710 BC (7230–6660 cal BP). OSL single aliquot ages for sediment from the shrine are highly scattered and far too old (60,000 to 12,000 years). The unlikely old ages are due to insufficient resetting of the OSL signal of some of the quartz grains when sand was blown onto the site. Indeed, single grain measurements for six samples of sediment postdating the shrine show a very large range of grain ages, but with a distinct young population in all samples. Ages calculated from these young populations average 5400 ± 800, in better consistence with the ¹⁴C dates and confirming our supposition that only some of the transported grains were reset at the time of deposition. The combined OSL and ¹⁴C dating shows that the shrines and tumuli are contemporaneous and attributes the complex to the Late Neolithic. This has clear ramifications for our understanding of the period and the rise of desert pastoral societies.     

Quietness beyond Political Power: Politics of Taking Sanctuary (Bast Neshini) in the Shi‘ite Shrines of Iran

“The politic” and “the religious” have had many relations with each other in Iranian history and in some cases “the religious” has been defined in a situation beyond the extent of the political power. A case in point is the right of taking sanctuary in Shi‘ite shrines. Throughout Iran's history, subjects could take refuge in Shi‘ite shrines and some other places related to religious and non-religious authorities. Persecution was delayed or the individual was forgiven, though sometimes they were sentenced when exiting the shrine. By referring to religious texts that have reinforced that tradition, this article seeks to trace continuities between early Islam and modern Iran. It focuses on sanctuary taking and sit-ins at shrines and tombs, and on the interplay between those actions and political power, and discusses the changing mobility and dynamisms of those actions at different periods of Iranian history.     

Revisiting Female Pilgrimage in Medieval Oxford: Evidence from the Miracula Sancte Frideswide*

The most common form of female pilgrimage in medieval England was local pilgrimage to a saint's shrine. One English pilgrimage destination which is especially associated with women is St Frideswide's shrine in Oxford, owing to a collection of miracle stories compiled in the 1180s in which women are particularly prevalent. Drawing on a new edition and translation of the Miracula sancte Frideswide, this article revisits the cult of Frideswide in the late twelfth century and takes a fresh look at the experiences of women visiting Oxford on pilgrimage. The article reassesses previous speculations about women's attraction to the cult, brings to light some little-appreciated aspects of female pilgrimage, and finds that many of the accounts challenge assumptions made about female behaviour and expectations in the Middle Ages.     

Apprehending the Archangel Michael: hagiographic methods

Abstract

This essay examines the means by which hagiographies attempt to describe the presence and appearances of the Archangel Michael. It deals with several hagiographies at some length in order to demonstrate the ways in which each text persuades its audience of the Archangel's benign proximity. It examines, in particular, the hagiographies of the miracle at Chonae since the ‘pre-history’ of this cult is relatively clear and the shrine's activities during the Byzantine period were widely acclaimed. This essay also discusses other hagiographies, namely of the sanctuary at Monte Gargano and of the shrine described by Michael Psellus (1018–1081 ?). In examining these texts, certain structural similarities become apparent: access to the Archangel is made difficult by his unique angelic nature and this difficulty led to textual strategies that make Michael more firmly entrenched in the texts' levels of narrative. The hagiographies reveal Michael's elusive, elemental force active in a landscape, and work to bind the Archangel-notionally at least-to places in order to strengthen expectation of devotional return.     

Domestic fowl on Romano-British sites: inter-site comparisons of abundance

The paper compares the abundance of domestic fowl bones with those of sheep/goat and pig from published and unpublished reports on Romano-British animal bones assemblages. The samples are drawn from 68 urban, military, nucleated, villa and unromanized rural settlements. Variations in abundance of domestic fowl within and between these settlement types are noted. Some methodological problems encountered in this survey are discussed and suggestions are made about how more reliable results could be achieved. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Material Culture and Indigenous Spiritism: the Katamansu Archaeological “Otutu” (Shrine)

Through the integration of oral history and ethnographic and historical data with archaeological evidence, attempts have been made to understand and reconstruct the settlement history of Katamansu, a late eighteenth-century historic town located on the Accra Plains of Ghana. Two seasons of archaeological excavations at the Koowule site of the town yielded some evidence of the 1826 Battle of Katamansu, a battle that was fought on the site between the Asante and the Ga and their coastal allies of the Gold Coast. The excavations also yielded two spectacular features, whose configuration and content appear to be the remains of a shrine of the Ga people. The features correlate well with ethnographic parallels described by Margaret Field, an anthropologist, in her research on the religion and medicine of the Ga in the 1930s. This paper presents the historical and material evidence of the 1826 battle as well as the analysis of the shrine contents. The shrine features provide insights into an archaeological shrine's mundane materiality. They also expose how local (Neolithic and historic) and European artifacts were recrafted and imbued with medicinal, magical, and spiritual properties to possibly cure and impress patients and supplicants in shrine ritual practices.     

THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE OF A ROMAN VILLA: MARSHFIELD—IRONMONGERS PIECE

Summary. The development of the Romano-British villa at Marshfield is reinterpreted as several phases in the growth of a kin group, analogous to David Clarke's reinterpretation of the Glastonbury village. It begins with two native farmsteads separated by a wall but having in common a shrine. They are replaced by a bipartite house, the internal division between the households being above the demolished wall, but, symbolically, at an angle to it; a likely parallel for this exists in Picardy. The architectural relations of the rooms are used to interpret function. In a second phase alterations suggest the changing relations of the two households, with one becoming markedly superior to the other; the putative shrine, not discernible in the first Romanised phase, is located in the superior house.     

Production Skill and Paleoindian Workgroup Organization in the Medicine Creek Drainage,Southwestern Nebraska

Extremely skillful stoneworking is widely cited as an important characteristic of the Paleoindian period in North America. This paper considers differences in finished and unfinished projectile points and bifaces from two Paleoindian sites in the Medicine Creek drainage of southwestern Nebraska with this in mind, arguing that these differences reflect significant differences in the overall level of skill of the stoneworkers who used these sites. Recognizing variability in Paleoindian flintknapping skill has implications for the organization of landuse in the Medicine Creek region and for our understanding of the archaeology of the Paleoindian period in general.     

History,memory and the meaning of place: the renovation of Sidnā ‘Alī mosque as a nexus of Palestinian,Arab and Islamic identity in Israel

This paper illustrates the possibility of gaining meaningful insights into a place by exploring its relationship with its surroundings. A model is suggested for examining the possible significances of this relationship and the actual meanings attributed to it by those who plan and use the place. The site analyzed here is Sidnā ‘Alī, an Islamic shrine on Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Sidnā ‘Alī, which has been a pilgrimage site for centuries, was abandoned during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War; it was renovated in the late 1980s by Muslim Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel. The paper discusses the social mobilization for the renovation of the old mosque as a prelude to exploring the meanings of Sidnā ‘Alī’s relationships with the surrounding landscapes, places and buildings. The study of the social function of the renovation campaign focuses on its role in unifying the people involved and on forging a collective identity based on the shared struggle to return the site to Muslim hands. The spatial interpretation presented examines the renovation project as a form of Palestinian, Arab and Islamic resistance to the covert and overt Zionist hegemony in the public space.