Travel and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together a group of scholars from a variety of disciplines to explore intersections between travel and religion in the broadly defined ancient Mediterranean world. The relevant academic fields include, but are not limited to, biblical studies, religious studies, classics, history, and archaeology. The phenomenon of pilgrimage has received a great deal of attention in recent scholarship of Mediterranean antiquity, which has contributed greatly to our understanding of the visits people made in the past to oracles, sanctuaries, and temples. However, the connections between travel and religion are not exhausted by pilgrimage, and there is still work to be done on aspects of this phenomenon, as well. The distinct contribution and aim of this Special Issue are to go beyond the study of visits to sacred spaces as the purpose of travel in order to highlight the manifold ways in which religion was an integral component or function of virtually all types of travel and movement in the ancient world.

We invite contributors with expertise in any aspect of Mediterranean antiquity to explore questions relating to travel and religion, such as: What kinds of religious agendas motivated travel in antiquity? What was the role of religion and ritual behaviour in the preparation for, duration, and/or conclusion of a journey? How did travellers experience their journeys, and what role did religion play in shaping these experiences? What kinds of material objects did travellers carry and travel with, how did they transport their belongings, and what sensory experiences did visitors encounter on the road or at their final destination? With whom did one travel, and why? Could a journey shape or change one’s religious ideas or practices, and, if so, how? What kinds of religious knowledge did travellers gather for the benefit of their communities through both imaginary and real-life trips? As a result of these investigations, a more nuanced notion of ancient travel and its lived and religious aspects will begin to emerge.

This Special Issue is related to the project An Intersectional Analysis of Ancient Jewish Travel Narratives (https://projects.au.dk/aninan.), which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 948264).

Prof. Dr. Elisa Uusimäki
Dr. Eelco Glas
Dr. Rivkah Gillian Glass
Guest Editors

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