sehepunkte 26 (2026), Nr. 10

Judith M. Barringer / Gunnel Ekroth / David Scahill (eds.): Logistics in Greek Sanctuaries

This volume largely stems from a conference titled 'Logistics in Greek Sanctuaries', organised by Judith M. Barringer, Gunnel Ekroth, and David Scahill and held in Athens in September 2018. Chapters based on papers delivered on this occasion are supplemented by contributions prepared especially for this book. Scholars specialising in different branches of the study of the ancient world, including archaeology, zooarchaeology, history, law, epigraphy, religion, and anthropology, joined forces to address relatively underinvestigated issues concerning practical and logistical aspects of the experience of the human visitors to a sanctuary.

As the editors state in their introduction, this book is prompted by the 'material turn' in the humanities and social sciences, and in ancient Greek and Roman studies more specifically. Developments in the study of material evidence - in particular everyday objects, non-monumental architecture, and animal bones - are paramount in the exploration of "the human experience of visiting the gods". Moreover, yet not explicitly acknowledged by the editors, the book situates itself within the theoretical framework of an experiential approach to ancient Greek religion. Although "the chapters in this volume investigate how sanctuaries functioned at the pragmatic level" (3), the focus on sanctuaries brings together a multiplicity of experiences, some of which are all too often still considered largely separated from religion but in the ancient world were deeply intertwined with it. Furthermore, setting is key in this context: even the most mundane activities explored in the book under review, which clearly transcend the strictly religious dimension, were nonetheless performed within sacred spaces and thus belong to the realm of religious experience, broadly understood.

The first volume in the Brill subseries Monumenta Graeca et Romana, New Directions in Mediterranean Archaeology, this book comprises an introduction by the editors, fifteen chapters, three indices (inscriptions, locorum, general) and - as one might expect from a volume that heavily relies on material culture - over sixty illustrations. These, however, are unevenly distributed among only nine of the fifteen essays, which at least partly reflects the different approaches taken by the various contributors and the multidisciplinarity of the volume.

Chapters are arranged thematically: the first four (Laura Gawlinski, Jenny Wallensten, Jan-Mathieu Carbon & Edward Harris, Christophe Chandezon) address visitors' access to sanctuaries, the management of large crowds within the temenos, and the use and control of such space. The next two contributions (Patrik Klingborg, Monika Trümper) focus on the ways in which sanctuaries arranged for the provision of essential services: water and sanitation. Accommodation, dining infrastructure, as well as food and drink supply, preparation, and consumption are topics discussed in the following four chapters (Gunnel Ekroth, David Scahill, Floris van den Eijnde, Michael MacKinnon). The final five essays shift our attention to commercial and economic dimensions of Greek sanctuaries, with two chapters exploring issues relating to on-site markets, including the range and types of products available for purchase and sales policies (Annalisa Lo Monaco, Véronique Chankowski), while the last three investigate how sanctuaries derived and spent their wealth, and the activities and conditions of workers and staff (Jeremy McInerney, Judith M. Barringer, Petra Pakkanen).

Given the scope of this volume, this review shall focus on a limited selection of contributions so as to provide a glimpse into how some of the topics listed above have been dealt with and what conclusions have been drawn.

Jenny Wallensten (Ch. 2) surveys the evidence on the regulation of visitors' admission to sacred places and the monitoring of their movements through the space once inside. Contrary to past scholarship's assumptions, it has now become clear that not only sanctuaries but also their temples could be rather easily accessed. Wallensten concludes that control of movement into and within sanctuaries was performed by humans (officials, possibly assisted by slaves) far more than structures (e.g. barriers, parapets). She further argues that "extra", non-human staff (30), i.e. portrait statues of priestesses, contributed to the supervision over visitors. It seems more likely that another category of non-human overseers considered in the chapter, namely the gods themselves, monitored most efficiently sanctuaries visitors. Perhaps even more than "fear of divine retribution" (31), it was feelings of awe and devotion towards the deities that induced most people (yet certainly not everyone) to behave in compliance with religious norms.

Monika Trümper (Ch. 6) addresses the very earthly and corporeal topic of "Sanitation in Greek Sanctuaries". Employing archaeological evidence and, as comparanda, modern examples of religious festivals in India, her chapter seeks to shine a light on the logistics concerning the management of major human bodily needs, i.e. urination and defecation, as well as washing and bathing. In geographical terms, her study primarily focuses on large extra-urban sanctuaries of the eastern Mediterranean and takes a broad chronological sweep from the Classical to the Roman Imperial period. Whilst pointing out that more research on these topics is needed, Trümper is able to draw the surprising conclusion that toilets began to appear in Greek sanctuaries later than bathing facilities and, even after their introduction, remained considerably fewer in number than bathing facilities in the following periods. One is left to wonder whether temporary rather than permanent toilet facilities were the solutions most frequently employed to meet the two main human bodily needs in Greek sanctuaries, as is the case at some religious festivals in modern India.

Gunnel Ekroth (Ch. 7) explores practical issues concerning accommodation in Greek sanctuaries, which was needed for a range of visitors, including worshippers, religious personnel, athletes, refugees, etc. The scarce archaeological and textual evidence for this topic is here (as in Trümper's chapter) supplemented with the information offered by the parallel of modern pilgrimage sites, such as Lourdes in France, and music festivals, such as Roskilde in Denmark. Ekroth assumes that hotels, guesthouses and the like were probably more common than what our limited evidence suggests. Yet it appears that the most popular accommodations were temporary structures, particularly tents, which would be placed in camping grounds that surrounded many large sanctuaries. Survey and excavation of the environs of temene would probably back textual evidence up on this. Priests and other cult officials stayed in "sacred houses" separate from other visitors; however, identifying an oikos for religious personnel in the archaeological record proves difficult. What all forms of accommodation seem to have had in common is that they were located outside the temenos.

Jeremy McInerney (Ch. 13) focuses on epigraphic evidence, including the third-century BCE accounts of the hieropoioi from Delos and inscriptions such as those recording the leasing of temene as well as sacrificial and cult regulations, to investigate the income and costs associated with the upkeep and daily running of Greek sanctuaries. His analysis of these financial aspects reveals the active role sanctuaries played as economic agents from which local communities benefitted directly at various levels. In the case of Delos, he shows that the profits that came from the sanctuary were unequally distributed, with the elites proportionally gaining extraordinarily more than the general population - a situation that mirrored the economic inequalities that characterised the Hellenistic Greek world.

This stimulating and beautifully produced volume is a welcome addition to the ever-growing scholarship on ancient Greek sanctuaries. By focusing on the human dimension of sacred spaces and in particular on a variety of practicalities relating to the everyday life and functioning of sanctuaries, the essays in this volume contribute to advance our understanding of lesser-studied yet essential aspects of the Greek sanctuary experience. The fifteen chapters as well as a series of questions about logistics in Greek sanctuaries that remain to be explored, which the editors list in their introduction, show that this line of research merits -and will undoubtedly prompt - further investigation.