Distant Deities, Central Places Reconsidering the "Extra-urban" Sanctuary

Abstract

Sanctuaries located at a distance from major centres of population in the ancient world are conveniently labelled by scholars as ‘extra-urban’. Most scholars have an idea as to what kind of sanctuary this indicates. But how accurate is this image? How has the designation of ‘extra-urban’ steered our thinking about these special places of cult? What implications does the term bring with it, and what other dynamics might be left out of the picture? By reconsidering our terminology, this conference aims to realign our thinking about these places of cults, and our positioning of them in the divine and human landscape.

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