Placing Ancient Texts

The Ritual and Rhetorical Use of Space

Edited by Mika Ahuvia Edited by Alexander Kocar

Book cover: Placing Ancient Texts

Extent: 273 pages

Publisher: Mohr Siebeck

Subjects: Literary Studies, Religious Studies

Series: Texts and Studies in Ancient Judaism

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(January 2019)

ISBN: 9783161563768

6.5 x 9.49 inches

Price: $209.00

In stock

In this volume, scholars of Judaism, Christianity, and late antique religion demonstrate how special attention to the ritual and rhetorical functions of space can improve modern interpretations of ancient literary, liturgical, and ritual texts. Each chapter is concerned with reconstructing the dynamic interaction between space and text. Demonstrating the pliability of the idea of space, the contributions span from Second Temple debates over Eden to Byzantine Christian hymnography. In so doing, they offer a number of answers to the seemingly simple question: What difference does space make for how modern scholars interpret ancient texts?


In this volume, scholars of Judaism, Christianity, and late antique religion demonstrate how special attention to the ritual and rhetorical functions of space can improve modern interpretations of ancient literary, liturgical, and ritual texts. Each chapter is concerned with reconstructing the dynamic interaction between space and text. Demonstrating the pliability of the idea of space, the contributions span from Second Temple debates over Eden to Byzantine Christian hymnography. In so doing, they offer a number of answers to the seemingly simple question: What difference does space make for how modern scholars interpret ancient texts? Contributors:Mika Ahuvia, David Frankfurter, Gil P. Klein, Alexander Kocar, Derek Krueger, AnneMarie Luijendijk, Ophir Munz-Manor, Rachel Neis, Eshbal Ratzon.

Mika Ahuvia/Alexander Kocar: Introduction
Part I: Constructing Spaces and Places
Eshbal Ratzon: Placing Eden in Second Temple Judaism - Gil P. Klein: Sabbath as City: Rabbinic Urbanism and Imperial Territoriality in Roman Palestine - Ophir Münz-Manor: IN SITU: Liturgical Poetry and Sacred Space in Late Antiquity
Part II: Placing People
Alexander Kocar: A Hierarchy of Salvation in the Book of Revelation: Different Peoples, Dwellings, and Tasks in the End Times - Rachel Neis: Directing the Heart: Corporeal Language and the Anatomy of Ritual Space - Derek Krueger: Beyond Eden: Placing Adam, Eve, and Humanity in Byzantine Hymns
Part III: Re-Placing Ritual Texts
David Frankfurter: 'It is Esrmpe who appeals': Place, Object, and Performance in a Quest for Pregnancy in Roman Egypt - AnneMarie Luijendijk: 'If you order that I wash my feet, then bring me this ticket': Encountering Saint Colluthus at Antinoë - Mika Ahuvia: The Spatial and Social Dynamics of Jewish Babylonian Incantation Bowls

  • Edited by Mika Ahuvia
  • Edited by Alexander Kocar