The Milk Grotto
Historical, Archaeological, and Anthropological Perspectives
Edited by Michele Bacci
As pilgrims to Bethlehem know, most of the holy spots worthy of worship are found in underground environments, including one that is universally known as the Milk Grotto. The present book can be considered as the biography of it, described and interpreted from three different viewpoints: cultural-historical, anthropological, and archaeological.
As pilgrims to Bethlehem well know, most of the holy spots that are worthy of worship are not to be found on the earthly surface, but rather in underground environments, as in the case of the Nativity cave, and the nearby Grottos. A few meters from these caves there is another one that is universally known as the Milk Grotto, which differs from other loca sancta in its distinctive character. Its public worship was nurtured and kept alive mainly by the local population and particularly by women, Christian and Muslim, who recognized in the whitish powder of its rocky walls a powerful remedy against the momentary loss of breast milk.
The present book can be considered as the biography of a very special locus sanctus, whose multiple lives, thanks to the collaboration of Michele Bacci with two scholars with different backgrounds, are described and interpreted from three different viewpoints: cultural-historical, anthropological, and archaeological.
In his text, Bacci analyses the history of the site and the cultic phenomena associated with it from the first documented moments in the 12th century until our times. Annette Hoffmann’s article delves into the history of the cultic practices associated with the holy site, and more specifically with the habit of ingesting its chalky earth in the aim to obtain the restitution of lacking milk. Carmelo Pappalardo investigates the history of the built structures that are to be found in the plot of ground located above the Milk Grotto.
With essays by Michele Bacci, Annette Hoffmann and Carmelo Pappalardo.
- Edited by Michele Bacci
Other Titles in this Series
An Introduction to Late Antique Epigraphy in the Holy Land
A thorough study on Greek and Latin epigraphy in the Holy Land
Volume 46
Similar Books
‘For You I Study, For You I Work, For You I Live, For You I Am Ready To Even Give My Life’
Essays in Honour of Francis (Frank) J Moloney, SDB
A Late Antique Harrowing of Hell and Its Medieval Reception
Eusebius of Alexandria's Sermons 15 and 17 (CPG 5524; 5526) and their Latin Rewritings
Volume 99
Ars Prophetica
Theology in the Poetry of Twentieth-Century Hebrew Poets Avraham Halfi, Shin Shalom, Amir Gilboa, and T. Carmi
Drunk the Potion, No Whit Charmed
The Doctrine of Pure and Perfect Souls from Iamblichus to Damascius
Extracanonical Traditions and the Holy Land
Texts, Rituals, and Material Culture in Late Antique Palestine
Fear, Fear of God, God-Fearers
Philological and Historical Perspectives on the World of Ancient Judaism and Christianity
Legal Visuality
Exegesis, Ambiguity, and Dissimulation of the Donation of Constantine in the Early Modern Period
Liturgia semper reformanda
Adaptations and accommodations in the liturgy in light of canon 838 of the Code of Canon Law
Medieval Yeghegis, Armenia
History, Archaeology, Society. Local Multiplicities and Global Connections of a Rural Centre on the Silk Road(s)
Pre-Christian Religions, Rituals, and Beliefs in Central and Northern Europe
Interdisciplinary Investigations
Volume 5
