Creating and conserving sacred landscapes: Amarna and Abydos – keeping the spirit alive?

Zinn, Katharina (2020) Creating and conserving sacred landscapes: Amarna and Abydos – keeping the spirit alive? In: Sacred Landscapes: Creation, Manipulation & Transformation. Oxbow, Oxford, pp. 297-310. ISBN 9781789253276

Text Zinn, Katharina (2020) Creating and conserving sacred landscapes.pdf - Accepted Version Available under License CC-BY-NC-ND Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (1MB)

Abstract

The religious landscapes of Amarna and Abydos exhibit fundamental differences concerning their elementary characteristics: one (Amarna) is a founded, planned, and short lived sacred city; the other (Abydos) a religious centre which grew and developed throughout the entire span of Egyptian history. Comparing these two seemingly opposite sites might help to answer important question of why sacred landscapes were able to survive. Potential factors which might have been shaped / altered the site and therefore also the identity of the place, could be royal impetus, special geographic features, as well as the connection between and separation of profane and sacred areas. A related question is in which way the public (elite and non-elite) was involved in the religious activities happening in these landscape sites (be it through living there, going on pilgrimages, sending substitutes etc.). Examining these questions might bring us closer to the understanding of the complex nature of royal and private religion as manifested in sacred landscapes in the polytheistic sphere of ancient Egypt. The case of Amarna seems to suggest that setting up a sacred landscape (the transformation of a natural sanctuary to an architectural sanctuary via territorial organisation) might be difficult, but to sustain such a site calls for an imbedded identity which needs to be regularly re-confirmed, adapted and assimilated to bring it in accordance with the identities of the people using the ideas represented by this landscape – as in the case of Abydos. This problem could be differently phrased: Is the adaption or persistence of a site’s identity the reason why Amarna collapsed and Abydos was sustained?

Item Type:	Book Section
Subjects:	B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion D History General and Old World > DE The Mediterranean Region. The Greco-Roman World
Divisions:	Institutes and Academies > Institute of Education and Humanities > Academic Discipline: Humanities and Social Sciences
Depositing User:	Katharina Zinn
Date Deposited:	08 Apr 2025 13:43
Last Modified:	08 Apr 2025 13:44
URI:	https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/3677

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