Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
1.1
0.8
Journals
Religions
Special Issues
Travel and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean
share announcement

Travel and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2024 | Viewed by 5510

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Elisa Uusimäki

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Interests: Hebrew bible/old testament; early Jewish literature; wisdom and ethics; lived ancient religion, gender, travel and cultural interaction
Dr. Eelco Glas

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Interests: ancient Jewish diaspora; Graeco-Jewish literature; classical historiography and (auto)biography, rhetoric, migrant literature, Jewish revolts against Rome
Dr. Rivkah Gillian Glass

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Culture and Society, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Interests: second temple Judaism; early christianity; apocrypha and pseudepigrapha; ancient fiction; Greek novels; divine encounter; comparative literature and mythology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of this Special Issue is to bring together a group of scholars from a variety of disciplines to explore intersections between travel and religion in the broadly defined ancient Mediterranean world. The relevant academic fields include, but are not limited to, biblical studies, religious studies, classics, history, and archaeology. The phenomenon of pilgrimage has received a great deal of attention in recent scholarship of Mediterranean antiquity, which has contributed greatly to our understanding of the visits people made in the past to oracles, sanctuaries, and temples. However, the connections between travel and religion are not exhausted by pilgrimage, and there is still work to be done on aspects of this phenomenon, as well. The distinct contribution and aim of this Special Issue are to go beyond the study of visits to sacred spaces as the purpose of travel in order to highlight the manifold ways in which religion was an integral component or function of virtually all types of travel and movement in the ancient world.

We invite contributors with expertise in any aspect of Mediterranean antiquity to explore questions relating to travel and religion, such as: What kinds of religious agendas motivated travel in antiquity? What was the role of religion and ritual behaviour in the preparation for, duration, and/or conclusion of a journey? How did travellers experience their journeys, and what role did religion play in shaping these experiences? What kinds of material objects did travellers carry and travel with, how did they transport their belongings, and what sensory experiences did visitors encounter on the road or at their final destination? With whom did one travel, and why? Could a journey shape or change one’s religious ideas or practices, and, if so, how? What kinds of religious knowledge did travellers gather for the benefit of their communities through both imaginary and real-life trips? As a result of these investigations, a more nuanced notion of ancient travel and its lived and religious aspects will begin to emerge.

This Special Issue is related to the project An Intersectional Analysis of Ancient Jewish Travel Narratives (https://projects.au.dk/aninan.), which is funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 948264).

Prof. Dr. Elisa Uusimäki
Dr. Eelco Glas
Dr. Rivkah Gillian Glass
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • ancient Mediterranean
  • travel
  • mobility
  • religious practice
  • lived ancient religion
  • intercultural contact
  • history of travel
  • travel literature
  • material culture

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

14 pages, 540 KiB  
Article
Ancient Travellers, Intercultural Contact, and the Fear of Gods
by Elisa Uusimäki
Religions 2024, 15(4), 452; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15040452 - 3 Apr 2024
Viewed by 573
Abstract
Although the fear of Yhwh has been presented as an intrinsic feature of the ancient Israelite religion, the fear of God(s) is not limited to the people of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, and similar ideas of fearing deities occur in various texts [...] Read more.
Although the fear of Yhwh has been presented as an intrinsic feature of the ancient Israelite religion, the fear of God(s) is not limited to the people of Israel in the Hebrew Bible, and similar ideas of fearing deities occur in various texts produced by neighbouring cultures in the ancient eastern Mediterranean. This article investigates the prosocial role of this virtue in situations of human mobility and intercultural contact in the light of the Hebrew Bible and the Odyssey. First, I analyse those Hebrew Bible texts in which the fear of God(s) characterizes or is presented as being intelligible to non-Israelite people in situations involving movement and cultural encounter (Gen 20:11; 42:18; Exod 1:17, 21; Deut 25:18; Jon 1:9). Second, I explore the fear motif in other texts from the ancient eastern Mediterranean region and argue that biblical scholars have overlooked illuminating intertexts found in ancient Greek literature. I especially highlight the interpretative importance of the Odyssey, which frequently stresses the prosocial role of the virtue of fearing deities in the context of travel and contact with outsiders. In so doing, the Odyssey helps us see how the Hebrew Bible texts portraying the fear of God(s) as a universalistic virtue are rooted in and belong to a broader ancient Mediterranean milieu. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Travel and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean)
13 pages, 345 KiB  
Article
Pursuing Partners: Traveling for Marital Partners in the Hebrew Bible
by Søren Lorenzen
Religions 2024, 15(3), 324; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15030324 - 8 Mar 2024
Viewed by 614
Abstract
Pursuing marital partners far from home can be a complicated endeavor, and the motives to travel for a companion can be a combination of pushes from one’s locality and pulls toward something new. In the Hebrew Bible, several narratives concern pursuing a partner [...] Read more.
Pursuing marital partners far from home can be a complicated endeavor, and the motives to travel for a companion can be a combination of pushes from one’s locality and pulls toward something new. In the Hebrew Bible, several narratives concern pursuing a partner far from home, but the motives of the person traveling have not seen much scholarly attention. In this contribution, the entangled motives are traced in three select narratives (Judg 14; Gen 24; Tob) that each represents a specific category of pursuing a partner. Samson pursues a known partner, Isaac and his family pursue an unknown partner, and Tobias unknowingly pursues a partner. These three narrative categories are explored utilizing the framework of actor-network theory to tease out the entangled human and non-human actants that affect the motives and the pursuit itself. This contribution reveals that motives are always entangled in more extensive networks, agency is distributed among various actants, and no pursuit of a companion in the Hebrew Bible is exactly like another. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Travel and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean)
16 pages, 618 KiB  
Article
Muslim Women Travelling Alone
by Sahin Baykal
Religions 2023, 14(12), 1456; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14121456 - 23 Nov 2023
Viewed by 3822
Abstract
Whether women can travel alone has been debated for centuries in Islamic law. This article examines the Islamic legal principles concerning women travelling alone, whether it be for Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) or any journeys. Despite the explicit Quranic order about the duty [...] Read more.
Whether women can travel alone has been debated for centuries in Islamic law. This article examines the Islamic legal principles concerning women travelling alone, whether it be for Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) or any journeys. Despite the explicit Quranic order about the duty of Hajj for all believers, depending upon the fulfilment of specific conditions, Sunni scholars have introduced additional criteria, particularly related to women, which have led to the establishment of gender-specific regulations. These interpretations are based on the ḥadīth of the Prophet rather than explicit verses from the Qur’an. The view that prevents women from travelling alone has gained dominance among Sunni scholars, and a maḥram (a male relative) becomes a requirement for a journey. However, Ibn Ḥazm of Cordoba (d. 1064) presents an opposing perspective that significantly differs from this consensus. Ibn Ḥazm believes that women can travel and participate in the Hajj without a maḥram, emphasising the importance of Hajj as a personal responsibility in terms of the religious obligation. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the ḥadīth concerning women’s travel alone, the varying opinions of Sunni scholars, and the distinctive position adopted by Ibn Ḥazm. The text explains that Ibn Ḥazm’s analysis mainly based on a preference for reasonable arguments and egalitarian principles, prioritising them over literal interpretations of the ḥadīths regarding the topic. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Travel and Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean)
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop