Landscape, nature, and the sacred in Byzantium / Veronica della Dora.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Della Dora, Veronica, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nature--Religious aspects--Orthodox Eastern Church.

Nature.

Religion and geography.

Sacred space--Byzantine Empire.

Sacred space.

Byzantine Empire--Civilization--527-1081.

Byzantine Empire.

Civilization.

Physical Description:

xviii, 294 pages ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, [2016]

Summary:

"Nature is as much an idea as a physical reality. By 'placing' nature within Byzantine culture and within the discourse of Orthodox Christian thought and practice, Landscape, Nature and the Sacred in Byzantium explores attitudes towards creation that are utterly and fascinatingly different from the modern. Drawing on Patristic writing and on Byzantine literature and art, the book develops a fresh conceptual framework for approaching Byzantine perceptions of space and the environment. It takes readers on an imaginary flight over the Earth and its varied topographies of gardens and wilderness, mountains and caves, rivers and seas, and invites them to shift from the linear time of history to the cyclical time and spaces of the sacred - the time and spaces of eternal returns and revelations"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction : placing topographies

PART I. TOPOS AND COSMOS. Sacred topographies

Sacred cosmographies

PART II. LAND. Gardens

Wilderness

PART III. ROCK. Mountains

Caves

PART IV. WATER. Rivers

Seas

Epilogue.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781107139091

1107139090

OCLC:

918925336

Online:

Cover image