Sacred thresholds : : the door to the sanctuary in late antiquity / / edited by Emilie M. van Opstall.

• TeilnehmendeR: Opstall, Emilie Marlène van.
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, 2018.
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Series: Religions in the Graeco-Roman World 185.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (xiii, 376 pages) :; illustrations.

Sacred Thresholds. The Door to the Sanctuary in Late Antiquity offers a far-reaching account of boundaries within pagan and Christian sanctuaries: gateways in a precinct, outer doors of a temple or church, inner doors of a cella . The study of these liminal spaces within Late Antiquity – itself a key period of transition during the spread of Christianity, when cultural paradigms were redefined – demands an approach that is both interdisciplinary and diachronic. Emilie van Opstall brings together both upcoming and noted scholars of Greek and Latin literature and epigraphy, archaeology, art history, philosophy, and religion to discuss the experience of those who crossed from the worldly to the divine, both physically and symbolically. What did this passage from the profane to the sacred mean to them, on a sensory, emotive and intellectual level? Who was excluded, and who was admitted? The articles each offer a unique perspective on pagan and Christian sanctuary doors in the Late Antique Mediterranean.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Copyright page -- List of Figures -- List of Contributors -- General Introduction -- Experiencing Sacred Thresholds -- On the Threshold -- Entering the Baptistery / Juliette Day -- From Taboo to Icon / Christian Boudignon -- Bonus Intra, Melior Exi! / Ildikó Csepregi -- Symbolism and Allegory 0f Sanctuary Doors -- Sanctuary Doors, Vestibules and Adyta in the Works of Neoplatonic Philosophers / Lucia M. Tissi -- The Paradise of Saint Peter’s / Sible L. de Blaauw -- Imagining the Entrance to the Afterlife / Roald Dijkstra -- Messages in Stone -- The Queen of Inscriptions Contextualized / Evelien J.J. Roels -- Versus De Limine and In Limine / Gianfranco Agosti -- The Door to the Sanctuary from Paulinus of Nola to Gregory of Tours / Gaëlle Herbert de la Portbarré-Viard -- The Presence of the Divine -- Filters of Light / Christina G. Williamson -- The Other Door to the Sanctuary / Brooke Shilling -- Back Matter -- General Index.