RT Article
T1 The Space Syntax of Canaanite Cultic Spaces: A Unique Category of Spatial Configuration within the Bronze Age Southern Levant
JF Bulletin of ASOR
VO 385
SP 131
OP 152
A1 Susnow, Matthew
LA English
PB The University of Chicago Press
YR 2021
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1880475308
AB The existence of temples within urban, rural, and extramural settings in the Middle and Late Bronze Age southern Levant is well documented. However, defining what qualifies these spaces as "cultic" is significantly less clear. Accordingly, in this paper I utilize access analysis to define sacred space as a unique category of spatial configuration within the region, one that contrasts with other types of public and domestic spaces. As such, the trajectory and evolution of Canaanite temples and cultic architecture diverge in a number of ways from other types of spaces. I demonstrate this visually by supplying justified gamma maps for cultic and non-cultic architecture, underscoring the contrasting nature between the access to, movement through, and control of Canaanite temples and that of their domestic and palatial counterparts. The implications of this are remarkable. What emerges from this study is that Canaanite temples were unique not only in terms of the role they played within their surrounding landscapes and region, but also in how they were differentiated from temples and temple institutions of the surrounding ancient Near East, with relation to the rise of urbanization, social complexity, and elite control of religious institutions.
K1 Canaanite temples
K1 House of the Deity
K1 Late Bronze Age
K1 Middle Bronze Age
K1 Southern Levant
K1 cultic architecture
K1 Space Syntax
DO 10.1086/712563