Gary Vikan examines the portable artifacts of eastern Mediterranean pilgrimage from the 5th to the 7th century, presenting them in the context of contemporary pilgrim's texts & the archaeology of sacred sites.

Contains eight lectures given at a fall 1991 lecture series at the Smithsonian Institution, examining the individual and collective experiences of the Byzantine faithful in order to understand the interaction of religion and art in Byzantium and thus bring the civilization to life. Topics include central themes in Byzantine theology, architecture and the liturgy, Byzantine silver plate, and illustrated service books of Byzantium. Excerpts from original sources are quoted extensively. Includes bandw and color photos and a glossary. Paper edition (unseen), $27.50. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In these studies Gary Vikan has opened new perspectives on the daily life and material culture of Late Antiquity - more specifically, on icons and relics, and on objects revealing of the world of pilgrimage, the early cult of saints, and marriage. He contextualizes these familiar categories of object in the patterns of belief and ritual extracted from contemporary texts and the objects themselves, in order to understand their meaning within the everyday lives of those by whom and for whom they were made. The studies give a nuanced delineation of the inherently ambiguous boundary between conventional religion and magic, noting repeatedly those instances wherein the two are invoked in the same breath (and by way of the same art object), toward the same end. From this historically constructed matrix of art, belief, and ritual, the author derives an anthropologically defined paradigm of charisma and pilgrimage (applied in one essay, as an intriguing parallel, to deconstructing the world of a contemporary secular "saint," Elvis Presley).

This volume offers 21 essays that cover a wide range of topics in Byzantine and Post-Byzantine art and Archaeology.

In these studies Gary Vikan has opened new perspectives on the daily life and material culture of Late Antiquity - more specifically, on icons and relics, and on objects revealing of the world of pilgrimage, the early cult of saints, and marriage. He contextualizes these familiar categories of object in the patterns of belief and ritual extracted from contemporary texts and the objects themselves, in order to understand their meaning within the everyday lives of those by whom and for whom they were made. The studies give a nuanced delineation of the inherently ambiguous boundary between conventional religion and magic, noting repeatedly those instances wherein the two are invoked in the same breath (and by way of the same art object), toward the same end. From this historically constructed matrix of art, belief, and ritual, the author derives an anthropologically defined paradigm of charisma and pilgrimage (applied in one essay, as an intriguing parallel, to deconstructing the world of a contemporary secular "saint," Elvis Presley).