You are on page 1of 78

Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories Across

Cultures: Transmission of Oral


Tradition, Myth, and Religiosity 1st ed.
2021 Edition David W. Kim
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/sacred-sites-and-sacred-stories-across-cultures-trans
mission-of-oral-tradition-myth-and-religiosity-1st-ed-2021-edition-david-w-kim/
Sacred Sites and
Sacred Stories Across
Cultures

Transmission of Oral
Tradition, Myth, and
Religiosity
Edited by
dav i d w. k i m
Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories Across Cultures

“An extraordinary cross-cultural and multi-religious panorama. We encounter


many lesser known but important sacred places and become better informed as to
how the traditions behind them have been passed on. Well selected, well orga-
nized, and a fine cast of scholarly contributors.”
—Garry W. Tromp, Emeritus Professor in the History of Ideas,
University of Sydney, Australia

“The contributors to this book provide valuable theoretical and practical knowl-
edge of specific sites of interest to religious communities, to pilgrims or simply
tourists, thereby helping the reader reflect critically on what makes a location
‘sacred.’”
—James L. Cox, Emeritus Professor of Religious Studies,
University of Edinburgh, UK

“An enlightening multi-disciplinary exploration of sacred sites, primarily in Asia,


and how they are utilized for rituals, for constructing sacred histories, for political
legitimation, and for recreation.”
—Donald L. Baker, Professor in Korean History and Civilization,
University of British Columbia, Canada

“David W. Kim’s book provides an excellent transcultural overview of sacred sites


and this collection of essays encapsulates the inter-relatedness of theory and praxis,
where religion is experienced and transmitted in a multitude of ways.”
—Kevin Cawley, Senior Lecturer in Korean Studies,
University College Cork, Ireland

“What sets this volume apart from previous efforts is its careful attention to what
makes people, places, and things ‘sacred’ as well as its authors’ scrupulous atten-
tion to processes of sanctification. The chapters analyze the religious beliefs of
local peoples with special attention to iconography, syncretism, and material cul-
ture. Collectively, these chapters facilitate the understanding of multi-cultural and
multi-ethnic communities in Asia, the Mediterranean, Australia, and the United
States. An impressive, meticulously researched collection.”
—Stephen D. Glazier, Research Anthropologist,
Yale University, USA
David W. Kim
Editor

Sacred Sites and


Sacred Stories Across
Cultures
Transmission of Oral Tradition, Myth,
and Religiosity
Editor
David W. Kim
Kookmin University
Seoul, South Korea
Australian National University
Canberra, Australia

ISBN 978-3-030-56521-3    ISBN 978-3-030-56522-0 (eBook)


https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56522-0

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to
the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
For my father, Jin Sook, Joseph, Sung Jin, and Geun Suk.
Preface

Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories: Transmission of Oral Tradition, Myth, and
Religiosity is a collection of chapters that take the reader from the
Mediterranean world across Asia to the Coral Sea to Australia’s north.
From different perspectives, it explores the nature of a sacred site; it offers
an account of the ceremonies and other activities undertaken there; and it
gives thought to why such a site might become a destination for pilgrims.
The examples in this volume are drawn from cultures in which the oral
tradition continues to play a vital role.
So what is it that makes a site sacred? First, the site itself must be recog-
nisable—that is, it must be distinctive in some way; and, second, it must
have a story attached. Indeed, without a story a landmark of this kind can-
not be considered sacred. Experience tells us—and this is confirmed by
cognitive psychology—that a distinctive feature in a landscape will almost
inevitably attract a story, a story that will ‘humanise’ and enrich the loca-
tion. That landmark, whether a spring, a rock or another landform, or the
remains of human activity (walls or housing, a temple or a tomb, for exam-
ple), will subsequently prompt its associated story; or, on the other hand,
the story itself will have the capacity to bring to mind the landmark in its
landscape setting.
But, if a site is to acquire special status as sacred, not just any story will
do. What is needed is a story that is connected with the divine. And its
content should be interesting and engaging: for it must be memorable. In
terms of significance, it is possible that such a story will reach beyond its
local audience. That is, the reputation of a site and stories about what is
transacted there may extend beyond its immediate community, appealing

vii
viii PREFACE

to people from elsewhere who are drawn to visit. In a world in which


travel is not always an easy undertaking, the motivation to make one’s way
across country to a particular site must be strong. The power of faith and
the perceived efficacy of ritual performance will drive the visitor’s response.
Once these visitors have reached the site, it is important that they
engage with it in some way, so that they can truly feel that, having experi-
enced something of its sanctity, they have reached their goal. The rituals
and ceremonies that they perform, therefore, must have a meaning: they
must be linked in recognisable ways to both the site and its story. In this
way, visitors experience a satisfying intimate contact with a sacred tradition
that is important both to them and to their wider community. I am talking
here about the beginnings of a tradition of pilgrimage—about people who
come to view the site, who come to hear its story once more and to par-
ticipate actively in the associated rituals and ceremonies, and (indeed, this
is not to be discounted) who come to walk in the footsteps of earlier visi-
tors. Autopsy and engagement together are essential characteristics of a
pilgrimage. Merely visiting a site can be best described as tourism.
In many cultures in today’s world, local signage or Wikipedia are ready
sources of information about a site and its significance. But, for the pil-
grims that I am speaking of, communication is primarily oral; oral trans-
mission plays a crucial role. In their world, in which cultural
memories—memories from a distant past—are shared by word of mouth,
there is an important role for an active network of informants: parents,
grandparents, teachers, storytellers, and, on site, people whom we might
describe as tour guides. Without these tellers of tales, the traditions associ-
ated with a sacred site will die.
Of course, memory is powerful, but it is also imperfect. We know from
our everyday experience that memories are subject to distortion, for all
kinds of reasons: the passage of time, a storyteller’s natural desire to
enhance a story, and new circumstances all individually encourage a subtle
reshaping of a tale. It is rarely the case that memories are preserved abso-
lutely intact. Nevertheless, even as the story adapts itself to a changing
world and to changing circumstances within it, the tradition of sanctity
has the capacity to live on at this distinctive site along with related sacred
practices—as the chapters in this volume demonstrate.

Australian National University Elizabeth Minchin


Canberra, Australia
Acknowledgements

This project (Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories: Transmission of Oral Tradition,
Myth, and Religiosity) was originally motivated through casual dialogues
with Asian religion and culture scholars at the School of History, the Bell
School of Asia Pacific Affairs, and the School of Culture, History, and
Language (CHL) at the Australian National University (ANU), Canberra.
The creative idea was carried on by hosting an international conference on
the transhistorical legacy of the world culture (Sacred Sites and Sacred
Stories: Global Perspectives) from 5 to 7 April 2018. There were over one-­
hundred scholars, religious leaders, and practitioners at the conference. As
a result of the conference, this volume, in a pioneering perspective, intro-
duces the various studies of religious or mystical spaces in a multicultural
community to enhance the social concept of global heritages in the history
of religions. The study draws from research on archaeology, anthropology,
ethnology, politics, history, and tourism as well as the ideological subjects
of ‘Glyptic arts of Aegean Bronze Age,’ ‘atomic bombing sites of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki,’ ‘walls of Bishnupur’s terracotta temples,’ ‘Yeoju
Headquarters Temple Complex,’ ‘Kerala’s Koyapapa narratives,’ ‘Japanese
characteristics of Ojibagaeri,’ ‘commemorative sites of the Mormon and
Unification,’ ‘Shikoku O-henro Pilgrimage,’ ‘Ayudaw Mingalar garden,’
‘Malabar’s Zheng He,’ ‘Waiet markai,’ and ‘shrines of Laldas.’
This research is financially sponsored by the Korean Foundation and
the Asia-Pacific Innovation Program, ANU. The Coral Bell School of Asia
Pacific Affairs and CHL generously offered their research facilities. This
project would not have been possible without the financial and organisa-
tional assistance of the funding agency and research institution. For their

ix
x ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

assistance, I would like to thank Sean Downes, Senior Research


Development Officer (Bell School/CHL), Research Services, ANU
College of Asia and the Pacific. Professor Michael Wesley, Dean of the
College of Asia and the Pacific and Professor Simon Haberle, Director of
CHL, ANU, showed a special interest through the favour of providing
university research sources and research space. Professor Frank Bongiorno
(Head of the History School), Professor Han Seung Kim (Dean of the
College of General Education, Kookmin University, Seoul), and Dr Paul
Kenny (Head of the Department of Political and Social Change, ANU), as
academic advisors, helped me in many ways, including official and admin-
istrative issues as well as university access. Professor Robert Cribb,
Department of Political and Social Change, supported my research work
by advising on internal academic developments. Associate Professor
MaComas Taylor, Dr Peter Friedlander, Dr Barbara Nelson, and Dr Yuri
Takahashi, who together organised the ANU Asian Religion conference,
shared their experiences of India, Nepal, and Vietnam religious studies to
deepen my understanding of the life of the indigenous religions in the
region of South and Southeast Asia. Ms Catherine Fisher, the research
assistant of the university, solved most of the practical issues for my aca-
demic activities.
I am grateful to Professor Iain Gardner, Fellow of the Academy of
Humanities in Australia, and Emeritus Professor Gary Trompf, Personal
Chair in the History of Ideas, the School of Literature, Arts, and Media,
the University of Sydney who are my academic mentors in the History of
Religions and Theology. I also thank Ms Helen Gadie and Garry Breland
in the United States for their involvement in reading the manuscript and
useful comments. Finally, I express sincere gratitude to Susan Westendorf
(Springer Nature), Philip Getz (Senior Editor, Palgrave Macmillan), Amy
Invernizzi (Palgrave Macmillan), Vinoth Kuppan (Project Coordinator),
and Arumugan Hemalatha (SPI Technologies India) for their efforts in
the process of this publication.

Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea, and David W. Kim


Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Contents

1 Introduction  1
David W. Kim

Part I Visual Arts and Architecture   9

2 Traces of Places: Sacred Sites in Miniature on Minoan


Gold Rings 11
Caroline Jane Tully

3 Reimagining Sacrosanct Sites in the Graphic Arts of Kōno


Fumiyo 41
Roman Rosenbaum

4 Consecrated Journeys: A Torres Strait Islander Space,


Time Odyssey 67
Duncan Wright, Alo Tapim, and James Zaro

5 Art and Cultural Heritage of the Ramayana and the


Mahabharata: A View through the Terracotta Temples of
Bishnupur, West Bengal 99
Supriya Banik Pal

xi
xii CONTENTS

Part II Pilgrimage and Tourism (Asia and New Age) 135

6 Jiba: Returning Home for Tenrikyo Followers137


Midori Horiuchi

7 Blurred Boundaries between Secular Memory and Sacred


Space in Religious Tourism: Cases of Mormon and
Unification Faiths163
Alexa Blonner

8 The Spiritual in the Mundane: The Poetry of the


Shikoku O-Henro Pilgrimage191
Carol Hayes

Part III Competition and Contestation 225

9 Competition and Contestation at a Hindu-­Muslim Shrine:


The Case of the Sant Laldas in Mewat, North India227
Mukesh Kumar

10 Maitreya’s Boundless Gaze: The Religious Implications


of Maitreya Mega-Statues263
Edward A. Irons

Part IV Theory and Method 295

11 Contemporary Creations and Re-cognitions of Sacred Sites297


Eileen Barker

12 Is Sacred Site Discovered? Or Created?: A Case Study of


Daesoon Jinrihoe327
Seon-Keun Cha
CONTENTS xiii

13 Transformation of Admiral to the Sainthood and


Sacred Stories of Chinese Sanctum Sanctorum from
Malabar Coast355
Abbas Panakkal

Index381
Notes on Contributors1

Eileen Barker (PhD, PhD h.c., FAcSS, FBA, OBE) is Professor Emeritus
of Sociology with Special Reference to the Study of Religion at the London
School of Economics. Her main research interests are minority religions
(including the so-called ‘cults’) and social reactions to which they give
rise. In 1988, she founded INFORM (www.Inform.ac), an educational
charity providing as reliable and up-to-date information as possible about
minority religions. She is a frequent advisor to governments and other
organisations throughout the world, has over 300 publications translated
into 27 languages and has been invited to give guest lectures in over 50
countries.
Alexa Blonner (PhD, Sydney) currently works as an independent scholar.
She holds a doctorate in Studies in Religion from the University of Sydney
in Australia in 2017. She specialises in new religions with particular exper-
tise in the Unification faith/movement. Other academic interests are phi-
losophy of religion, sociology of religion, religious anthropology,
spirituality, morals and ethics. Her published papers towards the end of
2018 were the following: ‘Update: From the Unification Church to
Unification Movement and Back’ with David Bromley in Nova Religio:
Journal of New and Emergent Religions in 2012; ‘Heaven’s Way in Korea’s
New Religions: A Reinterpretation of Salvation’ in Journal of Koreanology

1
Our contributors reside in eight different nations (the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan,
Korea, Australia, the United States, UAE, and India) and are affiliated with 13 different
institutions.

xv
xvi NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

in 2017; and ‘The New God of Unificationism: Precedents and Parallels’


published in Acta Comparanda, Subsidia VI in 2018. Reimagining God
and Resacralisation, her thesis-based book on emergent directions in reli-
gious thought, was published by Routledge in 2019. Other research proj-
ects in train are a Hare Krishna schism and changes in the Sathya Sai Baba
organisation since the death of the founder.
Seon-Keun Cha is affiliated with the Daesoon Academy of Sciences at
Daejin University in Korea, as senior researcher. His academic interests lie
in new religions, Daoism, shamanism, Daesoon thought, comparative
study on East Asian religions, and method and theory in religious studies.
He is currently working on the research on social conflicts among the East
Asian nations including Korea, China, and Japan and how religion con-
tributes to the resolution of those conflicts in the dimension of religious
perspective. Cha’s publication includes the following: ‘A Comparative
Study on Daesoon (大巡) Thought and Dangun (檀君) Thought’ (2018),
‘Eight-Gate Transformation (奇門遁甲) and Kang Jeungsan’s Religious
World’ (2017), ‘Re-Examining The Concepts of ‘Seeking Out the Original
Root [原始返本]’ as Religious Language’ (2017), ‘An Introduction to the
Study of the View of the Mind in Daesoonjinrihoe’ (2017), ‘An
Introduction to the Study of the View on Death in Daesoonjinrohoe’
(2016), and ‘A Comparative Study on Religious Ethics of Early Folk
Daoism in China and Daesoonjinrihoe’ (2015).
Carol Hayes is Associate Professor of Japanese Language Studies in the
College of Asia and the Pacific and Distinguished Educator at the
Australian National University. Her research interests include Japanese
cultural production with a focus on modern Japanese poetry and Japanese
language teaching methodologies and practice, particularly e-­Teaching
and e-Learning. Her recent publications include ‘Baba Akiko: Intabyū’
(Tanka Kenkyū 2018, in Japanese); Reading Embraced by Australia:
Oosutoraria ni Idakarete (with Yuki Itani-Adams, ANU Press 2016); and
‘Women Writing Women: ‘A Woman’s Place’ in Modern Japanese
Women’s Poetry’ (Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia 2016). She
has translated many works of poetry published in such journals as
Transference and International Tanka.
Midori Horiuchi is Professor of the Oyasato Institute for the Study of
Religion, Tenri University, in Japan. She was a research scholar by invita-
tion of the Indian Government at Banaras Hindu University (1984–1988)
and was conferred a PhD in Philosophy. Her fields are religious studies,
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xvii

especially modern Hinduism, new religions in Japan, gender in reli-


gion and Tenrikyo studies. Midori has published several books,
including Ramakrishna: His Life and Thought, and many articles on mod-
ern Hinduism, and Tenrikyo studies.
Edward A. Irons (PhD) is Director of the Hong Kong Institute for
Culture, Commerce and Religion. He specializes in Chinese new religions
and contemporary Buddhism. Recent areas of interest extend to leader-
ship in new religions, organisational forms of religion, and monumentality
in religious experience. In 2003, he established the Hong Kong Institute
for Culture, Commerce and Religion, and independent research cen-
tre, to promote discussion and research on contemporary Chinese
culture. Some previous publications include the following: ‘Falun
Gong and the Sectarian Religion Paradigm,’ in Nova Religio, The
Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 6: 2, April 2003; and
Encyclopaedia of Buddhism, published by Facts on File, 2008; ‘The
List: The Evolution of China’s List of Illegal and Evil Cults,’ The
Journal of Cesnur 2, 1 January–February, 2018, 33–57; ‘Occupy
Central: Towards A Geography of Presence,’ in The IAFOR Journal of
Cultural Studies 1, 1, Spring 2016; and ‘Chinese New Religious
Movements: An Introduction,’ in Pokorny, Lukas, and Franz Winter,
eds., Handbook of East Asian New Religious Movements (Leiden: Brill,
2018), 403–428.
David W. Kim (PhD, Sydney) is an associate professor at Kookmin
University, Seoul, and a visiting fellow at the School of History, Australian
National University, Canberra. He is the editor for Book Series in East
Asian Religion and Culture. His research and teaching cover the subjects
of Asian Religions (Japan, Korea, and China), new religious movements,
Colonial Studies, Diaspora Studies, Gender, Gnosticism, History of
Christianity, and Coptic Literature. In addition to this volume, he has
written seven books (plus one more book is in the process of publication)
and over 39 peer-reviewed articles including New Religious Movements in
Modern Asian History: Sociocultural Alternatives (Lexington, 2020),
Daesoon Jinrihoe in Modern Korea: The Emergence, Transformtion and
Transmission of a New Religion (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020),
Colonial Transformation and Asian Religions In Modern History
(Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018), Religious Encounters in
Transcultural Society: Collison, Alteration, and Transmission (Lexington,
2017), Religious Transformation in Modern Asia: A Transnational
xviii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Movement (Brill, 2015), Intercultural Transmission in the Medieval


Mediterranean (Continuum: 2012), and Revivals Awaken Generations: A
History of Church Revivals (Sydney DKM: 2007).
Mukesh Kumar (PhD) has completed his doctoral dissertation in the
field of religious studies at the University of Technology, Sydney. His doc-
toral project examined the nature of the changing forms of shared reli-
gious beliefs and popular culture around the shrines of two Bhakti and
Sufi saints, Laldas and Shah Chokha. His research methods included his-
torical and ethnographic approaches. He has published two articles enti-
tled ‘The Art of Resistance: The Bards and Minstrels’ Response to
Anti-Syncretism/Anti-liminality in north India’ and ‘Blended Belief: The
Sacred Cow and the Case of Meo Muslim Community in north India’ in the
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, and Economic and Political
Weekly, respectively.
Elizabeth Minchin is a fellow of the Academy of the Humanities
Australia (FAHA) and Emeritus Professor in the Centre for Classical
Studies at the Australian National University, Canberra. Her principal
research focus is on the Homeric epics as poems composed in an oral tra-
dition; her approaches to the epics are largely from cognitive and linguistic
perspectives. Her publications arising from this research were amongst the
first to introduce cognitive theory into Classics: Homer and the Resources
of Memory (OUP, 2001); Homeric Voices (OUP 2007). More recently, her
interests have led to work on landscape and memory: ‘Commemoration
and Pilgrimage in the Ancient World: Troy and the Stratigraphy of
Cultural Memory’ (2012); ‘Heritage in the Landscape: the ‘Heroic
Tumuli’ in the Troad Region’ (2016); ‘Mapping the Hellespont with
Leander and Hero: ‘the Swimming Lover and the Nightly Bride’’
(2017); and ‘Remembering Leander: the Long History of the Dardanelles
Swim’ (2016).
Supriya Banik Pal (PhD) had been a professor of Sanskrit (affiliation to
University of Burdwan), is currently a retired professor and working as an
independent researcher. She is a life member of the Asiatic Society of
Bengal and a member of Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture,
Kolkata. Her research interests include the Mahabharata, gender and
women studies, religion and philosophy of ancient India. Banik Pal
has published widely throughout her career, and some of her contri-
butions are the following: Asian Literary Voices, Amsterdam
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xix

University Press, Amsterdam (2010) (ISBN 978-90-8964-0925);


Archaeologia Zeylanica (2011), vol. I part II Colombo; Asian Art,
Culture and Heritage (ISBN 978-955-4563-09-4) (2013), Colombo;
Sindh through the Centuries-II (ISBN-13:978-969-9874-02-4)
(2015); Aspects of ASEAN Culture and Religion (2017); Vietnam
and Colonial Transformation and Asian Religions in Modern History
(2018); Cambridge Scholars Publishing, UK
(ISBN-13:978-1-5275-0559-9). At present, she is associated with a
project on ‘An anthology on Sudraka’s Mrichchhakatikam,’ scheduled to
be published by an international publisher.
Abbas Panakkal (PhD), Director of Ibn Batuta International Centre for
Intercultural Studies (IBICIS) and the editor of Armonia journal, has
been working on Islam, Malabar, Law, Religion, Interreligious and
Intercultural Co-operations. His Islam in Malabar (1460–1600): A Socio
Cultural Study’ was published by the International Islamic University
Press, Malaysia. Panakkal is also Director of International Interfaith
Harmony Initiative, which has been organizing Interfaith pro-
grammes, in collaboration with United Nations Initiatives, Malaysian
prime minister’s Department for Unity and Integration and
International Islamic University Malaysia for the last seven consecu-
tive years. He was awarded a fellowship by the Centre for Interfaith
and Cultural Dialogue, Griffith University, Australia, as well as
KAICIID, Vienna. Panakkal works as the project coordinator of the
G20 Interfaith Summit, is actively involved in co-ordination of the
G20 Interfaith Summits and has co-organized Pre-Conference
Summits in Middle East and South Asia. He was also invited to pres-
ent his research on peace and moderation at the United Nations head-
quarter in New York in 2018.
Roman Rosenbaum (PhD) is a honorary associate at the University of
Sydney Australia. He specialises in post-war Japanese Literature and
Popular Cultural Studies. He holds a PhD in Japanese Literature from the
University of Sydney. In 2008, he received the Inoue Yasushi Award for the
best-refereed journal article on Japanese literature in Australia. In
2010–2011, he spent one year as a visiting research professor at the
International Research Centre for Japanese Studies (Nichibunken) to
complete a monograph on the social activist Oda Makoto. He is the
editor of Representation of Japanese History in Manga (Routledge 2013).
His latest edited book is entitled Visions of Precarity in Japanese Popular
xx NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

Culture and Literature (Routledge 2015). His latest translation is


ISHIBUMI: A Memorial to the Atomic Annihilation of 321 Students of
Hiroshima Second Middle School; Tokyo: Poplar Press (ポプラ社), 2016.
Caroline Jane Tully (PhD) is an honorary fellow in the School of
Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne,
Australia. Her research interests include religion and ritual in the Bronze
Age Aegean and East Mediterranean, Reception of the Ancient World,
and Contemporary Paganisms. Caroline’s publications include the
following: The Cultic Life of Trees in the Prehistoric Aegean, Levant, Egypt
and Cyprus (2018); ‘Thalassocratic Charms: Trees, Boats, Women and the
Sea in Minoan Glyptic Art’ (2018); ‘The artifice of Daidalos: Modern
Minoica as religious focus in contemporary Paganism’ (2018);
‘Egyptosophy in the British Museum: Florence Farr, the Egyptian Adept and
the Ka’ (2018); ‘Virtual Reality: Tree Cult and Epiphanic Ritual in
Aegean Glyptic Iconography’ (2016); and ‘Walk Like an Egyptian: Egypt as
Authority in Aleister Crowley’s Reception of The Book of the Law’ (2010).
She is also the guest editor for Pomegranate: International Journal of
Pagan Studies special issue on Pagan Art and Fashion.
Duncan Wright (together with Alo Tapim and James Zaro) is a senior
lecturer in Australian Archaeology at the Australian National University.
Wright was a research fellow at Monash University and Griffith universi-
ties and has developed a long-term collaboration with remote communi-
ties in far north Australia, including Torres Strait. His research
adopts a partnership approach, guided at all stages by the communi-
ties who initiate each project. Most recently, this has involved archae-
ological excavations at important initiation sites in Western and
Eastern Torres Strait. His interests include the history of ritual activ-
ities on Australia’s northern border and the extent to which these
activities, and underlying belief systems, survive within collective
memories and the ritual architecture of sacred places. His works
include the following: ‘Ritual pathways and public memory’ (2018);
‘The Archaeology of portable art: South East Asian, Pacific and Australian
Perspectives’ (2018); ‘Exploring ceremony: archaeology of a men’s
meeting house on Mabuyag, western Torres Strait’ (2016); and
‘Convergence of ceremonial and secular’ (2015). As part of the team,
Alo Tapim is an elder for the Murray group of islands. He belongs to
Daurareb and Magaram clans and is custodian of Waiet places on
Waier, Dauar and Mer. He completed schooling on Thursday Island
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xxi

and Townsville before working on the railways near Townsville.


Hired as a ‘temporary clerk,’ he advised the Department of Aboriginal
Island Affairs on Thursday Island before returning to Mer to focus
on his own community. Alo became a respected Dauareb elder, with
interests in language and heritage. He regularly advises government
and cultural organisations (including National Museum of Australia
and World Health Organisation), with expertise recognised through
appointment as a member of the Torres Shire Council Cultural
Committee and Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Health
Council. His outputs include media appearances on ABC, NITV, and
SBS, and has co-authored publications including ‘Indigenous
Australians’ knowledge of weather and climate’ (2010) and ‘Dancing
with the stars’ (2016). James Zaro is a knowledge custodian for the
Murray group of islands. He belongs to the Daurareb and Zagareb
clans and speaks for important Waiet initiation places on Waier (Ne),
Dauar (Teg) and Mer (ulag, near Las). Schooled on Thursday Island
and then Townsville, James was employed in a variety of roles span-
ning much of northern Australia. This included concreting house
foundations in Mackay, 20 years of work on railways around
Rockhampton, and road maintenance work as part of the
Rockhampton ‘bitumen patrol’. In 2011, he was recalled by his com-
munity to play football for Murray Islands and took part in the inau-
gural Island of Origin Cup. Following this, he worked at the Royal
Hotel on Thursday Island for two years before returning to Murray
to dive for trochus shell. Since this point, he has been actively involved
with the Meriam Council (Mer Gedkemle), including Dauareb represen-
tative between 2014 and 2018.
List of Figures

Fig. 2.1 Conical Rhyton from Zakros. (Source: Photo by Lourakis,


CC0 1.0 [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/
zero/1.0/deed.en] and image copyright the Heraklion
Archaeological Museum - Hellenic Ministry of Culture and
Sports - Archaeological Receipts Fund) 14
Fig. 2.2 Detail of Peak Sanctuary Rhyton relief. Shaw 1978 14
Fig. 2.3 Gold ring HM 1700, from Knossos. (Source: Photo by
Jebulon, CC0 1.0 [https://creativecommons.org/
publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en] and image copyright of
Heraklion Archaeological Museum - Hellenic Ministry of
Culture and Sports - Archaeological Receipts Fund) 18
Fig. 2.4 Clay ring impression from Haghia Triadha. (Source: Courtesy
the CMS Heidelberg) 20
Fig. 2.5 Gold ring from Knossos. (Source: Courtesy the CMS Heidelberg) 22
Fig. 2.6 Gold ring from Mycenae. (Source: Courtesy the CMS
Heidelberg)25
Fig. 2.7 “Baetylic table of offering” from the Dictaean Cave. Evans 1901 26
Fig. 2.8 Fresco painting from Xeste 3 at Thera. Doumas 1992 29
Fig. 2.9 Stone seal from Naxos. (Source: Courtesy the CMS Heidelberg) 32
Fig. 2.10 Bronze plaque from the Psychro Cave. Evans 1921 33
Fig. 3.1 Trompe l’oeil effects after the narrator loses her right (drawing)
hand. Kōno Fumiyo, Kono sekai no katasumi ni (Tokyo:
Futabasha, 2006), 3:87 50

xxiii
xxiv List of Figures

Fig. 3.2 An example of the narrator’s chūkanzu 虫瞰図 (worm’s-eye


view). Kōno Fumiyo, Adrienne Beck, trans., In This Corner of
the World (Los Angeles: Seven Seas Entertainment, 2017), 3:10 52
Fig. 3.3 An example of the narrator’s chōkanzu 鳥瞰図 or fukanzu 俯瞰図
(aerial bird’s-eye view) 53
Fig. 3.4 The sacred school textbook showing the children’s doodles.
Kono Fumiyo, Kono sekai no katasumi ni, 2:130 60
Fig. 4.1 The Torres Strait Islands. Adapted from two bathymetric
maps of Torres Strait—http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/
mapsonline/base-maps/torres-strait-reefs and https://
ts.eatlas.org.au/ts/maphighlights68
Fig. 4.2 Ne viewed from the sea (with Sunny Passi) 76
Fig. 4.3 James Zaro at “Waiet’s fireplace” 79
Fig. 4.4 Drawings of Waiet and his funeral ceremonies collected by Mr
J.S. Bruce (Haddon, Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological
Expedition, Gen Ethnography, Vol. 1, 132, 400–401.) (Source:
courtesy of Anita Herle, Museum of Archaeology and
Anthropology, University of Cambridge) 80
Fig. 4.5 The main excavation area (James Zaro, Glenn Van Der Kolk
and Sunny Passi—bottom to top and left to right) 81
Fig. 4.6 Cult hero pathways around Murray according to Pasi (Cited
A.O.C. Davies, Diary and notes: Murray Island Mer,
1924–25. Unpublished diary, Smithfield QLD. AIATSIS
Library), Mopwali and Pitt (Cited Lawrie, Myths and Legends
of the Torres Strait) and Alo Tapim (pers. comm. 2016) 84
Fig. 5.1 Ras-mancha 110
Fig. 5.2 Shyam-Rai Temple 112
Fig. 5.3 Ras-Chakra or Ras-Mandala 113
Fig. 5.4 Jor-Bangla or Kesta Rai Temple 115
Fig. 5.5 Performance of Putrakameshti sacrifice 117
Fig. 5.6 Legend of Andha muni’s son Sindhu 118
Fig. 5.7 Middle panel: Kumbhakarna was famous for his sleeping and
eating119
Fig. 5.8 Scenes of Kurukshetra War 120
Fig. 5.9 Bhı̄ṣhma on bed of arrows, and Arjuna shooting at earth to
quench the grandsire’s thirst 121
Fig. 5.10 Three arch gateways, Madan Mohan Temple 123
Fig. 6.1 The route of the Shikoku-henro142
Fig. 6.2 Today’s “Ohenrosan” 143
Fig. 6.3 Jiba in the Tenrikyo Main Sanctuary and its schematic view 148
Fig. 6.4 Prayer hall of the Main Sanctuary 154
Fig. 6.5 The Oyasato-yakata area surrounding the Main Sanctuary 155
List of Figures  xxv

Fig. 7.1 Entering Joseph Smith’s Birthplace Memorial 172


Fig. 7.2 Joseph Smith Memorial 175
Fig. 7.3 UTS Assembly Hall 178
Fig. 7.4 Belvedere “Garage” 180
Fig. 8.1 Kokoro o arai192
Fig. 8.2 Pilgrim hat and staff 203
Fig. 8.3 Reasons for undertaking the Shikoku Henro (2011 survey
results)208
Fig. 8.4 kizu tsuite210
Fig. 8.5 jō jō yo yo 213
Fig. 8.6 ashi no mame215
Fig. 8.7 kaze mo, hikari mo (Sakamura Shinmin, “Work 1116,” in
Shinmin Museum. kaze mo hikari mo / hotoke no inochi) 218
Fig. 10.1 Tianen Mile Foyuan Budai at Emei Lake, Taiwan 285
Fig. 12.1 Features of Daesoon Jinrihoe Dojangs (Temple Complexes) 331
Fig. 12.2 The Shrine of Divine Beings (Yeongdae) 332
Fig. 12.3 Yeoju Headquarters Dojang looks like ume flower petals 335
Fig. 12.4 The mountain beside the Yeoju dojang resembles the
Seven Stars 336
List of Tables

Table 4.1 Overview of Waiet ritual based on Davies and Haddon 75


Table 4.2 Radiocarbon dates from the Waiet sites in ETS 82
Table 11.1 Ideal types of theological locations of religious/spiritual
identities and their boundaries 308

xxvii
CHAPTER 1

Introduction

David W. Kim

The contemporary society witnesses numerous travellers visiting the sacred


sites of different culture or custom in the twenty-first century. Their curi-
osity is expanded when they discover new historical facts through the
original stories of a particular tribe, region, or nation. The transmission of
oral tradition and myth carries on the significant meaning of those reli-
gious sites, such as temples, mountains, castles, churches, house, and ani-
mals. However, there are very few texts on the sociopolitical transformation
of sacred sites and stories, even though the number of global pilgrims has
gradually increased not only in Europe but also in Asia. The tourism pack-
ages in relation to those cultural places are also becoming popular among
young and old couples and families. Why do local people regularly wor-
ship (new and mystical) religious shrines? How were they built? Who is
their god or deity? What kind of sacred stories do they have? Why do many
people travel to them? How does it impact local history? Do sacred sites
have economic benefits? Such questions, within the anthropological con-
cept of Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Shintoism,
and Shamanism, have a great clue to comprehend the ethnographical pro-
cess of transculturation.

D. W. Kim (*)
Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea
Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
e-mail: david.kim@anu.edu.au

© The Author(s) 2021 1


D. W. Kim (ed.), Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories Across Cultures,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56522-0_1
2 D. W. KIM

The subject of the edited book (Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories:
Transmissions of Oral Tradition, Myth, and Religiosity) is about the global
perspective of sacred spaces and its related narratives in the regional his-
tory of Mediterranean Sea, Asia, Australia, and North America. The man-
uscript comprises selected articles (out of 62 articles) from the second
Australian National University (ANU) Religion Conference, 5–7 April
2018, ANU, Canberra. There are introductory individual papers on the
tradition of major religious sites, such as Religious Sites by Robbie
B. H. Goh (2006); Designing and Managing Interpretive Experiences at
Religious Sites: Visitors’ Perceptions of Canterbury Cathedral by Karen
Hughes, Nigel Bond, and Roy Ballantyne (2007); Perception of Sacredness
at Heritage Religious Sites by Daniel Levi and Sara Kocher (2013); and
The Political Geographies of Religious Sites in Moscow’s Neighborhoods by
Meagan Todd (2017). However, the current book demonstrates the
unique meaning and its impact on the social and philosophical culture of
particular regions. The detailed knowledge of each religious community’s
transformation is explored in the context of cultural diversity in the devel-
opment of modernisation.
The Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories: Transmissions of Oral Tradition,
Myth, and Religiosity unveils multi-angle perspectives of symbolic and
mystical objects. The writings of 12 contributors will describe the religio-­
political environment of each regional case. This book also analyses the
religiosity of local people as a lens through which readers can re-examine
the concept of iconography, syncretism, and materialism. In addition, our
contributors interpret the growth of new religions as another viewpoint of
anti-traditional religions. The new approach offers significant insight to
comprehend the practical agony and sorrow of regional people in the
colonial context of contemporary history. The scope of the book covers
the identity, culture, and teachings of ethnic communities in the modern
society. The cultural influence of regional reliefs on local people will be the
primary focus, with less attention on scientific prospect. The critical
insights and innovative approaches of the book will help apprehend oral
history, ethnology, and traditional religions as the study of sacred sites is a
prominent feature in a number of disciplines. In particular, the new book
will be a useful source for the readers of sociology and philosophy of the
following regions: Greece, India (Malabar Coast), West Bengal, Vietnam,
Tibet, Taiwan, China, Korea, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United
States, and Australia.
1 INTRODUCTION 3

The topics of enquiry range from the role of sacred sites in religious
traditions to how sacred sites form a part of the development of modern
tourist industries, the role of sacred sites in international relations and the
ways in which sacred sites can be the focus for disputes. As several sacred
sites and their stories face challenges due to economic development, envi-
ronmental change and the impact of mass pilgrimage and tourism, this
book offers an opportunity for wide-ranging understanding of the past,
present, and future of sacred sites and stories and their significance in the
world today.
Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories: Transmission of Oral Tradition, Myth,
and Religiosity offers a fresh view of the socio-religious phenomena of
various countries through examining the structure (arts and building) and
unique narratives of those spaces. The inquiry of religious persecution and
social apprehension under political and military influence will underline
the new cultural landscape of those areas. The book is not about casual
narratives of the regional culture, but adheres to high standards as an aca-
demic source, for it is the works of professional researchers in history,
philosophy, politics, diplomacy, gender studies, religion, education,
archaeology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, and cultural studies. It
theoretically investigates the external and internal phenomena of each reli-
gious custom.
The manuscript comprises four parts (13 chapters in total including
introduction [Chap. 1]); namely, “Visual Arts and Architecture,”
“Pilgrimage and Tourism (Asia and New Age),” “Competition and
Contestation,” and “Theory and Method.” Part I (Visual Arts and
Architecture) describes the archaeological arts of regional sites in four
chapters. The topic of “Traces of Places: Sacred Sites in Miniature on
Minoan Gold Rings” (Chap. 2) explores the Glyptic arts of the Aegean
Bronze Age through engraved metal signet rings, stone seals, and the clay
impressions (sealings). The gold signet rings from the Cretan Neopalatial
period (1750–1490 BCE) represent various types of sacred sites, includ-
ing mountains, rural, caves, and urban sanctuaries. Caroline Jane Tully
differentiates the built structures depicted in cult scenes on Minoan gold
rings, correlates them to archaeological remains at Minoan sacred sites,
and proposes an explanation of ephemeral cult structures now only
recorded in the iconographic evidence. She argues that the representation
of Minoan cult structures that evoked the natural landscape within presti-
gious art forms was a method whereby Neopalatial elites naturalised their
authority by depicting themselves in special relationship with the animate
4 D. W. KIM

landscape. “Reimagining Sacrosanct Sites in the Graphic Art of Kō no


Fumiyo” (Chap. 3) visualises the post-war generation’s perspective on the
Asia-Pacific conflict through the graphic art of the atomic bombing sites
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. What is the significance of this reimagined
discourse by a post-war-generation author born into the era of Japan’s
accelerated economic growth? Roman Rosenbaum regards the context of
Kō no’s visionary discourse on wartime Japan, during a time when the
neo-liberal politics of “overcoming the postwar regime” have become a
national imperative. Kō no’s exploration of Japan’s nuclear legacy decon-
structs the aura of Japan’s devastated sacred sites and dispels the rhetoric
of invigorated survivors rising such as phoenixes from the ashes.
“Consecrated Journeys: A Torres Strait Islander Space, Time Odyssey”
(Chap. 4) examines the ethnography and archaeology of Waiet markai, a
consecrated journey that involved initiation ceremonies spanning three
Eastern Torres Strait (henceforth, ETS) islands. Specifically, the research
regards on “Ne” on Waier, one stage of the “Waiet markai” and addresses
the following two questions: (i) can temporal change be isolated at impor-
tant ETS islander ritual places? (ii) Do echoes of the staged Waiet markai
process survive in the structure of ceremonies and site architecture? Wright,
Tapim, and Zaro argue that an integrated approach, drawing on ethnogra-
phy and archaeology, allows them to better understand ritual processes
within indigenous contexts. Performative models of ritual passage provide
intellectual knowledge to comprehensive archaeological and ethnographic
anomalies at Ne and move beyond the universal conceptions of sacred sites
as ritual isolates. “Art and Cultural Heritage of the Ramayana and the
Mahabharata” (Chap. 5) highlights the unique sculptures on the walls of
Bishnupur’s terracotta temples in West Bengal, depicting the culture in the
Indian epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. While the walls are decorated
with terracotta plates narrating stories from the epics (similar to that of
Angkor-Wat) and Puranas, the artisans of these terracotta temples pre-
ferred to follow the legends of the Bengali Ramayana-Ramer Panchali by
Krittivas Ojha and Kashidasi Mahabharata by Kashiram Das, the Bengali
version of Mahabharata. Supriya Banik Pal attempts to answer the ques-
tions on why the artisans had chosen the ancient Indian literatures through
the form of visual illustrations, demonstrated the characteristic of terra-
cotta art and architecture, and what their influences on modern art are.
Part II (“Pilgrimage and Tourism: Asia and New Age”) regards Asian
cultural places in the context of pilgrimage and tourism in three chapters.
1 INTRODUCTION 5

“Jiba: Returning Home for Tenrikyo Followers” (Chap. 6) introduces the


unique concept of “Jiba (Home of the Parent)” in a Japanese new religion.
While the word, with the terms of “yashiki” and “oyasato,” contains literal
meanings as “place,” “land,” and “location” to Tenrikyo followers, “Jiba,”
refers to the sacred spot at the centre of the main sanctuary in the church
headquarters. Therefore, it is described as “the object and centre of the
Tenrikyo faith.” The chapter depicts that those who come to see the
Foundress (Oyasama = Miki Nakayama) in Jiba have their hearts filled with
joy and brightness and become enveloped in an indescribable peace. For
such an internal transformation, Midori Horiuchi discusses the characteris-
tics of “Ojibagaeri,” the Tenrikyo pilgrimage directed towards the “sacred”
locus of Jiba. “Blurred Boundaries between Secular Memory and Sacred
Space in Religious Tourism” (Chap. 7) looks at the formation of com-
memorative sites of the Mormon and Unification faiths and finds it simi-
larly indicative of such blurring boundaries. Is the sacred being edged out
by secular rationality, or is it actually expanding into new, more subtle,
territory? For Alexa Blonner, the development of sacred sites is seen to have
begun as a highly practical act of historical preservation to which sacred
meaning and experience accrue over time rather than the other way around
as with the more traditional sacred sites. It is sustained that they intermesh
preservation, historical interest, educational value, secular and sacred pil-
grimage, moral story, and sacred experience. Blonner presumes that the
combined purpose is to be found at traditional sacred monuments and
landscapes; however, in these two American and Korean groups site pre-
sentations remain chiefly secular in focus with sacred reasoning more subtly
hovering. “The Poetry of the Shikoku O-Henro Pilgrimage” (Chap. 8)
talks about the relationship between poetry and pilgrimage through inves-
tigating the poetry written by pilgrims walking the 1200-­kilometre Shikoku
Henro no Michi (Pilgrim Way), the oldest Buddhist pilgrimage route in
Japan. Carol Hayes examines how such poetic expression stands at the
intersection between the spiritual and the mundane, pilgrimage and tour-
ism, and the unique role it plays in giving expression to the pilgrim rela-
tionship with space, belief, and cultural identity.
Part III (“Competition and Contestation”) contains the various studies
in the concept of competition and contestation in two chapters.
“Competition and Contestation at a Hindu-Muslim Shrine” (Chap. 9)
introduces Laldas, a 16th born saint, revered by both Hindus and Muslims.
Although the shrines of Laldas historically remained a peaceful centre of
popular devotion throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
6 D. W. KIM

centuries, his shrines became disputed centres in the middle of the twenti-
eth century. Mukesh Kumar demonstrates how this religious transforma-
tion from an undisputed liminal cult to a more Hinduised cult has taken
place with regard to popular devotion to the saint Laldas. The two pri-
mary followers of the saint are a Muslim peasant class called the Meos and
a Hindu group of merchants known as the Baniyas. The author argues that
religious disputes at shared religious spaces are the reflections of changing
forms of religious cultures; they became prone to disputes when the
dynamics of social relations changed. Chapter 10, “The Religious
Implications of Maitreya Mega-Statues,” surveys Maitreya megastatue
projects in four culturally different regions: namely, Taiwan, northern
China, southern Vietnam, and the Tibetan refugee population in India.
According to Edward A. Irons, Maitreya is most widely recognisable in
the form of Budai, the laughing, overweight character watching (hardly
guarding) the approach to the Heavenly King Hall, the first hall encoun-
tered in most Chinese temples. He presumes that Maitreya retains an
allure that belies popular images. As the Buddha of the future, Maitreya is
intimately tied to the idea of a new age. The American Hong Kong scholar
sustains that this connects Maitreya to a powerful constellation of religious
emotions: hope, apocalyptic determinism, and trepidation.
Part IV (“Theory and Method”) begins with the interpretation of the-
ories and methods applied to the sacred sites of various (Eastern and
Western) religions in three chapters. Chapter 11 (“Contemporary
Creations and Re-cognitions of Sacred Sites”) looks at the role of beliefs
and practices of contemporary religions and spiritualities in the creation
and/or recognition of sacred sites. Are new sacred sites being created
and/or discovered today? Eileen Barker follows that sacred sites are com-
monly thought of as being relics of religious or spiritual happenings of the
past—Stonehenge, the Western Wall, The Church of the Holy Sepulchre,
Mecca, Varanasi, Mount Fuji, and natural localities for Native Americans
and other indigenous peoples.
“Is Sacred Site Discovered? Or Created?” (Chap. 12) interprets the
Yeoju Headquarters Temple Complex in the combined theories of Mircea
Eliade and David Chidester. The first perspective is that one cannot choose
a sacred site based on one’s will but can only discover it; for that space is
thought to have innately acquired its sacredness through hierophany. The
second perspective is that humankind actively creates sacred space, ascrib-
ing their own interests upon a place by occupying and activating the
sacredness of that location. In considering these issues, Seon-Keun Cha
1 INTRODUCTION 7

proposes that the sacred space of Daesoon Jinrihoe in Korea can be inter-
preted as either discovered or created according to which perspective is
adopted. The chapter argues that compounding the two aforementioned
perspectives broadens possible explanations of the sacred space.
“Transformation of Admiral to the Sainthood and Sacred Stories of
Chinese Sanctum Sanctorum from Malabar Coast” (Chap. 13) inquires
the incredible process of famous Chinese Admiral Zheng He’s transforma-
tion to sainthood and mystical experience enjoyed by devotees in Indian
Ocean coastal line of Malabar. Admiral Zheng He is known to make seven
frequent voyages to Malabar between 1405 and 1433 with a marvellous
fleet of 317 ships and approximately 28,000 people. How did the admiral
become a reverent saint? How does the community enjoy the supernatural
power of the admiral turned Sheikh? Abbas Panakkal analyses the nature
of annual Nerchas in honour of Chinese Saint, a festival similar to the
temple festival of the region. He compares the nostalgic cultural legacies
of sacred stories with trajectories of early trading and political axis devel-
oped as shared heritage of Chinese Malabar relations.
Ultimately, each chapter of this volume (Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories:
Transmission of Oral Tradition, Myth, and Religiosity) delivers the unique-
ness and originality of cultural heritage. The hagiographic narratives of
indigenous people and pilgrims transmit the oral tradition of sacred sites
that is based on mystical imagination. The regular rituals and regional
festivals display the spontaneous religiosity of particular region or culture.
Similarly, this volume demonstrates that most of the ethnic communities
would have certain patterns of socio-religious symbolism by which their
identity is displayed in the formation of arts and architecture. Such
approaches of sacred sites and stories in contemporary society are an alter-
native method that can draw a conclusion that religious traditions can be
trans-historical regardless of the official recognition of government or
authority.
PART I

Visual Arts and Architecture


CHAPTER 2

Traces of Places: Sacred Sites in Miniature


on Minoan Gold Rings

Caroline Jane Tully

Introduction
Discovered at the beginning of the twentieth century by Sir Arthur Evans,
Minoan civilisation was named after the mythical King Minos, and initially
interpreted with reference to the well-known Classical mythological tales of
Pasiphae and the Bull, Ariadne and Theseus, and the latter’s killing of the
Minotaur in the Labyrinth. Ubiquitous bull imagery from the palatial site
of Knossos and the palace’s “labyrinthine” architecture appeared to con-
firm the myth—but what of the reality? Crete is the largest of the Greek
islands and is located in the Mediterranean on the ancient sea routes
between Europe, Asia, and Africa, a position contributing to its important
role in the network of trade and transmission of culture throughout the
ancient world. First inhabited in the Neolithic period (ca.7000–3500
BCE), small hamlets and villages remained the dominant feature of Crete
until the end of the Early Bronze Age (the Middle Minoan IA–IB ca. 2000
BCE). From the Middle Bronze Age onwards, a more complex society

C. J. Tully (*)
University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
e-mail: caroline.tully@unimelb.edu.au

© The Author(s) 2021 11


D. W. Kim (ed.), Sacred Sites and Sacred Stories Across Cultures,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-56522-0_2
12 C. J. TULLY

emerged which culminated in the appearance of the first palaces, termed


the “Protopalatial period” (Middle Minoan IB–IIIB ca.2000–1750 BCE).
Destruction of the palaces, probably by an earthquake, and their subse-
quent rebuilding marked the beginning of the Neopalatial period (Late
Minoan IA–B) around 1700 BCE. The Minoan palaces formed the centre
of administration, storage, trade, and religion until their destruction by the
Mycenaeans in the Final Palatial period (Late Minoan IB–II) around
1490–1430 BCE, with Knossos itself finally destroyed around 1350 BC.1

Peak Sanctuaries
In the Early Minoan period, religion was focussed upon ancestor venera-
tion and ritual was enacted in the vicinity of monumental stone tombs.
Mountain peak and cave cults arose at the end of the Early Minoan period
(EM III ca. 2200–2000 BCE), possibly as a response to environmental
changes. Around this time, an aridity event affecting the wider eastern
Mediterranean dried up lowland pastures on Crete and may have been the
catalyst for the establishment of ritual sites on mountain tops and within
caves because they were close to the sources of rain and groundwater.2
Archaeological investigation has identified around forty Minoan moun-
tain peak and hill sanctuaries.3 During the Middle Minoan period, these
were distributed throughout eastern and east-central Crete and were
locations of popular cult focussed on agricultural and pastoral concerns.
Peak sanctuary sites of the Middle Minoan period are characterised by

1
Peter Tomkins, “Neolithic Antecedents,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age
Aegean, ed. Eric Cline (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 31–49; Sturt Manning,
“Chronology and Terminology,” in The Oxford Handbook of the Bronze Age Aegean, ed. Eric
Cline (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 11–28.
2
Jennifer M. Moody, “Environmental Change and Minoan Sacred Landscapes,” in
Archaeologies of Cult: Essays on Ritual and Cult in Honour of Geraldine C. Gesell, eds. Anna
Lucia D’Agata and Aleydis van der Moortel (Princeton: American School of Classical Studies
at Athens, 2009), 241–249.
3
Alan Peatfield, “The Atispadhes Korakias Peak Sanctuary Project,” Classics Ireland 1
(1994): 90–95. DOI: 10.2307/25528268; Krzystof Nowicki, “Some Remarks on New
Peak Sanctuaries in Crete: The Topography of Ritual Areas and Their Relationship with
Settlements,” Jarbuch des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts 122: (2007): 1–31; Ibid.,
“Mobility of Deities? The Territorial and Ideological Expansion of Knossos During the
Proto-Palatial Period as Evidenced by the Peak Sanctuaries Distribution, Development, and
Decline,” Proceedings of the 12th International Congress of Cretan Studies, Heraklion, Greece
21–25 September 2016:1–15. 2016. 12iccs.proceedings.gr; Brent E. Davis, Minoan Stone
Vessels with Linear A Inscriptions (Leuven: Peeters, 2014).
2 TRACES OF PLACES: SACRED SITES IN MINIATURE ON MINOAN GOLD… 13

large, open-air spaces suitable for gatherings, feasting remains, evidence of


fire, and terracotta and bronze votive animal and human figurines. Many
of the sites are intervisible and may have been used as beacons, and they
may have also been used for astronomical observation.4
During the Neopalatial period, the number of active peak sanctuaries
decreased to only eight which were widely dispersed and located near
urban centres and palaces.5 These sanctuaries were architecturally elabo-
rated and received high-quality offerings, suggesting that they came under
the control of palatial elites.6 Neopalatial peak sanctuaries feature single or
multiple roomed enclosures built roughly of local stone; cult furniture
such as altars, benches, rock tables; human and animal figurines, votive
limbs, hearths, ash, evidence of feasting, and objects inscribed with the
palatial writing script known as Linear A. Mount Jouktas near the palace
of Knossos is the oldest and most monumentalised peak sanctuary and has
produced the largest and most extensive assemblage.7 The peak sanctuary
depicted on a stone rhyton from Zakros in east Crete provides an impres-
sion of the appearance of such sites (Figs. 2.1 and 2.2).

4
Alan Peatfield, “The Topography of Minoan Peak Sanctuaries,” Annual of the British
School at Athens 78 (1983): 273–279. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400019729;
Ibid., “Palace and Peak: The Political and Religious Relationship Between Palaces and Peak
Sanctuaries,” in The Function of Minoan Palaces. Proceedings of the Fourth International
Symposium at the Swedish Institute at Athens, 10–16 June, 1984, eds. Robin Hägg and Nanno
Marinatos (Stockholm: Svenska Institut I Athen, 1987), 89–93; Ibid., “Atispadhes Korakias”;
“The Topography of Minoan Peak Sanctuaries Revisited,” in Archaeologies of Cult: Essays on
Ritual and Cult in Crete in Honor of Geraldine C. Gesell, eds. Anna Lucia D’Agata and
Aleydis van der Moortel (Princeton: American School of Classical Studies at Athens, 2009),
251–259; Evangelos Kyriakidis, Ritual in the Bronze Age Aegean: The Minoan Peak
Sanctuaries (London: Duckworth, 2005), 52; Mary Blomberg and Göran Henriksson, “The
Discovery of Minoan Astronomy and its Debt to Robin Hägg,” Journal of Prehistoric
Religion 25 (2016): 64–77.
5
Peatfield, “Atispadhes Korakias,” 23; Kyriakidis, Ritual in the Bronze Age Aegean, 20;
Davis, Minoan Stone Vessels, 406, n.1624.
6
Peatfield, “Palace and Peak”; “Atispadhes Korakias”; Davis, Minoan Stone Vessels; Sam
Crooks, Caroline Tully and Louise A. Hitchcock, “Numinous Tree and Stone: Re-animating
the Minoan Sacred Landscape,” in Metaphysis: Ritual Myth and Symbolism in the Aegean
Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 15th International Aegean Conference, Vienna Institute for
Oriental and European Archaeology, Aegean and Anatolia Department, Austrian Academy of
Sciences and Institute of Classical Archaeology, University of Vienna, 22–25 April 2014
(Aegaeum 39), eds. Eva Alram-Stern, Fritz Blakolmer, Sigrid Deger-Jalkotzy, Robert
Laffineur, and Jorg Weilhartner (Leuven and Liège: Peeters, 2016), 157–164.
7
Alexandra Karetsou, “Ίερòν Κορυφής Γιούχτα,” Praktika tēs en Athēnais Archaiologikēs
Hetaireias (1974): 228–239; Alan Peatfield, “Minoan Peak Sanctuaries: History and
Society,” Opuscula Atheniensia 18 (1990): 122.
Fig. 2.1 Conical Rhyton from Zakros. (Source: Photo by Lourakis, CC0 1.0
[https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en] and image
copyright the Heraklion Archaeological Museum - Hellenic Ministry of Culture
and Sports - Archaeological Receipts Fund)

Fig. 2.2 Detail of Peak Sanctuary Rhyton relief. Shaw 1978


2 TRACES OF PLACES: SACRED SITES IN MINIATURE ON MINOAN GOLD… 15

Rural Sanctuaries
Rural sanctuaries occur within the landscape at various types of topo-
graphical location such as on the slopes and summits of low hills, in forest
clearings, in the vicinity of rocky clumps, or on terraces close to the sea.8
They could be situated high in the mountains, but not on mountain peaks,
as in the example of Kato Syme which is located on a flat surface close to
a large spring.9 Rural sanctuaries incorporated landscape features such as
parts of the field, terrace, or grove in which they were situated, but were
deliberately set apart from the surrounding landscape by varying degrees
of architectural definition. This ranges from the extremely humble in
which a large stone or heap of pebbles was placed on the boundary line, to
the presence of built structures that were made of perishable materials
such as wood, to much more elaborate architectural construction as in the
case of Kato Syme with its stone walls and buildings.10 It is the more mod-
est of these categories that are consequently difficult to impossible to dis-
cern within the archaeological landscape and the category of rural
sanctuary has primarily been elucidated from iconography.11

Cave Sanctuaries
Of over two thousand caves in Crete, thirty-six have been identified as cult
sites with twelve of those dating to the Minoan period.12 From the Late
Neolithic to the Early Minoan I period, caves were used as burial places
and were the focus of ancestor veneration. During the Middle Minoan I,
the earliest sanctuaries were established at the Psychro, Kamares, Amnisos,
and Idaean caves.13 Minoan sacred caves tend to be large, deep, and damp,

8
Bogdan Rutkowski, The Cult Places of the Aegean (New Haven: Yale University Press,
1986), 204, 247, n.3, n.4.
9
Bogdan Rutkowski, “Cretan Open-Air Shrines,” Archaeologia 39 (1988): 26.
10
Angeliki Lebessi, “Ίερόν τού Ѐρμού κα Αφροδίτης είς Σύμηυ βιάννου.” Praktika tēs en
Athēnais Archaiologikēs Hetaireias (1972): 193–203; Angeliki Lebessi and Polymnia Muhly,
“Aspects of Minoan Cult. Sacred Enclosures. The Evidence from the Syme Sanctuary
(Crete),” Archäologischer Anzeiger (1990): 313–36.
11
Rutkowski, “Cretan Open-Air Shrines,” 24; Cult Places, 99, 103, 248, n.16; Elissa
Z. Faro, Ritual Activity and Regional Dynamics: Towards a Reinterpretation of Minoan
Extra-Urban Ritual Space (University of Michigan, 2008), 195, 207, 216–8, 212, 234.
12
Richard Bradley, An Archaeology of Natural Places (London: Routledge, 2000), 98;
Loeta Tyree, Cretan Sacred Caves: Archaeological Evidence (Columbia: University of Missouri
and Arbor: University Microfilms, 1974).
13
Loeta Tyree, “Diachronic Changes in Minoan Cave Cult,” in Potnia: Deities and
Religion in the Aegean Bronze Age. Proceedings of the 8th International Aegean Conference.
16 C. J. TULLY

and feature pools of water, various chambers, and stalagmites and stalac-
tites that can evoke human and animal forms.14 Sacred caves are often
located at prominent positions within the landscape and have entrances
visible from the surrounding area, as in the case of the Kamares Cave near
the palace of Phaistos.15 Cave cult was probably directed towards the pro-
motion of fertility. Votive objects including metal figurines and double
axes were submerged in the pools, while double axes, knives, and pins
were lodged into the stalagmites, crevices, and fissures within the rock.16
Feasting remains are apparent but evidence of fire is rare. The high quality
of many of the objects deposited within cave sanctuaries, in addition to the
naturally restricted access to the caves, suggest elite participation.17 The
presence of mountain, rural, and cave sanctuaries imply that the Minoans
envisioned a tripartite division of the cosmos.18

Landscape Features in Palatial Architecture


The Minoan sacred landscape was also incorporated into palatial design
where it appears both as naturalistic decorations and in more abstracted
architectonic form.19 Palatial ceramics were decorated with floral and
marine themes, and rooms were adorned with fresco paintings depicting
plants and animals. Sunken and basement architectural spaces termed

Goteborg University [12–15 April 2000] (Aegaeum 22), eds. Robert Laffineur and Wolf-
Dietrich Niemeier (Liège: Université de Liège, 2001), 40.
14
Livingston V. Watrous, The Cave Sanctuary of Zeus at Psychro: A Study of Extra-Urban
Sanctuaries in Minoan and Early Iron Age Crete (Liège Université de Liege, 1996), 51;
Rutkowski, Cult Places, 51; Sam Crooks, “Natural Landscapes,” A Companion to Aegean
Art and Architecture, ed. Louise Hitchcock (Hoboken: Blackwell).
15
Tyree, “Diachronic Changes,” 40.
16
David G. Hogarth, “The Dictaean Cave,” Annual of the British School at Athens 6
(1899–1900): 94–116. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0068245400001945.
17
Joseph Hatzidakis, “An Early Minoan Sacred Cave at Arkalochori in Crete,” Annual of
the British School at Athens 19 (1912–13): 35–47. https://doi.org/10.1017/
S0068245400009072; Crooks, “Natural Landscapes.”
18
Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Kingship and the Solar Goddess. A Near Eastern Koine
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2010), 110–111; Caroline J. Tully and Sam Crooks,
“Dropping Ecstasy? Minoan Cult and the Tropes of Shamanism,” Time and Mind: The
Journal for Archaeology Consciousness and Culture 8 (2015): 129–158. https://doi.org/1
0.1080/1751696X.2015.1026029.
19
Louise A. Hitchcock, “Naturalising the Cultural: Architectonicised Landscape as
Ideology in Minoan Crete,” Building Communities: House, Settlement and Society in the
Aegean and Beyond, Cardiff University, April 17–21, 2001, eds. Ruth Westgate, Nick Fisher
and James Whitely (London: British School at Athens, 2007), 91–97.
2 TRACES OF PLACES: SACRED SITES IN MINIATURE ON MINOAN GOLD… 17

“Lustral Basins” and “Pillar Crypts” may have been architectonic rendi-
tions of sacred caves; the stone pillar in a pillar crypt referencing stalag-
mites and stalactites characteristic of Minoan caves.20 Wooden columns
situated directly above pillar crypts in so-called column shrines may have
evoked trees or groves at rural sanctuaries.21 The throne in the palace of
Knossos features a baetylic or mountain-shaped back, similar in outline to
that depicted between antithetic goats upon the Peak Sanctuary Rhyton
from Zakros (Fig. 2.2).22 The Central Courts of palatial buildings were
oriented between true north and a sacred mountain, and the buildings
grouped around the Central Court may have evoked mountains around a
plain.23 Thus, the architectural design of Minoan palaces instantiated the
Minoan tripartite cosmology, consisting of sacred mountains, terrestrial
plains, and subterranean caves.24

Sacred Sites in Iconography


Evidence for Minoan sacred sites is also found in the two-dimensional art
forms of fresco painting, carved stone vases, carved ivory, and glyptic. Glyptic
art is the most extensive body of Aegean Bronze Age representational art and
consists of carved seals in the form of seal stones, engraved metal signet rings,
and the clay impressions (sealings) that the seals were used to produce. Seals
were part of the palatial administrative system and were used to secure and
identify property, to designate ownership, and as a symbol of office or author-
ity. Approximately 11,000 seals and sealings are known from the Aegean
Bronze Age.25 Usually, under 3 centimetres in size, the primary purpose of

20
Louise A. Hitchcock, Minoan Architecture: A Contextual Analysis (Jonsered: Paul
Åströms Förlag, 2000), 150–154; “Naturalising the Cultural,” 94.
21
Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Religion: Ritual, Image and Symbol (Colombia: University of
South Carolina Press, 1993), 87–98.
22
Caroline J. Tully and Sam Crooks, “Enthroned Upon Mountains: Iconography and the
Construction of Power in the Aegean Bronze Age,” in The Ancient Throne: The Mediterranean,
the Near East, and Beyond. From the 3rd Millennium BCE to the 14th Century CE. Proceedings
of the Workshop held at 10th ICAANE in Vienna, eds. Liat Naeh and Dana B. Gilboa (Vienna:
OREA, 2020).
23
Jan Driessen, “The Central Court of the Palace at Knossos,” in Knossos: Palace, City,
State, eds. Gerald Cadogan, Eleni Hatzaki and Adonis Vasilakis (London: British School at
Athens, 2004), 77; Hitchcock, “Naturalising the Cultural.”
24
Caroline Tully and Sam Crooks, “Power Ranges: Identity and Terrain in Minoan Crete,”
Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture (2019).
25
The seals and sealings are published with bibliography in the Corpus der Minoischen und
Mykenischen Siegel (CMS) series.
18 C. J. TULLY

seals was identification of their owner; however, because of their decorative


aspects they also functioned as jewellery. Stone seals were worn on the body
as bracelets, necklaces, pendants, or pins. The small hoops of the metal signet
rings suggest that they may have belonged to people with very small fingers,
have been worn further along the finger between the first and second knuck-
les, or been strung upon necklaces.26 Evidence from the clay sealings stamped
by gold rings show that they mainly authenticated documents.27 Around 340
signet rings have been identified; a little over 100 of which are actual rings
while the remainder are preserved only through their impressions on clay
sealings (Fig. 2.3).

Fig. 2.3 Gold ring HM 1700, from Knossos. (Source: Photo by Jebulon, CC0
1.0 [https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en] and
image copyright of Heraklion Archaeological Museum - Hellenic Ministry of
Culture and Sports - Archaeological Receipts Fund)

26
Mervyn Popham and Hector Catling, “Sellopoulo Tombs 3 and 4, Two Late Minoan
Graves Near Knossos,” Annual of the British School at Athens 69 (1974): 223. https://doi.
org/10.1017/S0068245400005542
27
Olga Krzyszkowska, Aegean Seals (London: University of London Press, 2005),
155–156, 192; Judith Weingarten, “The Use of the Zakro Sealings,” Kadmos 22 (1983):
8–13. https://doi.org/10.1515/kadm. 1983.22.1.8; Erik Hallager, The Minoan Roundel
and Other Sealed Documents in the Neopalatial Linear A Administration (Aegaeum 14)
(Liège: Université de Liège, 1996).
2 TRACES OF PLACES: SACRED SITES IN MINIATURE ON MINOAN GOLD… 19

Cult in Glyptic
The metal signet rings feature the most complex and spectacular figurative
scenes in the glyptic repertoire and mainly consist of human and divine fig-
ures engaged in ritual activities.28 These events occur in locations ­ranging
from natural landscapes characterised by the presence of trees and rocks and
the absence of architecture, perhaps indicating a sacred grove or cave; to the
outside of sanctuary walls; in the vicinity of various types of altars; as well as
in, or near, boats and the sea.29 All the examples of cult activity occurring
within the natural landscape involve epiphany; the appearance of a divine
being either as a vision or as a human acting as the divinity. The occurrence
of epiphany within the natural landscape emphasises the fact that the
Minoans understood the landscape to be a sacred place.30

Trees in Rocky Ground


Glyptic images of ritual activity occurring amidst trees and rocks, without
any architectural structures, portray ephemeral cult places that are difficult
to identify archaeologically within the actual landscape. Trees and rocks,
along with the human activity depicted in these images including epiph-
anic ritual, tree shaking, baetyl hugging, and dancing would not have left
a material culture signature in the archaeological record.31 These images
may depict informal, occasional, or spontaneous encounters with the
numinous landscape, or the initial discovery of such a place.32 While the
entirety of the landscape is not depicted because of the constraints of the
glyptic medium, selected features such as trees and rocks imply a wider
landscape, traces of which can be assumed to exist outside the glyptic
frame. As a result of the miniaturisation and editing involved in glyptic
composition, landscape elements such as trees and rocks may be short-
hand for larger features such as groves and mountains, as is the case in
28
John G. Younger, The Iconography of Late Minoan and Mycenaean Sealstones and Finger
Rings (Bristol: Bristol Classic Press, 1988), x; John Boardman, Greek Gems and Finger Rings:
Early Bronze Age to Late Classical (London: Thames and Hudson, 2001), 16; Krzyszkowska,
Aegean Seals, 127, 137.
29
Caroline J. Tully, The Cultic Life of Trees in the Prehistoric Aegean, Levant, Egypt and
Cyprus (Peeters: Leuven, 2018).
30
Caroline J. Tully, “Virtual Reality: Tree Cult and Epiphanic Ritual in Aegean Glyptic
Iconography,” Journal of Prehistoric Religion 25 (2016): 35–46.
31
Faro, Ritual Activity, 207.
32
Tully, Cultic Life of Trees, 36.
20 C. J. TULLY

Near Eastern seal iconography. Comparative ethnographic examples of art


and literature from the Levant and Egypt suggest a symbolic association
between these aspects of the natural world and ruler ideology. Trees and
stones are the natural forms and attributes of deities associated with fertil-
ity, power, and rulership.33 The tree and stone dyad is also associated with
communication between heaven and earth, secret divine language, and
prophecy.34 The depiction of epiphany occurring in natural locations char-
acterised by the presence of trees and rocks signifies that the Minoan elites
who owned and were depicted in these rings wanted to promote their
special relationship with the sentient landscape which naturalised their
authority (Fig. 2.4).35

Fig. 2.4 Clay ring impression from Haghia Triadha. (Source: Courtesy the CMS
Heidelberg)

33
William Dever, Did God Have a Wife? Archaeology and Folk Religion in Ancient Israel
(Grand Rapids: Erdmans, 2005); Susan Ackerman, Warrior, Dancer, Seductress, Queen:
Women in Judges and Biblical Israel (New York: Doubleday, 1998), 142, 154.
34
Nicholas Wyatt, Word of Tree and Whisper of Stone, and Other Papers on Ugaritic Thought
(Piscataway: Gorgias Press); Nanno Marinatos, “The Minoan Mother Goddess and Her Son:
Reflections on a Theocracy and its Deities,” Bilder Als Quellen Images as Sources: Studies on
Ancient Near Eastern Artifacts and the Bible Inspired by the Work of Othmar Keel, eds.
Susanne Bickel, Silvia Schroer, René Schurte and Christoph Uehlinger (Göttingen: Academic
Press Fribourg, 2007), 349–363.
35
Crooks, Tully and Hitchcock, “Numinous Tree and Stone.”
2 TRACES OF PLACES: SACRED SITES IN MINIATURE ON MINOAN GOLD… 21

Cult Structures
The majority of glyptic images of Minoan ritual include architectural
structures and man-made objects. In the past, these have been conflated
with each other; earlier scholarship tended to misidentify different types of
built structures which resulted in blanket descriptions whereby they were
identified as all being “walls,” “shrines,” or so-called “portal shrines”. In
fact, cult structures and objects depicted in glyptic should be separated
into clearly defined categories consisting of walls, gateways, and paving;
columnar, ashlar, and tripartite shrines; constructed openwork platforms,
horned altars, incurved altars, and table altars. Structures made of stone,
such as sanctuary walls, ashlar altars, tripartite shrines, parts of constructed
openwork platforms, incurved altars and horned altars, have been identi-
fied at sacred sites within the landscape and at architecturally monumen-
talised urban locations. Those made of perishable materials like wood,
such as columnar shrines and table altars on the other hand, are only
known from the iconographic record.36

Sanctuary Walls
Images of straight-sided rectangular ashlar masonry walls, sometimes with
gateways, over which trees project, can be considered to depict hypaethral
sacred enclosures. The walls are represented by courses of isodomic
masonry and a gateway consisting of a cornice above an opening, framed
by two uprights with a horizontal lintel. The structure is often situated in
conjunction with paved ground.37 Masonry appears in three different
forms in Minoan art: rectangular, checkerboard, and rough stone mason-
ry.38 Rectangular masonry, as depicted here, is the most common type and
appears in almost all media including glyptic, fresco, and architectural
models.39 In glyptic images, rectangular masonry is found in representa-
tions of walls, vertical, and stepped altars, and possibly some gateways

36
Tully, Cultic Life of Trees.
37
Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood, “Space in Late Minoan Religious Scenes in Glyptic—
Some Remarks,” Corpus der Minoischen und Mykenischen Siegel. Beiheft 3. Fragen und
Probleme der Bronzezeitlichen Ägäischen Glyptik. Beiträge zum 3. Internationalen Marburger
Siegel-Symposium 5.–7. September 1985, ed. Ingo Pini (Berlin: Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1989), 253.
38
Kathleen Krattenmaker, Minoan Architectural Representation (Bryn Mawr College,
1991), 45.
39
Ibid.
22 C. J. TULLY

Fig. 2.5 Gold ring from Knossos. (Source: Courtesy the CMS Heidelberg)

(Fig. 2.5). Such images depict stone blocks rather than mudbrick because
the latter is always plastered and thus does not show the individual bricks.40
While rectangular masonry is characterised by blocks arranged in rows in
a staggered format, the joints of one row appearing as positioned over the
middle of the stone blocks of other rows, some structures in glyptic cult
scenes appear to be made of a grid-like “latticework” where the lines indi-
cating mortar between the blocks are continuously vertical and horizontal
rather than alternating. This may be an abbreviated way of depicting ashlar
masonry or in some cases suggest another material and form of construc-
tion such as wattle-and-daub or wickerwork.41
The restriction of the image within a small frame and the subsequent
curtailed depiction of the architectural structures imply traces that have
been excluded and thus left outside the frame.42 Walled cult sites are evi-
dent in other forms of iconography such as the Zakro Rhyton (Figs. 2.1
and 2.2), fragments of rhyta from Gypsadhes, and the gate with horns on

40
Clairy Palyvou, “Architecture in Aegean Bronze Age Art: Façades With No Interiors,”
Aegean Wall Painting. A Tribute to Mark Cameron, ed. Lyvia Morgan (London: British
School at Athens, 2005), 189–190. Although at the palace of Malia a rubble wall was cov-
ered in plaster and horizontal and vertical lines were incised to imitate ashlar.
41
Tully, Cultic Life of Trees, 56.
42
Jacques Derrida, The Truth in Painting (University of Chicago Press, 1987).
2 TRACES OF PLACES: SACRED SITES IN MINIATURE ON MINOAN GOLD… 23

the eastern wall of the first level of the building Xeste 3 on Thera.43 The
Zakro Rhyton depicts a peak sanctuary with walls constructed of very reg-
ular isodomic ashlar masonry topped by triple stepped cornices44 and the
Xeste 3 fresco, which may also be a peak sanctuary, depicts a wall con-
structed of ashlar masonry in the middle of which is a gate topped with
monumental horns, over which leans a tree. These images may help clarify
what it is that the more cursorily executed glyptic examples are intended
to represent. If the ashlar structures in glyptic cult scenes represent the
same type of structure as on the stone rhyta and Theran fresco, then they
may depict a peak sanctuary, particularly the outside thereof.45 However,
archaeological examples of sanctuary walls tend to be constructed of semi-­
ashlar, polygonal, or cyclopean masonry, and archaeological correlations
for the peak sanctuaries constructed of ashlar blocks depicted on the Zakro
Rhyton and in the Thera fresco have never been found.46 This suggests
that Minoan artwork portrayed idealised or generic versions of sanctuar-
ies. In the case of glyptic art, because of their tiny size precision may not
have been a major factor and what was being communicated in such scenes
may have merely been the suggestion of a sacred enclosure. The type of
sacred enclosure wall represented in these images must refer to one that is
situated at one of the peak or rural sanctuaries that were architecturally
elaborated in the Neopalatial period, however, because only those sanctu-
aries had masonry walls.47 It is proposed therefore that these images depict
cult events occurring outside sacred enclosures situated in mountainous or
rural locations where elite female figures demonstrate their special rela-
tionship with tree and mountain numina associated with rulership.

43
Andreas Vlachopoulos, “Mythos, Logos and Eikon. Motifs of Early Greek Poetry in the
Wall Paintings of Xeste 3,” in EPOS: Reconsidering Greek Epic and Aegean Bronze Age
Archaeology. Proceedings of the 11th International Aegean Conference / 11e Recontre Égéenne
International. Los Angeles, UCLA—The J. Paul Getty Villa, 20–23 April 2006 (Aegaeum 28),
eds. Sarah Morris and Robert Laffineur (University of Texas 2007); 107–118; Peter Warren,
Minoan Stone Vases (London: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 84–90.
44
Krattenmaker, Minoan Architectural Representation, 46.
45
Ibid.; Kathleen Krattenmaker, “Architecture in Glyptic Cult Scenes: The Minoan
Examples,” in Corpus Der Minoischen und Mykenischen Siegel. Beiheft 6. Minoisch-Mykenische
Glyptik Stil, Ikonographie, Funktion. V. International Siegel-Symposium Marburg, 23–25
September 1999, eds. Ingo Pini and Jean-Claude Poursat, (Berlin: Gebr. Mann., 1995),
117–33; Sourvinou-Inwood, “Space,” 255–256.
46
Although Lebessi and Muhly (“Aspects of Minoan Cult”) and Donald Preziosi and
Louise A. Hitchcock (Aegean Art and Architecture [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999,
140]) have identified similarities between the sanctuary on the Zakro Rhyton and Kato Syme.
47
Peatfield, “Minoan Peak Sanctuaries”; Tully, Cultic Life of Trees, 58.
24 C. J. TULLY

Columnar Shrines
The most ambiguous type of cult structure depicted in Minoan glyptic
iconography is the “columnar shrine.”48 These are known only from ico-
nography and can be confusing because they also look like gateways, and
because there are no archaeological remnants of them to confirm their
construction or use. Columnar shrines are characterised by a simple post
and lintel format consisting of columns, posts, or piers supporting a hori-
zontal element such as a cornice or entablature. The columnar construc-
tion results in openings between the columns which are usually empty but
which may contain additional vertical elements, sometimes interpreted as
tree trunks or baetyls. Some columnar structures are more elaborate with
two columns rather than single ones forming the major vertical supports
of the structure. They are often surmounted by trees or other vegetation,
or else have simple flat unadorned tops.49
Columnar shrines can be subdivided into two types: those constructed
from ambiguous, possibly wooden, material and those apparently made
from stone blocks. The smooth vertical columns with single or double
cornices or entablatures, executed by the engraver in single strokes, give
the impression of a singular piece of material such as wood. That it is not
stone is suggested by the complete lack of any remnants found archaeo-
logically. Other examples, although having a similar overall shape, appear
to be made of stacked blocks evident by short horizontal marks within the
vertical supports. These might be better termed “piers” (Fig. 2.6).50
Both of these types of columnar structure have been termed “portal
shrines” and thought to represent gateways.51 While some examples may

48
Krattenmaker, Minoan Architectural Representation, 249, 293; Ilse Schoep (“‘Home
Sweet Home’ Some Comments on the so-called House Models from the Prehellenic
Aegean,” Opuscula Atheniensia 20 [1994]: 204) terms this type of structure the
“Gateway Type.”
49
Tully, Cultic Life of Trees, 76–79.
50
A mass of masonry, as distinct from a column. Banister Fletcher, A History of Architecture
(London: Athlone Press, 1963), 1269.
51
Arthur J. Evans, “Mycenaean Tree and Pillar Cult and Its Mediterranean Relations”
Journal of Hellenic Studies 21 (1901), 170. https://doi.org/10.2307/623870; Martin.
P. Nilsson, The Minoan-Mycenaean Religion and its Survival in Greek Religion (Lund:
Gleerup, 1950), 268; Rutkowski, Cult Places, 105–6; Nanno Marinatos, “The Tree as a
Focus of Ritual Action in Minoan Glyptic Art,” Fragen Und Probleme Der Bronzezeitlichen
Agaischen Glyptik. Corpus Der Minoischen Und Mykenischen Siegel, ed. Ingo Pini (Berlin:
Gebr. Mann Verlag, 1989), 140.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
“The principal defects may be presented under the following
headings:

1. Insufficiency in the amount of food allotted.


2. Wrong relative amounts of different classes of food, making it
difficult to serve balanced rations.
3. Unsatisfactory method of distribution of food among the
prisoners.
4. Inadequate system of food allotment and estimates at the
central office.”

Their observations at Sing Sing confirm the report of Warden


Kirchwey.
“With a view to varying the daily menu as much as possible a new
dietary was established early in the year by Dr. Emily C. Seaman, of
Columbia University. A new kitchen was provided in what was
formerly known as the old boiler room, with concrete floor, and walls
and ceiling enameled white. New equipment was installed, including
potato steamers, aluminum kettles, steam kettles, an electric meat
chopper, electric potato paring machine, large gas range for roasting
meats, and large coffee urns. Those employed in the kitchen and
mess hall are dressed in white duck suits. Tables with white
enameled tops and chairs with backs are being installed in place of
the old tables and stools. The new arrangement is reported to have
improved the quality and cleanliness of the food served.”

A Scientific Ration.

In order to make our contention clear, it seems necessary to impart


some technical information.
The value of food is estimated in calories. A calorie may be
expressed in terms of heat or in terms of work. In the laboratory and
by experimentation with human subjects the value of all foods has
been very scientifically demonstrated. Foods largely consist of
proteins, fats and carbohydrates, which have the function of
supplying the body with energy or the power to work. The proper
proportion of these constituents of food makes up a balanced ration
which satisfies our physical needs in the way of nourishment. We get
our carbohydrates from bread, fruits, vegetables, sugar and all grain
products. Fats are derived from meats, eggs, butter, milk, nuts, etc.
The proteins are derived from meats, eggs and some vegetables,
especially beans.
A calorie in terms of heat is defined as the amount required to raise
one pound of water four degrees Fahrenheit. In terms of work or
physical energy a calorie represents the amount of food required to
lift 100 pounds about 30 feet.
It has been ascertained that the average amount of calories required
daily is about 3000 calories for a man who takes exercise. 2500
calories are regarded sufficient for a man who does not take
exercise.
Now a good balanced ration for the average man who is working
moderately may be estimated in the following proportion:
Carbohydrates 2000 calories
Fats 800 calories
Proteins 300 calories
——
3100 calories

Dietary for a Prison.

At the request of the Prison Association of New York a dietary, with


cost values, was prepared by Mr. William Golden, General Inspector
and Dietitian of the Department of Correction, New York City, and Dr.
Emily C. Seaman, Instructor in physiology and chemistry in
Teachers’ College, Columbia University. They suggested a dietary for
fourteen consecutive days and made an estimate of the cost. The
average daily cost for each prisoner was 18.4c, based on prices
February, 1917.
As a sample we present their proposed bill of fare for three alternate
days:
Wednesday.
Breakfast—Oatmeal with milk and sugar, fruit, bread, coffee with milk
and sugar.
Dinner—Roast beef, cornstarch pudding, rice, carrots, raisin sauce,
bread, coffee with milk and sugar.
Supper—Vermicelli soup, graham bread, tea with sugar.
Friday.
Breakfast—Puffed wheat with milk and sugar, bread, coffee with milk
and sugar.
Dinner—Bread, coffee with milk and sugar, salmon, scalloped rice
and tomatoes.
Supper—Bread pudding with raisins, bread, tea with sugar.
Sunday.
Breakfast—Rice with syrup, graham bread, coffee with milk and
sugar.
Dinner—Roast beef, baked potatoes, peas, graham bread, gelatine,
coffee with milk and sugar.
Supper—Cornstarch pudding, gingerbread, tea with sugar.
Now the dietary given above was prepared with special reference to
the physical requirements of the human system. The ingredients are
in the correct proportion to insure health and happiness. Let no one
think this menu is extravagant. The following table presents the
exact amounts given to each person with the cost value. It will
surprise many a warden to note that the total cost is little in excess of
the usual monotonous and haphazard dietary.

Daily Amount and Cost for Each Inmate.

Wednesday.
Oatmeal, 1 oz. $ .00234
Milk, ½ pint .01743
Beef, 9 oz. .06283
Coffee, ⅔ oz. .00530
Fruit, 1 piece .01
Cornstarch, ½ oz. .00138
Raisins, 2 oz. .01016
Bread, 24 oz. .03375
Rice, 1 oz. .00219
Cheese, ½ oz. .00735
Vermicelli, 2 oz. .0084 $ .16113
Estimated value in calories, 3000.

Friday.
Puffed wheat, 1 oz. $ .00235
Milk, ½ pint .01743
Salmon, canned, 4 oz. .05313
Rice, 1 oz. .00219
Tomatoes, 2 oz. .00644
Bread, 24 oz. .03375
Raisins, 2 oz. .01016
Coffee, ⅔ oz. .00530
Tea, .11 oz. .00115
Sugar, 2 oz. .00741 $ .13931
Estimated value in calories, 2600.

Sunday.
Rice, 1 oz. $ .00219
Syrup, 1 oz. .00226
Milk, ½ pint .01743
Sugar, 2 oz. .00741
Bread, 24 oz. .03375
Roast Beef, 9 oz. .06283
Potatoes, 10 oz. .025
Peas, 2 oz. .01087
Gelatine, 2 oz. .00375
Cornstarch, ½ oz. .00276
Gingerbread, 8 oz. .02
Tea, .11 oz. .00115
Coffee, ⅔ oz. .00530 $ .19470
Estimated value in calories, 3800.
The average cost for these three days for each inmate, 16½ cents.
Now this is an imaginary bill of fare, not supposed to be served in
any institution in the world. It is a suggestion of possibilities. The new
service at Sing Sing may approximate to this list of eatables.

Eats in a Michigan Prison.

In the report of the Michigan State Prison for two years ending June
30, 1916, we find the daily menu for every meal in a whole year.
Twenty-six pages of the report are taken up with this schedule of
eatables.
An extract from this report explains the unusual pains to publish the
bill of fare.
“An old adage states that one of the avenues to a man’s heart is
through his stomach. The now existing system of intensive farming,
and of canning the surplus fruits and vegetables not consumed by
the prison commissary has furnished the Michigan State Prison with
unusual opportunity to supply food products. The opportunity is
reflected in the following menu, showing the food actually served
during the last fiscal year.”
We present the menu for a few days selected from different times of
the year:
Saturday, July 3, 1915.
Breakfast—Oatmeal, milk, sugar, bread, butter, coffee.
Dinner—Fried pork steak, mashed potatoes, cream gravy, stewed
tomatoes, bread, iced tea, cookies, strawberry shortcake.
Supper—Lunch from dinner, bread, coffee.
Sunday, August 1, 1915.
Breakfast—Hot biscuits, syrup, fried potatoes, bread, butter, coffee.
Dinner—Roast beef, browned potatoes, beans, lettuce, radishes,
bread, mince pie, iced tea.
Supper—Lunch from dinner, bread, coffee.
Wednesday, December 15, 1915.
Breakfast—Liver and bacon, steamed potatoes, bread, gravy, coffee.
Dinner—Boiled beef, fried parsnips, steamed potatoes, onions,
mashed turnips, tomato pickle, bread.
Supper—Bean soup, corn bread, crackers, bread, coffee.
Thursday, February 24, 1916.
Breakfast—Baked hash, gravy, bread, coffee.
Dinner—Baked beans, pork, syrup, steamed potatoes, bread,
buttermilk.
Supper—Rice soup, corn bread, crackers, bread, coffee.
Tuesday, May 23, 1916.
Breakfast—Creamed potatoes, apple jelly, bread, coffee.
Dinner—Boiled pork, stewed beans, horseradish, mashed
rutabagas, green onions, bread, buttermilk.
Supper—Rice soup, rhubarb pie, bread, coffee.
Complete menus are given for 364 days, or for 1092 meals. No, we
were not quoting from the Ritz-Carlton cuisine, but from the culinary
department of a western penal establishment.

Elmira Reformatory.

The daily bill of fare at the Elmira Reformatory shows that the
question of the serving and the variety of food has had careful
thought. We quote from a recent report of the State Commission of
Prisons, N. Y.
“This institution has one of the best equipped kitchens in the State. It
is kept scrupulously clean and the waste has been reduced to a
minimum. A physician makes frequent inspections which include an
examination of the inmates employed in the kitchen and mess halls.
Special white suits are provided.”
Sunday.
Breakfast—Rolled oats, bread, coffee, syrup.
Dinner—Beef soup, corned beef, boiled potatoes, bread, coffee,
pudding.
Supper—Stewed raisins, spice cake, bread, butter, syrup, tea.
Monday.
Breakfast—Creamed rice, bread, coffee.
Dinner—Roast beef, brown gravy, potatoes, bread, coffee, rice
pudding.
Supper—Roast beef hash, bread, butter, syrup, tea.
Friday.
Breakfast—Rolled oats with milk and sugar, bread, coffee.
Dinner—Macaroni with tomato sauce, creamed potatoes, rice
pudding with raisins, bread, coffee.
Supper—Creamed rice, bread, butter, syrup, tea.

Albany, N. Y.

From the same report we learn of a more modest menu at the


Albany County Prison. Besides the conventional bread and coffee
served every morning, there was always an additional article of food.
Beginning with Monday in one week, these articles in consecutive
order were oatmeal, hash, rice and syrup, cornbeef hash, oatmeal,
hash, rice and jelly.
For supper the invariable ration was bread, beef stew and tea. For
dinner, always bread and coffee, meat four times weekly, pea soup
one day, bean soup one day, and on Sunday beans and eggs.
This menu is above the average for variety and quantity.
There are many institutions still serving bread and coffee night and
morning, and a dinner of weak soup, with more or less meat and
vegetables.

Buying for Institutions.

In the last report of the Board of State Charities, Ohio, Mr. Henry C.
Eyman, of Massillon, makes some wise suggestions in regard to
some economical variation of the dietary.
“By a little care in arranging the diet list a great saving may result. It
is easy to reduce the total cost of your food supply 25%. Does that
look unreasonable? Well, let us analyze some prices. We must use
present-day prices because we know not what tomorrow may bring.
Suppose you have potatoes on the bill of fare twice daily, or fourteen
times a week, the cost for 1000 persons would be at present prices,
$32.00 per meal, or $448.00 per week. Now substitute for potatoes,
rice three times, hominy twice and corn meal mush three times, your
total cost of potatoes will be six times $192.00; rice three times
$6.00; hominy twice $4.00; corn meal mush three times $5.00, or a
total of $207.00, as against $448.00, or a saving of $241.00 per
week, or $12,532 per year. Now let us substitute evaporated
peaches, evaporated apples and evaporated apricots for these same
goods canned. Fruits should be used once daily. The canned fruits
will cost an average of $14.00 a meal for 1000 persons, while the
evaporated fruit will cost an average of $4.00 for same number, a
saving of $10.00 per day, or $3,650.00 a year. Now you will admit
that fish is a desirable article of diet for at least 32 weeks a year.
Suppose fish be placed on your bill of fare twice a week for 32
weeks, or in all for 64 meals. Beef, pork or mutton will all cost about
the same, or for 1000 persons $45.00. Fish for same number, $18.00
to $20.00, or a saving per meal of $25.00 to $27.00, or for the year,
$1670.00. Now, in these three items just mentioned we have
effected a saving of $16,000.00, or more than 25% of your entire
food cost. The entire food cost for 1000 persons will run between
$40,000.00 and $45,000.00 per annum.
“It is an easy matter to take every article of food which makes your
dietary, calculate food values and prices and make your bill of fare in
accordance therewith. Entirely too much meat is used by all of us.
Beans, peas, asparagus, milk, cheese and spinach make an
excellent direct substitute. This is conservation, without loss in heat
units or even in the tastiness of the food.”

Dietary in Illinois.

In the Institution Quarterly, published by the Public Charity Service of


Illinois, Mr. Thomas Carroll, Traveling Steward for the Board, writes
in regard to the waste which has been so prevalent in public
institutions.
“The lack of proper distribution, indifference as to preparation, lack of
proper knowledge of the amounts of food required, have been chief
impediments encountered in some of the institutions. Non-utilization
of food up to its fullest possibilities has also been a serious drawback
in the past.”
Among the defects found in the institutions were:

1. Too much food of one kind. Entire lack of variety.


2. Poorly balanced menus.
3. An overamount of meat, occasionally an under supply.
4. Making of bones into soap instead of stock for soup.
5. Waste of fats.
6. Poor supervision in serving the food.
7. Inadequate chinaware or dishes in general.
8. Unsanitary conditions in the kitchen and in service.

“With the co-operation of managers, storekeepers, cooks and


servers, nearly all these defects have been remedied to a large
degree.”
One illustration will indicate the nature of the service of Mr. Carroll.
“One institution which usually purchased 11,000 to 13,000 pounds of
cooking oils and lard annually has not purchased a single pound
since the first visit of the Steward. Excessive fats are trimmed from
the meats, and are rendered in a large caldron expressly made for
that purpose, and there is at present a surplus of nearly 5,000
pounds on hand, notwithstanding the fact that every requisition for
fats and oils have been filled.
“By saving all bones the same institution has an excellent supply of
soup two or three times each week for the entire institution. It is of
excellent quality, superior to that served in most restaurants.”

Dietary for 1000 Persons.

At the special request of the Secretary of the Society,


Superintendent Eyman has prepared for our readers the following
table, to which we call the attention of all superintendents, wardens
and managers of public institutions. The estimates are based on the
food requirements for an institution having 1000 inmates, and
include the complete menu for every day in a week, with amounts,
prices and food values. This table was prepared before the President
had issued his request with reference to our abstinence from meats
and white bread on certain days of the week. It can readily be
modified to meet the present food conditions of the country.
His estimate of the daily cost for each inmate is only 16 cents and
thus indicates that a considerable variety may be served without
undue expense. It is not intended that any purveyor may follow the
exact program, but his suggestions are highly interesting.

BILL OF FARE FOR ONE WEEK FOR AN


INSTITUTION OF 1,000 INMATES
By Henry C. Eyman, Superintendent Ohio State Hospital, Massillon,
Ohio.

SUNDAY.

BREAKFAST.
Items Amount Cost
Baked beans 150lbs. (raw) $11.75
With pork 50lbs. 11.00
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. 9.45
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Coffee 8lbs. .96
Sugar 9lbs. .75

DINNER.
Roast pork 300lbs. 66.00
Gravy 10lbs. .50
Potatoes 5bushels 6.25
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Pie 29.50
Coffee 6lbs. .72
Tea 2lbs. .48
Sugar 9lbs. .75

SUPPER.
Tapioca pudding 5.85
Hot biscuit 6.00
Syrup 4.00
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Tea 2lbs. .48
Sugar 9lbs. .75
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
———
Total cost Sunday for 1,000 inmates $217.79
Approximate cost for each inmate 21⅘ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,700 calories.

MONDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Amount Cost
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. $ 9.45
Oatmeal 71lbs. 3.20
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Coffee 8lbs. .96
Sugar 9lbs. .75

DINNER.
Beef Stew 26.84
Macaroni 85lbs. 5.95
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Tea 2lbs. .48
Coffee 6lbs. .72
Sugar 9lbs. .75

SUPPER.
lbs.
Cornmeal mush 70 5.85
(meal)
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. 9.45
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Tea 2½lbs. .60
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75
————
Total cost Monday for 1,000 inmates $132.75
Approximate cost each inmate 13¼ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,631
calories.

TUESDAY.
BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Prunes 54lbs. $ 4.72
Boiled potatoes 5bushels 6.25
Rye bread 70loaves 3.50
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8lbs. .96
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75
DINNER.
Boiled pork 65lbs. } 12.50
Boiled cabbage 400lbs. }
Red beets 8bushels 8.00
Rye bread 70loaves 3.50
Sugar 9lbs. .75
Coffee 6lbs. .72
Tea 2lbs. .48

SUPPER.
Stewed corn 100lbs. 4.00
Rye bread 70loaves 3.50
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Tea 2¼lbs. .52
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sour pickles 25gal. 3.00
Sugar 9lbs. .75
———
Total cost Tuesday for 1,000 inmates $107.70
Approximate cost each inmate 10⅘ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,658 calories.

WEDNESDAY.

BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Sausage 200lbs. $32.00
Oatmeal 71lbs. 3.20
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8lbs. .96
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75

DINNER.
Boiled pork 300lbs. 66.00
Navy beans 165lbs. 18.00
Kraut 4.56
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Coffee 6lbs. .72
Tea 2lbs. .52
Sugar 9lbs. .75
SUPPER.
Gingerbread 4.80
Cornmeal mush 70lbs. 5.85
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. 9.45
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Tea 2lbs. .52
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75
———
Total cost Wednesday for 1,000 inmates $215.83
Approximate cost each inmate 21⅗ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,631 calories.

THURSDAY.

BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. $ 9.45
Rice 50lbs. 5.00
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8lbs. .96
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75

DINNER.
Beef Stew 26.84
Macaroni 85lbs. 5.95
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Coffee 6lbs. .72
Tea 2lbs. .48
Sugar 9lbs. .75

SUPPER.
Stewed tomatoes 50gal. 12.50
Cinnamon rolls 4.80
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. 9.45
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Tea 2lbs. .48
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75
————
Total cost Thursday for 1,000 inmates $145.88
Approximate cost each inmate 14⅗ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,900 calories.

FRIDAY.

BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. $ 9.45
Farina 45lbs. 2.70
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8lbs. .96
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75

DINNER.
Fish 300lbs. 27.00
Potatoes 5bushels 6.25
Navy beans 150lbs. 17.25
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Coffee 6lbs. .72
Tea 2lbs. .48
Sugar 9lbs. .75

SUPPER.
Oatmeal 71lbs. 3.20
Red beets 8bushels 8.00
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Tea 2lbs. .48
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75
————
Total cost Friday for 1,000 inmates $145.74
Approximate cost each inmate 14⅘ cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,627 calories.

SATURDAY.

BREAKFAST.
Items Quantity Cost
Liver 225lbs. $29.25
Bacon 16lbs. 9.60
Oatmeal 71lbs. 3.20
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Coffee 8lbs. .96
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75

DINNER.
Pork 65lbs. } 12.50
Cabbage 400lbs. }
Red beets 8bushels 8.00
Bread 80loaves 4.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75
Coffee 6lbs. .72
Tea 2lbs. .48

SUPPER.
Hot rolls 6.00
Kraut 40gal. 4.80
Evaporated fruit 90lbs. 9.45
Butter 25lbs. 12.50
Tea 2lbs. .48
Milk 480lbs. 14.40
Sugar 9lbs. .75
———
Total cost Saturday for 1,000 inmates $150.29
Approximate cost each inmate 15 cents
Food value for each inmate, 2,730 calories.
It must be understood that in the preparation of this dietary for a
week Mr. Eyman had in mind the food necessities for the general
institution, not specializing for an establishment where men and
women are sent to repent. However, it is now recognized that a
wholesome and appetizing bill of fare should be prepared for
inmates of any home or institution in order for both health and
economy. Most wardens would cut out the Sunday pie. Something
more nutritious and wholesome could readily be substituted. The
loaves of bread are reported to weigh 2 lbs. each.

Expert Opinion.

In this connection we are glad to call attention to a portion of an


editorial from the Journal of the American Medical Association for
November, 1916:
“So long as it was held that a prison is merely an institution for the
safe detention of criminals, it was not to be expected that the
hygienic conditions prevailing in such a place would be in harmony
with the best experience or the newest schemes of sanitary science.
Food in such an institution was intended solely to keep the prisoner
alive and enable him to perform his allotted daily tasks. Penal
institutions are beginning, however, to be the seats of active reform.
With the acceptance of such a program as part of the function of our
prisons, the problem of nutrition can no longer be neglected entirely.
It may reasonably be contended that good housing conditions and
suitable diet do not of themselves secure reformation of the
misguided or the habitual criminal; but without some consideration of
the necessity of proper food, the best ends of the imprisonment for
crime cannot be attained. Malnutrition may or may not contribute to
the production of criminals; in any event, the physiologic and psychic
conditions attending the lack of palatable food and a well-balanced
ration are not such as are conducive to those mental attitudes that
lead to improved conduct and more wholesome life. It has been
remarked that while a prisoner is not incarcerated for the purpose of
being fed an ideal diet, nevertheless he should be fed so as to insure
good health and a stable nervous system. * * *
“It seems extraordinary that so little judgment is shown by prison
officials in varying and improving the dietary. The same unappetizing
stuff is served day after day and year after year, with no variety in
food or manner of preparation. A large number of the prisoners have
stomach troubles from this cause alone. Canned food is served
when fresh vegetables would be just as cheap. The meat is cooked
to death and is covered by a so-called sauce. The kitchen keepers
are not to blame; it is the fault of the system.
“The remedy for this fault is to be found in the appointment of trained
dietitians. So long as hospitals and other establishments which
incidentally cater to mankind have been slow to appreciate the need
of expert services in the planning and preparation of meals as well
as in the purchasing of rations, we can understand the inertia of the
prison management in this respect. But the time has apparently
come for the introduction of such efficiency and supervision as will
lead not only to economy of service but also to physiologic well-
being. If the dietary is as important as the coal supply or the
construction accounts, it deserves a dietitian rather than a stoker or
a skilled mechanic to be placed in charge of the food problems.”
MICHIGAN STATE PRISON.
We have received the Report of the Board of Control of the Michigan
State Prison at Jackson. It is a pamphlet of 140 pages, including 40
full page cuts. There are also four folders of the farm plots. It is a
report which reports. We have already spoken of the 26 pages
reporting the menu for every meal for a year. We may learn the
names and duties of the 90 officers, and their salaries. One table
gives the age, nativity, crime, sentence, residence and previous
record of each inmate. The names are wisely withheld. The average
population was 986. Twenty-five men had escaped in the last two
years. We are informed of the date of the escape and the part of the
farm and premises from which they absconded. The date of their
return is specified. Ten were at large when the pamphlet was made
up. They are confident of apprehending these ten. They have no
barred windows, no locked doors, no armed guards. The men work
over a plantation of more than three thousand acres, of which 2,137
belong to the institution. They rent 900 acres. They had 507 cattle
when the report was made, having just sold 146 steers for $14,600.
The dairy of 200 cows supplies the institution with abundant milk and
butter. Horses, hogs, bees and poultry are also in evidence. “The
banner record in poultry this year was made by an inmate * * * who
without an incubator was responsible for hatching and raising more
than two thousand chickens.”
By no means do they confine their attention to farming. To put a
thousand men on a farm of three thousand acres and expect them to
support themselves and have a surplus is an absurdity. There are
various industries.
Twine plant, product 1916 $106,820.79
Canning factory, product 1916 62,949.58
Granite shop, product 1916 16,385.79
Brick and tile plant, product 1916 52,866.44
Brooms, product 1916 5,696.25
The net earnings in two years were $206,206.18
They had paid to the efficient workmen 65,009.35
In the year 1917 they were anticipating a canned pack of
$100,000.00. Of the products of the farm “they eat what they can,
and can what they can’t.”

Canning Factory.

“The intensive production of fruits and vegetables on the farms


created a surplus which had to be cared for. * * * Hence the
necessity for the canning plant. This industry * * * has accomplished
more than any other one industry in the prison to insure the industrial
success of the institution.
“From the standpoint of a prison industry it ranks first, inasmuch as
the entire produce except the can is the direct result of prison labor.
While other industries require the purchase of material for
manufacturing, in the canning plant, the material, coming from the
prison farms, is also produced by prison labor.
“The refuse from the factory in the lines of fodder, husks, etc., from
the sweet corn; vines and pods from the peas; tops from the beets,
and pomace from the apples press, furnish largely the ensilage
ration for the large herds of cattle.
“The management is adding each year some new item to the pack of
canned goods, until now it includes all varieties of fruits and
vegetables, apple jelly, sorghum molasses, baked pork and beans,
spaghetti, and the generation of pure cider vinegar. (They may soon
rival the 57 varieties of Mr. Heinz.)
“The sanitary conditions in the factory are perfect. Any man, in order
to be eligible to work in this factory, must have a clean bill of health
from the prison physician. To further the sanitary conditions, the
equipment and entire interior of the plant is painted white.”

Consumers and any one interested may inspect this plant at any
time. Here they see the men, preparing the vegetables for canning,
in a white room, dressed in white caps, white coats, white shirts, and
white aprons.
They have copyrighted the label “Home Grown,” and adopted as
their slogan: “We grow, pack, sell and guarantee our own product.”
Their goods are sold in the open market, being very popular
throughout the State and in adjoining States.
They have long ago abolished the contract system which was really
a system of slavery. They have gone beyond the policy of raising
produce or manufacturing articles for State-use, but transact
business on the State-Account plan, disposing of the product
wherever they can find a market. They claim that under their system
of employing convicts, outside labor has nothing to fear from
competition. Contract labor may have been somewhat of a menace
to labor on the outside, but these men earning wages are engaged in
honest production and the product is distributed just as the fruits of
any other industry. Let me illustrate. A man working on a farm, in a
canning factory, in a cotton mill, commits a fault and is secluded from
the community but continues his work on another farm, in another
canning factory, in another cotton mill. He receives wages which
maintains his family. Competition is neither increased nor
diminished. When the man is released, he may return to his old job.
High authority in the labor unions has stated that there is no
objection to a system which affords fair play to the prisoner and also
to the working man. Laborers have justly opposed the exploitation of
prisoners under the lease and contract systems. They have not been
opposed to the development of prison industries on a fair basis.
They present no objection to a “State-Use” method, and we trust
they will not oppose the development of a few industries organized
under the State-Account plan which appears to have been so
successful in the Michigan State Prison.

Fair Exhibits.

The products of the prison industries and of the farm have been
shown at a number of County Fairs and also at the State Fair, and
the public has thus been informed of their activities and greatly
pleased therewith. Nought has been heard but favorable comment.

Kitchen and Dining Room.

The culinary department is managed on the most approved sanitary


scheme. None but healthy men are employed. They use every
vegetable which will grow in Michigan, as long as the season lasts,
and the canned product when the season is over. Every sanitary
precaution is taken in the preparation of the meat from the pasturage
and feeding of the stock, the slaughtering and handling of the
carcass, in the cooking and serving the various viands on the dining
table.

Objects.

It is not the object of the officers to exploit the men to the advantage
of the State. In the last two years they may have returned to the
State about $9,000, but in the same time they paid out to the men
the sum of $65,000 in wages. They are spending their surplus in
betterments. They have built dormitories, with rooms, not cells,
avoiding particularly the menagerie appearance. They aim to supply
the men with a wholesome and natural environment, believing that
thus they may accomplish the main object of a penal institution
which is the reformation and restoration of the offender.
A. H. V.
THE PRISON AND THE PRISONER.
A Symposium, edited by Julia K. Jaffray, Secretary, National
Committee on Prisons and Prison Labor. Boston. Little, Brown and
Company. 1917. $2.50.
A volume of 216 pages, containing eleven chapters contributed by
fourteen men of high repute. Judge Wadhams, of New York City,
comments on the Indeterminate Sentence, favoring a liberal
application of the principle. Doctor Glueck and Doctor Salmon
describe the necessity for psychiatrical studies of the convict in order
to determine the best treatment for his welfare and also for the
interest of the community.
Thomas Mott Osborne briefly delineates the self-government plan as
instituted by him at Auburn and Sing Sing, and E. Kent Hubbard
describes a similar system adopted in the Connecticut State
Reformatory. “The Honor System” is condemned and there is no
word in its defense.
We commend the book to all those who wish in brief compass to
know what progress has been made in humanitarian ideals for the
reformation of prisoners and what the scientific analysis of modern
conditions indicates as the best measures to attain the cure and
prevention of crime. Like other compilations, however, the various
themes are not treated with equally judicial tone or
comprehensiveness.
THE OFFENDER.
By Burdette G. Lewis, Commissioner of Correction, New York City.
Harper and Brothers. 382 pp. $2.00.
In this volume of 382 pages, Commissioner Lewis speaks from
careful observation and from conscientious study. The reader will
soon perceive that a judicial treatment is applied to the various
questions involved in dealing with penological problems. Various
systems of government are considered, the differences between the
Honor System and the Self-Government clearly indicated, and
valuable suggestions made as to the classes of prisoners to which
the various systems of government may be adapted. The subjects of
Probation and The Indeterminate Sentence are fairly presented and
discussed, the author coming to the conclusion that the
Indeterminate Sentence is far preferable to the determinate system
of the older penology.
The tendency today is to treat the offender in much the same way as
the insane are now treated. Originally these unfortunates were dealt
with as though possessed of demons. Gradually a reform was
introduced. Special institutions were established, and these have
been gradually improved to the extent that such afflicted persons are
given such occupation and such freedom as compatible with safety.
The result is that from 20 to 30 per cent. of them are either released
as cured or may be released under the custodial care of their friends
or relatives.
Mr. Lewis holds that the tendency to accord similar treatment after a
careful diagnosis of each case to the delinquent is likely to produce a
similar result. Each offender should be dealt with according to his
special peculiarity, the treatment aiming at the substitution of good
for bad habits, commitment to prison being used when it is not in the
interest of the individual or of society to release the convicted
criminal. Mr. Lewis advocates the retaining of old-established
methods as long as they are of service. These should not be
discarded merely because they are old. He claims that the leaders in
the movement agree that the new methods should be wisely tested
before they are introduced generally. It is clear that there must have
been good reasons for the adoption of any new method, but at the
same time he is strongly in favor of studying the human equation,
and of differentiating the treatment to suit each case.
In order to administer intelligently the large department under his
charge he has “found it necessary to proceed carefully and to
experiment widely before effecting a departure from the well-known
methods of treatment.” The processes as well as the result of Mr.
Lewis’s labors are given in the present volume. In Part I he
rehearses the fundamental social forces upon which one must
depend in order to check the development of the criminal. Among
these are the home, the church, the school, health and sanitation,
and the police.
In Part II are outlined the manner of utilizing the forces likely to
improve the offender; in short, all the forces of law, order and social
development in harmonious co-operation. The book is of serious
concern to all interested in social science and in the best means of
encouraging normal growth and development through a study of
existing conditions.
PRISON ASSOCIATION OF NEW
YORK.
We acknowledge the receipt of the Seventy-second Annual Report
of our sister association in New York. It is a ponderous pamphlet of
648 pages full of information concerning Prison Progress in 1916.
This Association was incorporated in 1846.
Our members will be interested in knowing that their Executive
Committee, like our Acting Committee, has power to examine, and
inspect all prisons of the State. Not only do they have the power but
it is also enjoined upon them as a duty to make such visits and to
report annually to the State Legislature the condition of the prisons
and any circumstances “in regard to them as may enable the
Legislature to perfect their government and discipline.” The charter
also provides that the State shall print 500 copies of this annual
report. Many additional copies are purchased by the Association for
general distribution.
Their working staff contains twenty officers who are engaged in
parole and probation duties, in the work of inspection and research,
in securing employment and in affording relief.
The last 300 pages of this document are devoted to reports of the
inspection of the various prisons of the State. The officers do not
shrink from sharp criticism of undesirable features, and yet their
criticism is of a constructive type. Recommendations are made, and
the progress made since the last inspection is duly credited.
We have also received the Report of the New York State
Commission of Prisons, a bound volume of 592 pages. 328 pages
are devoted to description, recommendations and criticisms
connected with the prisons of the State from the large State Prisons
to the small village lock-ups. This appears to us a duplication of the
work of the Prison Association. Why should there be two
organizations doing the same work?
The report of the Prison Association contains much valuable
information with regard to legislation both recent and proposed, and
to the success of the reformatory measures recently introduced into
their penal system. Those who desire copies of the report may write
to this Association at 135 E. 15th St., New York City.
NEW JERSEY PRISON INQUIRY
COMMISSION.
This Commission was appointed according to the provisions of a bill
of the legislature of the State passed in January, 1917. By January 1,
1918, the Commission had prepared an elaborate report of 822
pages giving a history and description of the prisons and penal
methods of the State, and also presenting their recommendations.
The historical record in general indicates a series of failures rather
than of successes in penal administration. The so-called
“Pennsylvania system,” the “Auburn Plan,” the method of contract
labor, the State-Use plan, the Parole work, the efforts at
Reformation, the partisan Boards, all have their share of more or
less condemnation.
The student of penology, however, will discover in this record
encouraging tendencies which may ultimately bring about a higher
type of treatment of those who go astray.
The Commission believes in giving the largest opportunities for work
in the open air and regards with detestation the “vicious rule of
silence.”
Their discussion with regard to the merits and demerits of a Central
Board of Control of all correctional institutions is deeply interesting
and illuminating. They have come to the conclusion that a “system
may be devised which will give to the State of New Jersey the
benefits of a centralized control of its correctional system as a whole,
but which will still leave to the separate institutions the advantages of
the personal interest and devotion which have been such important
factors in their development.” To accomplish this purpose, they
recommend the appointment of a Central Board by the Governor,
who without compensation, shall have a general power of
supervision and visitation of all correctional institutions. The local
boards are to be continued with authority to manage the several
institutions to which they are attached.
The principal recommendation of this Commission is to advise the
appointment of this Central Board with whom should be vested the
power to readjust, harmonize and improve the entire penal system of
the State.

You might also like