
Contents
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22 Lighting the Good Life: The Role of Light in the Aristocratic Housing System duringLate Antiquity
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Introduction Introduction
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Summary of evidence Summary of evidence
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Mystery religions in general Mystery religions in general
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Mythology of Eleusis Mythology of Eleusis
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Afterlife Afterlife
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Darkness Darkness
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Light Light
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Lack of sight lines Lack of sight lines
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Figurines Figurines
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Stagecraft Stagecraft
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Formulation Formulation
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Hypothesis Hypothesis
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Experiments Experiments
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Design Design
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Results Results
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Image Image
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Behaviours Behaviours
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Clarity Clarity
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Brightness Brightness
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Context Context
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Architectural function Architectural function
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Design puzzle Design puzzle
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Versions Versions
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Solonian Solonian
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Pisistratan Pisistratan
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Cimonian Cimonian
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Periclean Periclean
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Spatial relationships Spatial relationships
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Unresolved questions Unresolved questions
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Lens Lens
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Wall thickness Wall thickness
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Light source Light source
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Conclusion Conclusion
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Acknowledgements Acknowledgements
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Notes Notes
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References References
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Suggested further reading Suggested further reading
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28 The Eleusinian Projector: The Hierophant’s Optical Method of Conjuring the Goddess
Get accessMatt Gatton is an artist and scholar based in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He holds a BA from the University of Louisville, USA, and an MFA from the University of the Philippines. He was a lecturer at De La Salle University, USA. Gatton specializes in the aesthetic and ritual uses of physical light in built spaces during prehistory and antiquity, with particular emphasis on the phenomenon of the camera obscura. He has written on the origins of art for the Festschrift of Oxford art historian Martin Kemp. Gatton’s groundbreaking work on optical distortions at Lascaux and his Bayesian statistical analysis of Palaeolithic images were published in the Journal of Applied Mathematics. He has lectured at the Institute of Archaeology at Oxford among others. A large arts festival in Belgium was themed on Gatton’s art writings, which were also presented by Neil de Grasse Tyson on National Geographic’s ‘Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey’.
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Published:06 September 2017
Cite
Abstract
The Mysteries of Eleusis in ancient Greece were the foremost sect of the mystery religions that dominated the eastern Mediterranean sphere for almost 2,000 years. The staying power of the Eleusinian rite stemmed from its convincing presentation of an otherworldly drama about the goddesses Demeter and Persephone. Initiates endured a harrowing experience in darkness that somehow evoked death, before seeing beatific visions, the climax of which was the appearance of the goddess manifest as light. How was the apparition of the goddess conjured? This study surveys extant epigraphical and archaeological information to formulate a research question: could the anaktoron have acted as a box of light, a fire illuminating figurines and projecting their images out into the darkened telesterion? A set of experiments was performed that confirmed the operational feasibility of an ‘Eleusinian Projector.’ The appearance of the goddess as light can be explained physically as well as mythologically.
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