Fire for Zeus: using Virtual Reality to explore meaning and experience at Mount Kasios
Fire for Zeus: using Virtual Reality to explore meaning and experience at Mount Kasios
From the Bronze Age onwards, summits of mountains in the East Mediterranean were sacred; many to the Greek sky-god Zeus–making a symbolic connection between the abstract sky and the physically highest point. In some cases, sacredness extends through to the Christian period, such as at Mount Kasios, which sits on the Syrian-Turkish border, and which is inaccessible for archaeological research. In this paper, we explore interactions with and representations of Mount Kasios by different groups at different times, and how these sources can help reconstruct ancient meanings and experiences of the mountain. Myth, archaeology, and landscape are mobilized to inform the construction and interrogation of two digital models in GIS and Virtual Reality (VR) designed to elicit a feeling of awe. Such ‘virtual phenomenology’ offers a means to explore a contested contemporary landscape, and to engage with ancient experiences and atmospheres of this holy mountain.
Greek, Levant, Mediterranean, Roman, Ugarit, Virtual Reality, atmosphere, awe, experience, hittites, phenomenology
521-538
Collar, Anna
68e13a75-9b92-4557-aeea-5cd87728cf46
Eve, Stuart James
a6390a61-2855-49db-ad21-6d8131650a7d
May 2021
Collar, Anna
68e13a75-9b92-4557-aeea-5cd87728cf46
Eve, Stuart James
a6390a61-2855-49db-ad21-6d8131650a7d
Collar, Anna and Eve, Stuart James
(2021)
Fire for Zeus: using Virtual Reality to explore meaning and experience at Mount Kasios.
World Archaeology, 52 (3), .
(doi:10.1080/00438243.2021.1920458).
Abstract
From the Bronze Age onwards, summits of mountains in the East Mediterranean were sacred; many to the Greek sky-god Zeus–making a symbolic connection between the abstract sky and the physically highest point. In some cases, sacredness extends through to the Christian period, such as at Mount Kasios, which sits on the Syrian-Turkish border, and which is inaccessible for archaeological research. In this paper, we explore interactions with and representations of Mount Kasios by different groups at different times, and how these sources can help reconstruct ancient meanings and experiences of the mountain. Myth, archaeology, and landscape are mobilized to inform the construction and interrogation of two digital models in GIS and Virtual Reality (VR) designed to elicit a feeling of awe. Such ‘virtual phenomenology’ offers a means to explore a contested contemporary landscape, and to engage with ancient experiences and atmospheres of this holy mountain.
Text
Fire for Zeus proofs
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e-pub ahead of print date: 7 May 2021
Published date: May 2021
Additional Information:
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Greek, Levant, Mediterranean, Roman, Ugarit, Virtual Reality, atmosphere, awe, experience, hittites, phenomenology
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 449640
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/449640
ISSN: 1470-1375
PURE UUID: 9989ad4a-290a-4bc2-8b4a-a95f806d308f
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Date deposited: 10 Jun 2021 16:30
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 04:02
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Author:
Stuart James Eve
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