The Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore: Topography and Architecture

by Nancy Bookidis and Ronald S. Stroud

Corinth XVIII.3
536 pp, 109 figs, 66 pls, 12 plans (including 1:100 actual-state plan of entire sanctuary)
9" x 12"
Cloth, ISBN: 978-0-87661-183-8
Publication Date: Nov 1997
Status: Out of Print

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Description:
A careful and detailed presentation of the architectural remains of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore on the slopes of Acrocorinth, beginning with the earliest traces of occupation in the Mycenaean period and ending with the Late Roman cemetery. The first chapter presents the ancient testimonia for the location of the sanctuary and details its discovery by the excavators. In the chapters on the architecture, arranged chronologically, the authors describe in detail the buildings found on each of the three terraces of the sanctuary, including the dining rooms, cooking and bathing facilities, and religious structures. A separate chapter discusses the elements of the Acrocorinth dining rooms and their place in the architecture of sacred dining. Extensively illustrated with section drawings and plans.

About the Author: Nancy Bookidis is codirector of the excavations of the Sanctuary of Demeter and Kore. Ronald S. Stroud was the Klio Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Classical Languages and Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews:
"The volume serves up a very large body of data which can be used by scholars in various subdisciplines; architectural history, art history (sculpture and mosaics), religious studies, etc. The authors encourage the reader to refrain from extensive interpretation of cult due to the fact that key studies of sanctuary material have yet to be published, but this advice will surely fall on deaf ears because this publication offers evidence of a unique architectural setting and an array of associated finds. Its thoroughness will do much to stimulate discussion on the topics of Ancient Greek dining rituals, the development of Greek sanctuaries, and the organization of ritual space." Blanche Menadier, The Classical Review 51 (2001), pp. 195-196