Pilgrimage, devotional practices and the consumption of sacred places in ancient Egypt and contemporary Syria

Abstract

Pilgrimages are often messy affairs, not only leaving all sorts of material detritus behind, but also in many cases severely damaging or even destroying the sites that are visited as part of journeys to a sacred place. As such, this immensely popular religious tradition constitutes a social practice that is deeply tied to the landscapes and places that are considered to be holy and thus principally worthy of preservation (at least by many definitions of heritage), but which also in many cases ultimately consumes them over time, sometimes in very direct ways that immediately affect their physical state. This paper explores the contemporary and historical dimensions of this paradox, and considers the wider implications of seemingly destructive uses of sacred space by investigating the social and religious significance of so-called ‘pilgrims’ gouges’ observable at numerous pilgrimage sites in the Eastern Mediterranean. It, thereby, sheds light on the connections between the religious experience of pilgrimage and the material consumption of sacred places by juxtaposing cases from contemporary Islamic Syria and ancient Egypt, providing a long-term perspective on the use and consumption of sacred places. Lastly, it discusses the potential ramifications of the gouges for current approaches to heritage management and conservation.

Keywords:

• Egypt
• Syria
• pilgrimage
• devotional practices
• gouging

Acknowledgements

The fieldwork upon which this paper is based was funded by an EliteForsk travelling fellowship from the Danish Ministry of Science that I held in 2008–2009. It forms part of a bigger research project that I currently direct: ‘The Emergence of Sacred Travel: Experience, Economy and Connectivity in Ancient Mediterranean Pilgrimage’ (www.sacredtravel.dk), funded by the Danish Research Council’s Sapere Aude career programme (2013–2017). I thank Cornelius Holtorf for his comments and enthusiasm in the endeavour of organising the ‘Heritage Erasure’ session at the Kalmar conference and for putting this paper together, as well as the three anonymous reviewers of my manuscript.