Exploring Aniconism

Mikael Aktor, Milette Gaifman, Mikael Aktor, Milette Gaifman

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9780367357764
• eBook ISBN: 9781000682977
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Greek Ancient History
• Index: History

This book explores the phenomenon of aniconism—the denotation of the presence of gods, saints, or spiritual forces using non-figural visual markers that do not resemble these supranatural entities.

The contributors show how various types of aniconism differ in how they mediate divine presence and relate to other modes of representation. Aniconism is rarely absolute; each aniconic form needs to be considered within a spectrum of visual modes ranging from the abstract to the anthropomorphic. The chapters examine aniconism in paleolithic cultures; in ancient Egypt, Israel, and Greece; in early Christianity and Islam; in medieval and contemporary Hinduism; and in 17th–19th century Scottish-Gaelic contexts. The volume also provides a critical historiography of 'aniconism' as an academic concept, a new fine-tuned terminology, and some general characteristics of aniconic expressions in the context of the broader field of material religion.

Offering a multi-faceted discussion of this important category of religious material culture, this book will be of interest to those with an interest in aniconism, as well as those involved in the wider study of how religion intersects with art and anthropology.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the Religion journal.

Index

Note: Italic page numbers refer to figures and page numbers followed by “n” denote endnotes.

Abrahamic religions 14–15

acts of love (sevā) 134, 135, 141

adult sacred knowledge 155

Advaita Vedānta school of Śankara 107

African Eve 20, 25

‘Afro-European sapiens’ model 20

Against Marcion (Tertullian) 62

Against the Galileans (Julian) 62

Against the Nations (Arnobius) 60

Aktor, M. 9, 14

Ali, N. 12

Amabilis Victrix 94

Ambrose of Milan 63

Amduat 36, 36, 37, 37

amuletic material culture 90

amulets and aniconism 91–2

Amun (god) 32, 35

ancient ‘heathenism’ 144

ancient Roman aniconism 12, 54, 59–61

Andaman Jarawas see Jarawas of Andaman Islands

aniconic(ism): assessment of, aniconic cult 6; comparative perspective 10–16; definition of 105; divine presence, non-figural index of 4; Hindu pañcāyatanapūjā 149–54; historiography and definitions 2–4; terms, usage of 5–10

aniconic art, Jarawas 26–8, 27

aniconic ideology 46

aniconic Osiris 39–41, 40

aniconic worship 156

aniconism theories 16

‘Anikonische Kulte’ 3

anthropomorphism: aniconism, islamic forms of 73; benefits of 140–3; concept of 143–6; critiques of 58; Hindu pañcāyatanapūjā 149–54; iconicity of 146; pañcāyatana stones 149–62

antiquarian approaches 92

Antiquities of Divine and Human Matters 60

anti-Umayyad outlook 75

Apology (Martyr) 62

Appar, nāyanmār poet 122

Arabic culture 71

The Archaeological Imagination (Shanks) 92

archaeology 19, 20

Ariadne and Dionysus, Wall painting 78, 79 ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Aniconism: definitions, examples and comparative perspectives
• Aniconism and the origins of palaeoart
• The real presence of Osiris: iconic, semi-iconic and aniconic ritual representations of an Egyptian god
• Aniconic propaganda in the Hebrew Bible, or: the possible birth of religious seriousness
• Aniconism in the first centuries of Christianity
• The royal veil: early Islamic figural art and the Bilderverbot reconsidered
• Stone-agency: sense, sight and magical efficacy in traditions of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland
• Śiva’s multiplicity of presence in aniconic and iconic form
• Drawing out the iconic in the aniconic: worship of neem trees and Govardhan stones in Northern India
• The Hindu pañcāyatanapūjā in the aniconism spectrum
• Index