The Kitchen in the Church Complex: Work and Sacred Space at 'Ain el-Gedida
The fourth-century church complex at 'Ain el-Gedida, in the Dakhleh Oasis, provides a striking case study for the integration of kitchen work into social and religious space in late antiquity. Its unique features - both sociological and archaeological - reflect a dynamic, rough-and-tumble integ...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| In: |
Religion in the Roman empire
Year: 2024, Volume: 10, Issue: 1, Pages: 127-148 |
| Further subjects: | B
Archaeology
B Kitchens B Church complexes B Egypt B Late Antiquity |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | The fourth-century church complex at 'Ain el-Gedida, in the Dakhleh Oasis, provides a striking case study for the integration of kitchen work into social and religious space in late antiquity. Its unique features - both sociological and archaeological - reflect a dynamic, rough-and-tumble integration that both protects the sacred space of the nave and centres the productive labour of cooking. This article analyses the anteroom/kitchen B6 from the perspectives of space syntax, the communicative landscape of labour, and the sociology of graffiti. While it may have been designed as a transitional zone or service auxiliary for the primary public spaces of church and gathering hall, B6 becomes, in its socio-spatial effects, an alternate pole of symbolic density that exerts a counterforce to the sacred space of nave and sanctuary. This analysis also provides a preliminary model for thinking about the role played by visible labour in the religious experience of Christians in the later Roman Empire, particularly non-elite Christians. |
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| ISSN: | 2199-4471 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Religion in the Roman empire
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1628/rre-2024-0009 |