SACRED GEOGRAPHY OF THE MIDDLE EAST
VOL. 48 [195]
june 2024
EDITORIAL
Readers will be excited to learn that this issue of the Historical Reporter explores sacred geography in Christian and Muslim cultures of the Middle East across a broad timeline, from Late Antiquity to Modern times. The concept of «sacred geography» includes a wide range of subjects, such as worship sites and «places of power», along with the associated festival calendar, pilgrimages, and accompanying rituals, as observed in thereligious traditions of diverse peoples and civilizations.
This subject is by no means reduced to descriptive, narrative stories, or frozen snapshots of holy sites and religious rituals typical of this or that ethno-confessional group. The only viable way to study sacred geography is as a dynamic process: as constant change, complication or simplification of the religious site system, and the growth or decline of the literary creativity inspired by such sites, which manifests through pilgrimage itineraries and legend cycles associated with places of worship. The dynamics of sacred geography serve as a vitality indicator for a specific people. The veneration of prophets, saints, and martyrs crystallizes into the metaphorical lattice of ethnographic markers, which uphold the identity of any human community. Places of worship have a clearly visible connection to the landscape they are integrated into. Pilgrimage traditions foster ethnic or supra-ethnic consolidation. In some instances, the very economy of religious structures is built upon them. Consequently, if elements of sacred geography are lost and the related traditions are forgotten, this can weaken the ethno-confessional group’s resilience against external challenges, which can end in it disappearing entirely. The tasks and aspects of studying sacred geography are discussed in the introductory article by Сonstantin A. Panchenko.
The first section of the issue focuses on various aspects of venerating holy sites in Christian cultures of the Byzantine tradition. General theoretical insights into the typology and evolution of sacred spaces, exemplified by specific regions like Crimea and Byzantine Egypt, can be found in the articles by Pavel V. Kuzenkov and Anton A. Voytenko.
Venturing slightly beyond the Eastern Christian realm, Dmitry E. Mishin offers an overview of the sacred geography in Iran under the Sasanian dynasty, an empire as ideologically driven as its perennial rival, Christian Byzantium. Iranian Zoroastrianism, a religion with no typological similarities to Christianity, presents a fascinating opportunity to compare both the unique and shared aspects of the two ideocratic empires’ sacred geographical models. In its essence, the need for a system of places of worship and associated rituals is inherent to any human community, and representatives of vastly different civilizations occasionally show remarkable similarities in their traditional ways of venerating holy sites.
Alongside general theoretical discussions, this issue showcases specific examples of local or regional holy site systems, as well as their evolution and its close ties to the destinies of the surrounding Christian communities. For instance, the article by Сonstantin A. Panchenko is dedicated to the Kalamun plateau, an area in central Syria between Damascus and Homs that, until recently, was home to a dense Christian population and a hub for the New Aramaic dialect, featuring a network of monasteries and local places of worship. This system’s development, complexity, and degradation can be linked to the ethno-cultural and demographic processes within the Christian population of the region.
Many nodes of Middle Eastern sacred geography had not just regional, but pan-Christian significance, attracting the faithful from diverse and distant peoples and cultures. Alongside Jerusalem, the monasteries of the Judean Desert, and several other monastic communities, such notable sites include the monastery of St. Catherine on Sinai, a major spiritual gravitational center of the Christian world. The article by Elena V. Romanenko goes over hypothetical scenarios of pilgrimage to Sinai by Nilus of Sora, one of Medieval Russia’s most revered monastic figures.
The subject of the holy sites of Palestine continued to carry great significance in Russian throughout the last century of the Russian Empire: one need only consider that the dispute over the possession of the keys to the Bethlehem Basilica of the Nativity was a pretext for starting the Crimean War. In the early 20th century, Russia, represented by various semi-government-run entities, wielded considerable influence in the Middle East, as evidenced by the project run by Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, head of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society, with the goal of securing Russian ownership of several plots within the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. This dream of the Grand Duchess, which was so close to becoming real but ultimately remained unfulfilled, is the focus of the article by Elena Y. Kovalskaya.
The issue’s second segment continues with similar themes of sacred geography, this time exemplified by Islamic civilization.
Going on pilgrimages to the sacred shrines of the respective religion counts among the fundamental rituals in almost any culture. Yet there is hardly any other faith where this tradition is held in such high regard as in Islam. The Hajj, the pilgrimage to the holy cities of Arabia, stands as one of the most crucial religious obligations for Muslims. For centuries, this pilgrimage has played a significant role in the ideological, political, and social life of Muslim societies, on top of forming the economic backbone for the holy cities of the Hijaz region. To cite one example, the Ottoman sultans’ claims to leadership in the Muslim world were bolstered by their title of khadim ul-haramain (Custodian to the Two Holies: i.e., Mecca and Medina). Organizing and overseeing annual pilgrimage caravans was considered a paramount duty of the Ottoman state system. One such caravan, led by the Damascus Pasha, merged pilgrim streams coming from the Asian and European territories that were part of the Muslim civilization; another, organized by Ottoman Egyptian authorities, guided pilgrims to Mecca from Africa. The operation of these two pilgrimage routes—the Egyptian and the Syrian—is discussed in the articles by Svetlana A. Kirillina and Dmitriy R. Zhantiev. The system of spiritual hubs at the extreme south-west of the Muslim world, where the Maghreb meets tropical Africa, is analyzed in the study by Vladimir V. Orlov. The depiction of sacred sites in Islam from the eastern Shia perspective of the 11th century Iranian intellectual Nasir-i-Khusraw is presented in the article by Marina L. Reysner.
The issue of adding legitimacy and religious weight to their rule was a concern for all Muslim rulers, but it became particularly acute in Medieval Egypt’s Mamluk Sultanate, governed by a class of warrior-slaves who were first-generation Muslims. The article by Milana Yu. Iliushina illustrates how the Mamluk Sultans, without claiming any personal spiritual authority, endeavored to integrate their mausoleums into Egypt’s sacred landscape to gain favour with local spiritual leaders.
The narratives of civillization clashes, each with its own system and perception of sacred geography, are of particular interest. One particularly memorable instance of such a clash was Bonaparte’s Egyptian Campaign, where several distinct, almost alien worlds dramatically collided in the direct vicinity of the Abrahamic faiths’ main holy city. The article by Taras Y. Kobishchanov examines the events of the Egyptian Campaign in terms of how the region’s sacred sites were perceived within the Muslim and Christian traditions, as well as how they were regarded from the secular viewpoint of the French revolutionary society represented by Bonaparte and his circle.
Sacred geography has often served as the battleground in conflicts between civilisations. This most commonly and visibly manifests through destroying the enemy’s sites of worship and appropriating other cultures’ «places of power». A notable example is the fate of the main Byzantine cathedral, the Church of St. Sophia, which became the Hagia Sophia Mosque, and has recently undergone several dramatic changes in its status. Mikhail I. Yakushev researches how the mosque’s interior transformed in the Ottoman era and how this was perceived by European artists working in the Ottoman capital.
Modern and postmodern secular states are just as invested in creating their own sacred geography as their religiously driven Medieval counterparts. Today’s ideologically significant sites are typically secular, and often associated with major milestones from military history. Some newly established states, like the Arabian principalities of the Persian Gulf, do not have much of a storied past, and thus urgently require their own religious landmarks. Elena S. Melkumyan’s work explores efforts to construct a unique and illustrious heritage in Kuwait, a country with a brief and not quite eventful history.
The materials in this issue cover only a fraction of the potential perspectives on studying places of worship and the associated traditions. We are hoping that our journal will foster interest in sacred geography, specifically as a dynamic phenomenon that mirrors the political interests, cultural creativity, social dynamics, and spiritual pursuits of an endless variety of diverse peoples and their respective cultures.
Although this issue is dedicated to one specific topic, we have also included a study prepared by Vladimir V. Hutarev-Garnishevsky: The February Revolution in Moscow Through Observations, Rumors, and Dialogues. Based on the Diaries of N.P. Vishnyakov. The editorial board decides to incorporate unrelated documents and sources into a dedicated issue if such materials began the process of publication previously, upon their completion. This publication continues the release of Vishnyakov’s epistolary heritage, which began with the 38th issue of the journal, featuring excerpts from two manuscripts: Autobiographical Notes and Duma Memories and Impressions.
Alexey E. Titkov, Editor-in-Chief of the Historical Reporter
CONTENTS
SACRED GEOGRAPHY OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Сonstantin A. Panchenko. Sacred Geography in the History of Abrahamic Religions of the East
CHRISTIAN AND ZOROASTRIAN SACRED GEOGRAPHY OF THE MIDDLE EAST
Pavel V. Kuzenkov. The Empire-Universe and Its Area. On the Application of the Concept of State-Civilization to the History of Byzantium
Anton A. Voytenko. «The Space of the Saints» as a Feature of the Sacred Geography in Late Antiquity (Using the Example of Egypt)
Dmitry E. Mishin. Zoroastrian Sacred Geography of the Sasanid Empire
Сonstantin A. Panchenko. Christian Sacred Geography of the Kalamun Plateau in the Middle Ages and Modern Era
Elena V. Romanenko. Рilgrimage of Nil Sorskyto the Christian East
Elena Y. Kovalskaya. The Unfulfilled Dream of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna: the Project of Russian Presence in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (1912–1917)
SACRED GEOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAMIC CIVILIZATIONS
Svetlana A. Kirillina. Egyptian Pilgrimage Route (Darb Al-Hajj Al-Misriy). A Key Link in the Sacred Geography of the Islamic World (17th–18th Centuries)
Dmitriy R. Zhantiev. The Gate of the Kaaba: Damascus and the Syrian Hajj Route in the Sacred Geography of Ottoman Syria from the 16th to the 19th Centuries
Marina L. Reysner. Between Mecca and Cairo: «Old» and «New» Sacred geography in the «Book of the Ravel» and Poetry of Nasir-i Khusraw (1004–1088)
Milana Yu. Iliushina. Mamluk Sacred Topography: Strategy and Practice of Power Representation
Vladimir V. Orlov. Sacred Knowledge and Cooperation Among Regional Scholarly Traditions: Insights from the Maghreb and the Sahel (16th–19th Centuries)
Taras Y. Kobishchanov. Sacred Spaces and the Eastern Expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte
Mikhail I. Yakushev. The Sacred Space of Hagia Sophia in the Perception of European Artists
Elena S. Melkumyan. Al Jahra as a Symbol of Kuwaiti Military Valor
SOURCES
Vladimir V. Hutarev-Garnishevsky. The February Revolution in Moscow Through Observations, Rumors, and Dialogues. Based on the Diaries of N.P. Vishnyakov