The architecture of access: ramps at ancient Greek healing sanctuaries

Sneed, Debby

doi:10.15184/aqy.2020.123

Cited by 11 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…34 This approach has uncovered the longer history of the social model by revealing architectural accommodation of disability in ancient Greece through documentation of the more extensive use of stone ramps in healing sanctuaries compared to non-healing sites. 35 Focusing on materiality shifts our focus onto disability as mediated by the environment and increases evidence of its continuity, both throughout history and in the lives of individuals. As Bess Williamson notes, 'When it comes to material traces of disability, objects such as canes, splints, and eye patches preserved over time remind us of the persistence of physical variation as well as its social nature'.…”

Section: Section 1: Objects As Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is disability history the history of?

McGuire

2024

History Compass

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This article has two connected aims. First, to contour the boundaries of modern disability history through outlining its development and second, to provide a new methodological agenda for disability history. The design model of disability has outlined an important new programme to integrate the social and medical models of disability by foregrounding materials. Yet ‘disability things’ (to use Ott's memorable term) have been part of disability history's genesis since the material turn, which started the process of social historians recovering the lives of those not recorded in textual sources through objects, including prosthetics. From considering objects as things, the influence of Science and Technology Studies scholars pushed disability historians to further consider objects as agents and objects in use. These approaches have highlighted the differential levels of autonomy and power that objects and their users have in making history. However, this focus on materials has highlighted visible and recorded disability over ‘invisible’ disability, which has perpetuated its opacity and created definitional difficulties around disability demarcation. Medical history methodologies aimed at revealing the ‘patient view’ can help bring people back into focus but uphold the categories of patients and biomedicine in a way that impedes the aims of disability scholars. Focusing on exactly what is hidden is less useful than focusing on how it is hidden, and science and technology study methodologies can illuminate these processes.

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Section: Section 1: Objects As Agentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

What is disability history the history of?

McGuire

2024

History Compass

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“…Sneed correctly identified small children, pregnant individuals, and the elderly as expanding the demographics of mobility impairment (Sneed, 2020). They may have functioning legs but may not be able to traverse by themselves distances or able-bodied adult-oriented objects such as stairs with tall risers.…”

Section: Demographics Of Mobility Impairmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the most part, archaeology has not embraced the field of Disability Studies. Sneed's article on the use of ramps in the asklepieion at Epidauros (Sneed, 2020) is a notable exception and gives a solid starting point for integrating Disability Studies and archaeology.…”

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confidence: 99%

Reading Ancient Temples through the Lens of Disability Studies and Mobility Design

Zucconi

2023

Biblical Theology Bulletin: Journal of Bible and Culture

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Modern archaeological scholarship typically overlooks the experiences of people with disabilities, assuming that ancient societies, like contemporary ones, focused on the able-bodied. However, recent developments in the field have demonstrated the possibility of uncovering previously hidden aspects, such as prostheses and votive offerings related to disabilities at healing shrines. Nevertheless, excavations and material culture interpretations still often neglect the lived experiences of individuals with disabilities in antiquity. This article proposes a novel approach that integrates disability studies and mobility design into archaeology to shed light on the lives of the disabled. It applies these concepts to examine access to temples for people with disabilities in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Canaan/Israel, serving as a proof of concept to show that archaeologists can uncover insights into disability by understanding the theological underpinnings of religious site construction.

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“…For recent studies on the use of ramps in temples, seeSporn 2015 andSneed 2020. As regards the substantial ramp at the Temple of Zeus at Lebadea, its inclination and form should help us decipher this element at a further stage of our research.…”

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confidence: 99%

The Temple of Zeus at Lebadea. The architecture and the semantics of a colossus

Kanellopoulos¹,

Partida²

2021

OpAthRom

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The Temple of Zeus Basileus at Lebadea rests almost unknown. Its physical remains and date (not systematically explored so far) pose a riddle, as regards not only the circumstances which entailed its presumed incompletion but also the historic context in which the commencement of construction can be embedded. The dimensions of the krepis alone render this edifice highly interesting in the history of temple-building. The in situ preserved architectural elements suggest that here was begun the erection of what was at the time the largest peristasis in Mainland Greece. The temple stylobate measures 200 feet/podes in length, with a lower column diameter equal to just over two metres, and the longest interaxial spacings and corresponding architraves of its time. By increasing the length and height of the structure, the architects achieved its qualification as colossal. This qualification is revealed from the uniquefor-the-Classical-period length of 14 columns along the peristasis, with visible euthynteria and hypeuthynteria courses. As shown in this paper, this colossal structure abided by the rules of Doric design. Ascribing the unfinished state of the temple probably to financial shortcoming and/or military adventures, Pausanias did comment on its ambitious, gigantic size. The level of construction eventually reached is another focal point of our investigation. The study of the Temple of Zeus Basileus brings out the multifaceted notion of the term “monumentality”, tightly related to visual impact. One of the aims of its commissioners would have been to establish a landmark on the summit where Zeus was probably co-worshipped with Trophonios, the Boeotian hero-prophet. Since the temple in question, as we propose, most probably commemorated both a grandiose military victory in the 3rd century BC and the contemporary political situation, its imposing volume, along with the aesthetic effect of bichromy, were meant to perpetuate the overtone of these events within the ambience of the sacred Lebadea. Another facet of monumentality involves the respective building programme, and it derives from epigraphical sources, namely a contract specifying construction details, with particular instructions already at the orthostate level, denoting that accuracy in execution safeguarded the high quality of ancient Greek architecture.

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The architecture of access: ramps at ancient Greek healing sanctuaries

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 11 publications

References 10 publications

What is disability history the history of?

What is disability history the history of?

Reading Ancient Temples through the Lens of Disability Studies and Mobility Design

The Temple of Zeus at Lebadea. The architecture and the semantics of a colossus

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