‘Don’t forget the stone itself’: a Near Eastern threshold in the temple of the Lydian goddess

• Selga Medenieks ^[1]
  1. [1] Trinity College Dublin

     Trinity College Dublin

     Irlanda

     
• Localización: Hermathena, ISSN 0018-0750, Nº. 200-201, 2016, págs. 148-186
• Idioma: inglés
• Enlaces
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• Resumen

  • As an ancient history undergraduate I was fortunate to have had Professor Brian McGing for one of my first teachers; later came the privilege of studying my doctorate under his supervision; and now I am honoured to call him my friend – this paper is dedicated to him, in gratitude for his guidance and with the deepest of respect. His very first assignment to our class was the analysis of an obscure Lycian stela inscribed in Greek. On my laboured assessment of the epigraphy, the society that produced it, its significance, etc., he wrote only: ‘Don’t forget the stone itself, and what it can tell you.’ The present study remembers this sage advice as it examines the affordances of another carved stone, a threshold block from Sardis. It traces a particular legacy transmitted via a number of cultures beloved by Brian, including those of Egypt and Persia, in that land which has so often engaged his attention, ancient Anatolia.