Samothrace: Framing the Mysteries in the Sanctuary of the Great Gods
![http://www.samothrace.emory.edu/sites/default/files/samothrace_logo.jpg]()
With the support of the Collaborative Research in the Humanities Grant (CRitH) from Emory University, and in collaboration with the Institute of Fine Arts of New York University and the ΙΘ’ Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities, Komotini, we are working to develop new strategies for understanding how Samothracian architecture was designed and the way in which it acts in concert with the sacred space to craft the experience of initiation. Forging liaisons across the disciplines of Art History, Computer Science, Statistics, and the Carlos Museum, the principal investigators, Bonna Wescoat (Art History), Vicki Hertzberg (Biostatistics, Rollins School of Public Health), Elizabeth Hornor (Michael C. Carlos Museum), and Michael Page (Woodruff Library) and their students (listed below) have developed three interrelated projects that engage the interconnectedness of architecture, landscape, and religious ritual:* Recreate the pilgrim’s experience by building and then traversing a three-dimensional digital reconstructed model of the Sanctuary;* Articulate the design principles of Samothracian architecture by developing statistical methods and computational tools to analyze the metrics of Samothracian buildings; and* Develop the i-Site pilot program for communicating and contextualizing this work through a virtual exhibition and blog, www.isamothrace.org, in conjunction with the Michael C. Carlos Museum’s website.The platform on which the research will be partially disseminated is this website, www.samothrace.emory.edu. The methods of inquiry developed here function both as research tools and as means of communication, with the Sanctuary of the Great Gods on Samothrace serving as the paradigm.
