The Sanctuary of the Great Gods at Samothrace (Greece) is best known today as the original home of the famous Winged Victory in the Louvre. In antiquity, it was renowned for its ancient mystery cult, drawing initiates from around the Mediterranean. Over the past decade, an international team has digitally reconstructed Samothrace. Our full-scale HoloLens model allows the user to cognitively apprehend the ancient sanctuary and to experience the kinesthesia stimulated by bodily movements that contributed so meaningfully to ancient visitors’ experience of the sacred space. In this talk, Maggie Popkin explores how mixed reality technology offers an exciting and vital tool for experiencing the ancient spaces of mystery cults in a new, embodied, and remarkably accessible manner. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience the mixed reality technology of Samothrace themselves.
This program is a part of The Annual Enid and Irving Kushner Lecture Series: Ancient Civilizations and Biblical Archaeology.