space: a place to store my thoughts

The network of connections between space, thought and persuasion/ rhetoric is something that I find fascinating. Ancient rhetoricians recommended the use of spatial imagery as a tool for remembering the parts of a speech. Just as you move through a house, so to you move through the parts of your speech. Memory was understood in spatial terms.

Similarly, in a 1994 article Bettina Bergmann suggests that actual spaces could serve as a sort of mnemonic device. In "The Roman House as Memory Theater" (The Art Bulletin 76), she argues that the wall paintings in the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, which included depictions of classical marriages, were arranged to evoke particular ideas, connections and analogies in the minds of the viewer. In other words, the images and the space, which constrains to an extent how the images are viewed, activate certain ways of thinking and imagining. Fascinating. (Unfortunately, I don't recall Bergmann talking about the "Cave Canem" mosaic also found in the house.)

So, where am I going with this? (Pun intended.) I'm not completely sure, but I think that this type of understanding of space might be pertinent to thinking about Revelation, a narrative that relies upon a very structured notion of the universe: Below earth, earth, mid-heaven, heavenly throne room. Interesting things happen in relation to these spaces. For instance, the new Jerusalem seems trapped in a perpetual descent from heaven into mid-heaven toward earth. Also, the text pinpoints certain important places (e.g. Mount Zion) and shows interest in measuring space (chapter 11) and discussing the arrangement/ structure of certain spaces (e.g. throne room and the new Jerusalem). I wonder, how does this relate to space as a mnemonic and how does this relate to the way spaces were constructed/ manipulated in the ancient world.

Although Revelation was written in Asia Minor and not Israel, I can't help thinking about how Herod manipulated the natural landscape to create Herodian. The hill is artificially enhanced and into it is built a palace, including gardens. There probably would have been a structure visible at the top (I have double-check my autographed copy of Ehud Netzer's book on Herodian!) and there were structures at the base and on the sides that would have been visible from a distance. Also, I''m thinking of the connection between "recreated" spaces in villas and the like. For instance the Serapeum and Canopus at Hadrian's Villa, which seemingly evoke Alexandria.

At this point, I just using the blog as a virtual storage space . . . a place to hold my thoughts and questions about space and Revelation. Here's hoping that I can complete the growing list of current projects in order to get to this one sometime in the next ten years!