Sacred Space in Egeria's Fourth‐Century Pilgrimage Account

Abstract

This article examines Egeria's pilgrimage in the 380s as emblemising the fourth‐century Constantinian conception of the Holy Land as a sacred space. Egeria's account is the second‐oldest surviving pilgrim itinerarium and her writing helped pioneer the development and codification of pilgrimage as a lived religious practice. Egeria embarked on pilgrimage with the belief that holiness was accessible through an immersion within the sacred Palestinian landscape. She expressed two desires: to engage closely with holy sites and to see how monastic communities were living and praying within the landscape. This liminal landscape was a ritual site where prayers brought the past into the present. Although she travelled with a deep belief in Constantine's legacy of holy places, a routinisation of pilgrimage had not yet occurred. With no scriptural, doctrinal or theological definition of the practice, she was autonomous in defining the meaning of holy landscapes within her own context. This article finds in Egeria's account an early example of the transformative and liminal phenomenon of pilgrimage through the eyes of an independent, devout, and pioneering female pilgrim.