Title: At the centre of the world :
Authors: Michell, John,
Date: 1994
Publisher: Thames and Hudson,
Physical description: 184 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Language: English
LC classification: B
Abstract: "The powers of ancient rulers emanated from the ritual center of the tribal territory. This center was also regarded as the birthplace of the tribe and belonged to the people as a whole. Installed upon this sacred rock (the omphalos or "navel of the world"), at the polar axis around which all revolved, the king could survey his realm, ordered from the center according to the divisions of the cosmos itself, reflecting the harmony and balance of paradise.". "Akhenaten's city in Egypt, Megalopolis of Ancient Greece, the world-centers of Roman Gaul and Celtic Cornwall, all provide clues to lead John Michell to the geographical and sacred criteria for locating a center. From studies of symbolic geography, particularly that of Celtic and Norse territories, he has discovered the leading principle for the siting of the "Thing" places, the main centers of religious and state ritual in Shetland, Orkney, the Faroe Islands and the Isle of Man. He considers the possible locations of the most hallowed centers of ancient Druidry and of the High Kings of Ireland. Finally, the esoteric foundation plan for these ancient societies is disclosed: the sacred geometry, the symbolic numbers.". "Symbols of the center are among the most persistent elements of myth and belief between cultures widely separated in time and space. Now John Michell traces their genesis, and suggests that their reflection of the ideal Platonic order of the universe can be relevant to the modern world."--BOOK JACKET.
Contents: I. Finding the Centre -- Sitting Around the Fire -- The Infinity of Centres -- Contemplating the Navel of the Earth -- The Central Point of Paradise -- Surveyors and Geomancers -- Open-Air Government -- Modern Centres: America, Australia -- Principles of Symbolic Centrography -- Ancient Egypt and Greece -- Mediolanum, the Centre of Gaul -- 2. The Northern Isles -- Picts and Vikings -- The Shetland Al-Thing -- Why Did They Meet in the Loch? -- The Shetland Thing Circuit -- The Pole of Orkney -- The Thing on Loch Finlaggan -- Islay's Tingwall -- 3. Why the Alting met at Torshavn -- Things of Faroe -- The Rock of Tinganes -- The Island Things -- Iceland's Ideal Commonwealth -- 4. The Centre of the Isle of Man -- The Manx Tynwald -- Dividing Up the Island -- Locating the Centre of Man -- Approaching the Centre: The Royal Road and the Milky Way -- The Sanctuary of the Celtic High King -- Inside the Royal Precinct -- 5. A Diversion to the Centre of England -- Calculations on the Geographical Centre -- England's Natural Axis -- Meriden -- The Centre of Roman Britain -- Rival Centres -- A Cornish Centre in West Penwith -- 6. The Centre of Ireland -- Myths of Foundation -- Kings and Constitution -- Cosmological Divisions -- Traditions of the Centre -- The Domain of the High King -- The Geographical Centre and the Division of the Provinces -- The Once and Future High King: A Helpful Suggestion -- 7. The Cosmological Prototype.
Notes: Includes index.
Subject headings (LCSH): British Isles--Miscellanea.; Faroe Islands--Miscellanea.; Geographical myths; Geomancy--Great Britain--History.; Landscape archaeology--Symbolic aspects.; Mythology, Celtic.; Mythology, Norse.; Orientation (Religion); Sacred space.; Symbolism in architecture.