Fire for Zeus: using Virtual Reality to explore meaning and experience at Mount Kasios

From the Bronze Age onwards, summits of mountains in the East Mediterranean were sacred; many to the Greek sky-god Zeus–making a symbolic connection between the abstract sky and the physically highest point. In some cases, sacredness extends through to the Christian period, such as at Mount Kasios, which sits on the Syrian-Turkish border, and which is inaccessible for archaeological research. In this paper, we explore interactions with and representations of Mount Kasios by different groups at different times, and how these sources can help reconstruct ancient meanings and experiences of the mountain. Myth, archaeology, and landscape are mobilized to inform the construction and interrogation of two digital models in GIS and Virtual Reality (VR) designed to elicit a feeling of awe. Such ‘virtual phenomenology’ offers a means to explore a contested contemporary landscape, and to engage with ancient experiences and atmospheres of this holy mountain