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9
discover in seeing and painting.”11 The physical process of painting, the work of the
artist’s hands, is an act of discovery. Just as the eyes take in the world around them and
convert what they see into fuel for the creation of an artistic vision, so the hands discover
more even as they translate the eye’s vision to the canvas. The relatively recent trend
toward phenomenological theories of art production and aesthetics and an increasing
awareness by art historians of the interplay of other senses with sight in both historical
periods and our own modern world represent important steps toward addressing a cultural
bias in favor of the sense of sight. However, more work remains to be done, especially as
we strive to enhance our understanding of how all of the senses function as parts of social
and artistic language.
The field of archaeology, too, has long given primacy to the sense of sight.12 As
in art history, this focus seems natural given the nature of archaeological evidence. Even
when considering the role of (for instance) an ancient musical instrument, it is primarily
through the form of the object that archaeologists approach the discussion.13 Certainly
the physical forms of objects retrieved archaeologically are of the utmost importance and
provide a logical starting point for analysis, but too strict a reliance on visual evidence is
11 Merleau-Ponty 1968, 161.
12 Two notable exceptions to the sight-based analysis common to the field of archaeology that offer
excellent models for utilizing a broader approach to the senses when analyzing antiquity are the work of E.
Hickmann and L. Bartosiewicz, focusing on sound in antiquity and scent in the late medieval period,
respectively. I will return to their approaches in later chapters.
13 A growing trend toward the practice of experimental archaeology is opening new avenues for
understanding the function of objects from antiquity by reconstructing their forms and putting them to use.
Though these reconstructions generally require a certain amount of extrapolation and inventiveness, and the
conclusions drawn from their production and use are therefore not unproblematic, experimental
archaeology presents possibilities for the study of the senses in antiquity, especially in the field of ancient
music. For a discussion of the reconstruction of ancient musical instruments, see Chapter Two below, as
well as A. Tamboer 2002.
Object Description
| Title | Making sense of sacrifice: Sensory experience in Greco-Roman cult |
| Author | Weddle, Candace Cherie |
| Author email | candaceweddle@gmail.com; weddle@usc.edu |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Art History |
| School | College of Letters, Arts and Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2011-03-04 |
| Date submitted | 2011 |
| Restricted until | Unrestricted |
| Date published | 2011-04-27 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Pollini, John |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Yasin, Ann Marie Bitel, Lisa |
| Abstract | Performing a sacrifice was one of the most sensorially full actions undertaken in the Greco-Roman world. The production and control of the correct movements, scents and sounds were prerequisites for summoning, communicating with and propitiating deities. Sacrifice was also ubiquitous, occurring on an almost continual basis as a range of sacrificial activities were celebrated publicly and privately in a variety of locations in urban areas. Cultivating a multi-sensory understanding of the full range of sensory elements that accompanied ancient cult rites – visual and auditory cues, things smelled, tasted and touched - provides a platform for achieving a more thorough knowledge of the meanings of the rites.; This dissertation examines the archaeological, literary and epigraphical evidence for the role of the senses in Greek and Roman sacrifice in order to analyze the social and ritual importance of the senses, the impact of sacrificial rituals within ancient urban spaces, and the sensory experience of the ancient worshiper. Given the ephemeral nature of much of the evidence for sensory elements of worship, as well as the subjectivity inherent in representations of sensory experience in literature and art, this dissertation argues for the necessity of crossing disciplinary boundaries in order to appreciate the sensory impact of ancient sacrifice. Therefore, in addition to utilizing traditional historical and art historical approaches, methodological tools from the field of anthropology and evidence from studies in the animal behavioral sciences and consumer sciences are employed. For example, I suggest that greater understanding of the experience of ancient sacrifice may be acquired through an autoethnographic investigation of modern religious sacrifice. To that end, I analyze my experience of the slaughter of large numbers of bovines during the Islamic Kurban Bayram sacrifices in Istanbul to make suggestions concerning certain elements of the sensory experience of ancient blood sacrifice. I focus not only on the sensory experience of humans participating in (or within range of) sacrifices, but also on that of the animal victims. Given the immense ritual importance of the behavior of sacrificial animals in antiquity, I suggest that it is possible to identify some sensory aspects of the sacrificial process that may have been intentionally manipulated in order to control the reactions of the victims as far as possible.; Particular attention is paid to mundane aspects of the process of sacrifice not often addressed in ancient literary sources or represented in art that would have resulted in notable sensory impacts on areas surrounding urban temples, for example the removal of sacrificial refuse. I conclude not only that these elements of sacrifice formed an important part of the sensory experience of Greco-Roman cult, but also that their effects were more far-reaching – in terms both of how great an area they affected and how long they lasted – than has previously been recognized. Using fresh interdisciplinary approaches to well-known examples of texts and images, this dissertation employs a more visceral approach to the study of the sensory experience of ancient sacrifice than is possible when considering textual and archaeological evidence alone. |
| Keyword | archaeology; autoethnography; cult; Greece; religion; Rome; sacrifice; senses |
| Geographic subject (city or populated place) | Rome |
| Geographic subject (country) | Italy; Greece |
| Coverage date | circa -0600/0600 |
| Coverage era | Greco Roman |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m3788 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Rights | Weddle, Candace Cherie |
| Repository name | Libraries, University of Southern California |
| Repository address | Los Angeles, California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Filename | etd-Weddle-4363 |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume48/etd-Weddle-4363.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 27 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 9 discover in seeing and painting.”11 The physical process of painting, the work of the artist’s hands, is an act of discovery. Just as the eyes take in the world around them and convert what they see into fuel for the creation of an artistic vision, so the hands discover more even as they translate the eye’s vision to the canvas. The relatively recent trend toward phenomenological theories of art production and aesthetics and an increasing awareness by art historians of the interplay of other senses with sight in both historical periods and our own modern world represent important steps toward addressing a cultural bias in favor of the sense of sight. However, more work remains to be done, especially as we strive to enhance our understanding of how all of the senses function as parts of social and artistic language. The field of archaeology, too, has long given primacy to the sense of sight.12 As in art history, this focus seems natural given the nature of archaeological evidence. Even when considering the role of (for instance) an ancient musical instrument, it is primarily through the form of the object that archaeologists approach the discussion.13 Certainly the physical forms of objects retrieved archaeologically are of the utmost importance and provide a logical starting point for analysis, but too strict a reliance on visual evidence is 11 Merleau-Ponty 1968, 161. 12 Two notable exceptions to the sight-based analysis common to the field of archaeology that offer excellent models for utilizing a broader approach to the senses when analyzing antiquity are the work of E. Hickmann and L. Bartosiewicz, focusing on sound in antiquity and scent in the late medieval period, respectively. I will return to their approaches in later chapters. 13 A growing trend toward the practice of experimental archaeology is opening new avenues for understanding the function of objects from antiquity by reconstructing their forms and putting them to use. Though these reconstructions generally require a certain amount of extrapolation and inventiveness, and the conclusions drawn from their production and use are therefore not unproblematic, experimental archaeology presents possibilities for the study of the senses in antiquity, especially in the field of ancient music. For a discussion of the reconstruction of ancient musical instruments, see Chapter Two below, as well as A. Tamboer 2002. |
