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21
importance when developing my theories about the meanings of touch and taste in
sacrifice, as set forth in Chapter Three.
The Absence of Sight
In my description above of the chapters in this dissertation, it will have been obvious that
one sense, sight, is treated differently. Although it is woven into the discussions of each
of the other four senses, I do not present it in its own chapter. Given my disciplinary
foundation in art history, this may seem counter-intuitive. Nevertheless, the decision was
a conscious one and there are several reasons for it. Not the least of these is the fact that
in studies of sacrificial ritual both ancient and modern, sight has long served as the
primary means of investigation, whether through interrogation of monuments (be they
examples of architecture, images of sacrifice, or the natural or built landscapes of cult
sites) or observation of living ritual. In short, studies of scenes of sacrifice have been
almost “done to death.”
There are solid reasons for the primacy of vision as an analytical tool for
investigating Greco-Roman sacrifice. To begin with, a significant amount of our
evidence for ancient sacrifice is visual. Images of sacrificial rites are abundant from both
the Greek and Roman world and constitute a carefully controlled presentation of ritual by
ancient artists. As Fless and Moede have noted in their study of ancient religious music
and dance, “In the end, we know all rituals only through the mirror of their contemporary
representation.”27 The visual evidence for sacrificial practice that has been recovered by
27 Fless and Moede 2007, 250.
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 39 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 21 importance when developing my theories about the meanings of touch and taste in sacrifice, as set forth in Chapter Three. The Absence of Sight In my description above of the chapters in this dissertation, it will have been obvious that one sense, sight, is treated differently. Although it is woven into the discussions of each of the other four senses, I do not present it in its own chapter. Given my disciplinary foundation in art history, this may seem counter-intuitive. Nevertheless, the decision was a conscious one and there are several reasons for it. Not the least of these is the fact that in studies of sacrificial ritual both ancient and modern, sight has long served as the primary means of investigation, whether through interrogation of monuments (be they examples of architecture, images of sacrifice, or the natural or built landscapes of cult sites) or observation of living ritual. In short, studies of scenes of sacrifice have been almost “done to death.” There are solid reasons for the primacy of vision as an analytical tool for investigating Greco-Roman sacrifice. To begin with, a significant amount of our evidence for ancient sacrifice is visual. Images of sacrificial rites are abundant from both the Greek and Roman world and constitute a carefully controlled presentation of ritual by ancient artists. As Fless and Moede have noted in their study of ancient religious music and dance, “In the end, we know all rituals only through the mirror of their contemporary representation.”27 The visual evidence for sacrificial practice that has been recovered by 27 Fless and Moede 2007, 250. |
