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32 beginning of the year, each beginning of the month.”43 The smells of home sacrifices of fragrant incense, the scent of which was considered pleasant in other contexts, would be offensive to a Christian in their odoriferous regularity.44 At the performance of a public sacrifice such as illustrated in figures 1 and 2, the altar itself would have been a primary source of odor. In many cases, garlands composed of sweet-smelling flowers or fragrant branches festooned the altar. The smell of the burning wood or coals once the altar fires were lit would have been notable, though it is rarely specified in literary descriptions.45 On top of this scent and mingled with it we must imagine the smell of the animals, both prior to their sacrifice and in the moments after their blood was spilled (elements I discuss at length in Chapter Four), as well as the odors of burning hair and cooking meat and fat. Smoldering wine, in at least some cases already mixed with a variety of aromatics, would have been a notable aroma when it was employed as part of the rites, and over all of it would have hung the sweet smell of incense. This may seem a “cacophony” of scents or, to use a term coined specifically to describe the olfactory, a heterosmia, but we know that in at least some cases all of these elements were combined. For instance, the poet Claudian (b. c. 370 C.E.) documents a 43 Ad uxor. 2.6.1. Moratur Dei ancilla cum laribus alienis, et inter illos omnibus honoribus daemonum, omnibus solemnibus regnum, incipiente anno, incipiente mense, nidore thuris agitabitur. 44 On early Christian critiques of the role of incense in polytheistic religion, see S.A. Harvey 2006, 25 ff. 45 Although the two exemplary reliefs discussed above both show coals as the burning element on the sacrificial altars, other images such as the scene of military sacrifice on the Arch of Galerius in Thessaloniki clearly indicate a method of cross-stacking wood to provide a base for immolation. See H.P. Laubscher 1975, pl. 29.
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 50 |
Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
Full text | 32 beginning of the year, each beginning of the month.”43 The smells of home sacrifices of fragrant incense, the scent of which was considered pleasant in other contexts, would be offensive to a Christian in their odoriferous regularity.44 At the performance of a public sacrifice such as illustrated in figures 1 and 2, the altar itself would have been a primary source of odor. In many cases, garlands composed of sweet-smelling flowers or fragrant branches festooned the altar. The smell of the burning wood or coals once the altar fires were lit would have been notable, though it is rarely specified in literary descriptions.45 On top of this scent and mingled with it we must imagine the smell of the animals, both prior to their sacrifice and in the moments after their blood was spilled (elements I discuss at length in Chapter Four), as well as the odors of burning hair and cooking meat and fat. Smoldering wine, in at least some cases already mixed with a variety of aromatics, would have been a notable aroma when it was employed as part of the rites, and over all of it would have hung the sweet smell of incense. This may seem a “cacophony” of scents or, to use a term coined specifically to describe the olfactory, a heterosmia, but we know that in at least some cases all of these elements were combined. For instance, the poet Claudian (b. c. 370 C.E.) documents a 43 Ad uxor. 2.6.1. Moratur Dei ancilla cum laribus alienis, et inter illos omnibus honoribus daemonum, omnibus solemnibus regnum, incipiente anno, incipiente mense, nidore thuris agitabitur. 44 On early Christian critiques of the role of incense in polytheistic religion, see S.A. Harvey 2006, 25 ff. 45 Although the two exemplary reliefs discussed above both show coals as the burning element on the sacrificial altars, other images such as the scene of military sacrifice on the Arch of Galerius in Thessaloniki clearly indicate a method of cross-stacking wood to provide a base for immolation. See H.P. Laubscher 1975, pl. 29. |