Page 54 |
Save page Remove page | Previous | 54 of 348 | Next |
|
small (250x250 max)
medium (500x500 max)
Large (1000x1000 max)
Extra Large
large ( > 500x500)
Full Resolution
All (PDF)
|
This page
All
|
36
Some spices were employed in ways natural to us: long pepper, ginger and
cilantro were used in cooking for example,53 and ambergris as a perfume.54 Other spices
were employed in ways that we might find surprising. Black pepper, for instance,
became such a popular and highly-valued import in Rome that from the time of the early
empire it was stockpiled in the treasury as an alternate form of currency.55 Myrrh was
well-known in many ancient cultures as a perfume especially appropriate for situations of
lovemaking. In the Hebrew tradition, the Adulteress of Proverbs (7.16-17) entices her
young prey thus: “I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have
perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.”56 Sappho (second half of the
seventh c. B.C.E.) includes myrrh in her evocations of romantic and sensual love on
multiple occasions, for example in Fragment 94: “You put on many wreaths of violets
and roses and (crocuses?) together by my side, and round your tender neck you put many
woven garlands made from flowers…with much flowery perfume (μύρωι), fit for a
queen, you anointed yourself.” 57
53 The famous Roman cookbook of Apicius, published first under Augustus and Tiberius in the first century
C.E., though it passed through multiple editions over several centuries, calls for ginger in recipes and as a
digestif. Pliny bemoaned the high prices paid for ginger and for pepper of the long, white and black
varieties (fifteen, seven, and four denarii per pound, respectively, “Bought by weight like gold or silver”
(HN 12.14.29). pondere emitur ut aurum vel argentum). The culinary benefits of cilantro were discovered
early: archaeologists recovered samples from the tomb of Tutankhamen, dated to c. 1352 B.C.E., and it is
mentioned in Linear B tablets around the same time. See Dalby 2000, 126.
54 In an interesting example of the persistence of the fashion of a particular odor, this substance (dried
sperm whale feces) remains one of the key ingredients in Miss Dior perfume.
55 Dalby 2000, 91.
56 Translation taken from the New International Version.
57 Sappho Frag. 94 (transl. Campbell 1994, LCL). πό[λλοις γάρ στεφάν]οις ἴων καὶ βρ[όδων κρο]κίων τ᾽
ὔμοι κα..[ ] πὰρ ἔμοι περεθήκαο, καὶ πό[λλαις ᾽υπα]θύμιδας πλέκ[ταις ἀμφ᾽ ἀ]πάλαι δέραι ἀνθέων
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 54 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 36 Some spices were employed in ways natural to us: long pepper, ginger and cilantro were used in cooking for example,53 and ambergris as a perfume.54 Other spices were employed in ways that we might find surprising. Black pepper, for instance, became such a popular and highly-valued import in Rome that from the time of the early empire it was stockpiled in the treasury as an alternate form of currency.55 Myrrh was well-known in many ancient cultures as a perfume especially appropriate for situations of lovemaking. In the Hebrew tradition, the Adulteress of Proverbs (7.16-17) entices her young prey thus: “I have covered my bed with colored linens from Egypt. I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.”56 Sappho (second half of the seventh c. B.C.E.) includes myrrh in her evocations of romantic and sensual love on multiple occasions, for example in Fragment 94: “You put on many wreaths of violets and roses and (crocuses?) together by my side, and round your tender neck you put many woven garlands made from flowers…with much flowery perfume (μύρωι), fit for a queen, you anointed yourself.” 57 53 The famous Roman cookbook of Apicius, published first under Augustus and Tiberius in the first century C.E., though it passed through multiple editions over several centuries, calls for ginger in recipes and as a digestif. Pliny bemoaned the high prices paid for ginger and for pepper of the long, white and black varieties (fifteen, seven, and four denarii per pound, respectively, “Bought by weight like gold or silver” (HN 12.14.29). pondere emitur ut aurum vel argentum). The culinary benefits of cilantro were discovered early: archaeologists recovered samples from the tomb of Tutankhamen, dated to c. 1352 B.C.E., and it is mentioned in Linear B tablets around the same time. See Dalby 2000, 126. 54 In an interesting example of the persistence of the fashion of a particular odor, this substance (dried sperm whale feces) remains one of the key ingredients in Miss Dior perfume. 55 Dalby 2000, 91. 56 Translation taken from the New International Version. 57 Sappho Frag. 94 (transl. Campbell 1994, LCL). πό[λλοις γάρ στεφάν]οις ἴων καὶ βρ[όδων κρο]κίων τ᾽ ὔμοι κα..[ ] πὰρ ἔμοι περεθήκαο, καὶ πό[λλαις ᾽υπα]θύμιδας πλέκ[ταις ἀμφ᾽ ἀ]πάλαι δέραι ἀνθέων |
