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56
study of the development of the use and understanding of scents in early Christian piety,
incense in ancient religions “had the capacity to transform the human worshiper who
offered it, or even encountered it, into a state of exceptional piety.”90 At the most basic
level, scents that were understood to indicate the presence of a god might reasonably be
expected to cause elation (or perhaps trepidation) by means of that cognitive association.
I would also suggest that the introduction of certain odoriferous substances might have
been intended to affect changes in the celebrants in more physical ways.
The fact that certain spices were known in antiquity to contain mood-altering
substances is clear from the evidence of ancient medical texts. To give only one
example, Pliny notes of storax that “a moderate dose dispels melancholy, but a larger one
causes it.”91 The use of mood-affecting substances in burnt offerings to the gods may
have been intended to bring about a worshipful state of mind in the participants at rituals.
I will not consider here the well-known cases of rites to specific deities such as Apollo in
which oracles were induced to prophecy through the use of intoxicating fumes. These
cases, though extremely interesting, have been treated thoroughly elsewhere and I am
90 Harvey 2006, 14. A similar belief is held in many contemporary cultures. For example, Classen et al.
(1994, 131) describe the scent ascribed by the Chewong (an aboriginal people of the Malay Peninsula) to
the ‘leaf-people,’ spirit guides who sing magical songs to shamans but are sensed by ordinary people only
as an odor so sweet that “the women cry out of sheer emotion when they smell it.” An even more ritually
immediate use of smell is found among the practitioners of Batugue, an Afro-Brazilian cult that involves
spirit possession. Incense burned during rites induces the trance state necessary for the spirit to take
possession of a worshiper’s body. For these and other anthropological examples of the use of scents to
induce religious states, see Classen et al. 1994, 123 ff.
91 HN 24.15.24. potu modico tristitiam, largiore contrahi.
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 74 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 56 study of the development of the use and understanding of scents in early Christian piety, incense in ancient religions “had the capacity to transform the human worshiper who offered it, or even encountered it, into a state of exceptional piety.”90 At the most basic level, scents that were understood to indicate the presence of a god might reasonably be expected to cause elation (or perhaps trepidation) by means of that cognitive association. I would also suggest that the introduction of certain odoriferous substances might have been intended to affect changes in the celebrants in more physical ways. The fact that certain spices were known in antiquity to contain mood-altering substances is clear from the evidence of ancient medical texts. To give only one example, Pliny notes of storax that “a moderate dose dispels melancholy, but a larger one causes it.”91 The use of mood-affecting substances in burnt offerings to the gods may have been intended to bring about a worshipful state of mind in the participants at rituals. I will not consider here the well-known cases of rites to specific deities such as Apollo in which oracles were induced to prophecy through the use of intoxicating fumes. These cases, though extremely interesting, have been treated thoroughly elsewhere and I am 90 Harvey 2006, 14. A similar belief is held in many contemporary cultures. For example, Classen et al. (1994, 131) describe the scent ascribed by the Chewong (an aboriginal people of the Malay Peninsula) to the ‘leaf-people,’ spirit guides who sing magical songs to shamans but are sensed by ordinary people only as an odor so sweet that “the women cry out of sheer emotion when they smell it.” An even more ritually immediate use of smell is found among the practitioners of Batugue, an Afro-Brazilian cult that involves spirit possession. Incense burned during rites induces the trance state necessary for the spirit to take possession of a worshiper’s body. For these and other anthropological examples of the use of scents to induce religious states, see Classen et al. 1994, 123 ff. 91 HN 24.15.24. potu modico tristitiam, largiore contrahi. |
