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62
Further, we have evidence that the olfactory signals of a god’s presence were not
limited to scents produced during the active process of sacrifice. For example, in the late
fourth or early third century B.C.E., Theophrastus wrote of a frankincense tree that had
been successfully cultivated in a sacred precinct in the Lydian capital of Sardes in Asia
Minor.99 This much-sought-after aromatic had never been grown in commercial
quantities beyond the borders of southern Arabia, in an area now occupied primarily by
the nation of Oman. Its establishment in a sacred area of Sardes delivered multiple
messages, including the extent of the material wealth of the Lydian king and, certainly,
the presence and power of the deity in whose precinct the tree took root.
The association of frankincense with the gods was not merely an allusion to the
burning of incense in sacrificial ceremony; the relationship between deities and aromatic
trees was much closer than that. In the early fifth century B.C.E., the Greek poet Pindar
described the sap from which frankincense was derived as the “yellow tears of fresh
incense.”100 Far from a simple poetic device, Pindar’s lines draw on an ancient
mythology of the inhabitation of trees by gods and divine spirits. In the sacred legends of
many ancient Mediterranean cultures, the plants from which incense was derived were
understood to have been originally formed through magical means associated with
divinities. The tears of the Egyptian deities Heru, Su and Tefnut produce incense-bearing
99 Hist. Pl. 9.4.9.
100 Pind. Frag. 122 (87). …τᾶς χλωρᾶς λιβάνου ξανθὰ δάκρη θυμιᾶτε… This fragment is part of a eulogy
for Xenophon of Corinth. I am grateful to Prof. Ann Marie Yasin (University of Southern California) for
pointing out to me that Pindar makes reference here to the visual qualities of the aromatic (its yellow color
and its resemblance to tears), rather than to its scent. The description of the incense as deriving from a
personified tree that weeps, as would a human, further emphasizes its physical rather than olfactory
properties.
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 80 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 62 Further, we have evidence that the olfactory signals of a god’s presence were not limited to scents produced during the active process of sacrifice. For example, in the late fourth or early third century B.C.E., Theophrastus wrote of a frankincense tree that had been successfully cultivated in a sacred precinct in the Lydian capital of Sardes in Asia Minor.99 This much-sought-after aromatic had never been grown in commercial quantities beyond the borders of southern Arabia, in an area now occupied primarily by the nation of Oman. Its establishment in a sacred area of Sardes delivered multiple messages, including the extent of the material wealth of the Lydian king and, certainly, the presence and power of the deity in whose precinct the tree took root. The association of frankincense with the gods was not merely an allusion to the burning of incense in sacrificial ceremony; the relationship between deities and aromatic trees was much closer than that. In the early fifth century B.C.E., the Greek poet Pindar described the sap from which frankincense was derived as the “yellow tears of fresh incense.”100 Far from a simple poetic device, Pindar’s lines draw on an ancient mythology of the inhabitation of trees by gods and divine spirits. In the sacred legends of many ancient Mediterranean cultures, the plants from which incense was derived were understood to have been originally formed through magical means associated with divinities. The tears of the Egyptian deities Heru, Su and Tefnut produce incense-bearing 99 Hist. Pl. 9.4.9. 100 Pind. Frag. 122 (87). …τᾶς χλωρᾶς λιβάνου ξανθὰ δάκρη θυμιᾶτε… This fragment is part of a eulogy for Xenophon of Corinth. I am grateful to Prof. Ann Marie Yasin (University of Southern California) for pointing out to me that Pindar makes reference here to the visual qualities of the aromatic (its yellow color and its resemblance to tears), rather than to its scent. The description of the incense as deriving from a personified tree that weeps, as would a human, further emphasizes its physical rather than olfactory properties. |
