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67
For Dio Cocceianus, the symbols of the office of Asiarch, which included not
only visual elements such as particular clothing but the ever-present scent of expensive
frankincense, were the basis of the honor conferred on these elected officials rather than a
mere reflection of their worth, and they carried this olfactory basis of their power with
them throughout the city. Perhaps the scent of aromatics associated with offerings to the
gods played a twofold role in such situations: it signaled to human witnesses the
association of the individuals with the worship of the emperor, while at the same time
denoting (or even resulting in?) the presence of the numen (divine power or will) of the
emperor.
The smells that signaled participation in cult rites could also cling to the
worshiper and continue to communicate their pious acts once outside the temenos of the
sacred area. For example, Lucian (b. c. 120 C.E.) writes in On the Syrian Goddess that
the scent of a certain Phoenician temple is absorbed by the clothing of a visitor to the
degree that “you will evermore remember it.”112 By such means the scent of sacrifice had
a broader topographic and temporal effect on the surrounding city. One bore piety with
oneself in the form of olfactory traces and introduced them into other areas of the city;
the space and time of worship were thereby extended. The smells of sacrificial practice,
carried throughout the ancient city, were an ever-present reminder of duties to the gods.
Thus, scents played a dual role when it came to defining sacred space: they at once
112 Syr. D. 30. σὺ ἐς πάμπαν αὐτης μνήσεαι.
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 85 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 67 For Dio Cocceianus, the symbols of the office of Asiarch, which included not only visual elements such as particular clothing but the ever-present scent of expensive frankincense, were the basis of the honor conferred on these elected officials rather than a mere reflection of their worth, and they carried this olfactory basis of their power with them throughout the city. Perhaps the scent of aromatics associated with offerings to the gods played a twofold role in such situations: it signaled to human witnesses the association of the individuals with the worship of the emperor, while at the same time denoting (or even resulting in?) the presence of the numen (divine power or will) of the emperor. The smells that signaled participation in cult rites could also cling to the worshiper and continue to communicate their pious acts once outside the temenos of the sacred area. For example, Lucian (b. c. 120 C.E.) writes in On the Syrian Goddess that the scent of a certain Phoenician temple is absorbed by the clothing of a visitor to the degree that “you will evermore remember it.”112 By such means the scent of sacrifice had a broader topographic and temporal effect on the surrounding city. One bore piety with oneself in the form of olfactory traces and introduced them into other areas of the city; the space and time of worship were thereby extended. The smells of sacrificial practice, carried throughout the ancient city, were an ever-present reminder of duties to the gods. Thus, scents played a dual role when it came to defining sacred space: they at once 112 Syr. D. 30. σὺ ἐς πάμπαν αὐτης μνήσεαι. |
