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79
pouring from Greek and Roman sources.133 In fact, playing music and pouring libations
were so closely tied in a metaphorical sense that Propertius (b. between 54 and 57
B.C.E.) referred to the music of a flute as a figurative libation offering to the gods, and
the pipe to the container from which it is poured: “…by the fresh turfs of the altar let the
ivory pipe pour forth libation of music from Phrygian jar.”134
A more inclusive theory in the same vein is that music could have been intended
to mask any extraneous noise that might mar the performance of the ritual, not solely that
produced by the victims. This reasoning is certainly found in Roman literature, notably
in the writings of Pliny the Elder (23/4-79 C.E.), who records the presence of two ritual
attendants whose roles were to control sound in the process of sacrifice. In addition to a
guard to keep general watch at the time of the proceedings, he specifies: “Yet another is
put in charge to maintain a strict silence; a piper plays so that nothing but the prayer is
heard.”135 He goes on to note that several cases were on record in which ill-omened
sounds marred the outcome of sacrifices, indicating that cult music was understood at the
time of his writing to alleviate the possibility of bungled ritual due to the introduction of
improper auditory additions. However, as Fless and Moede have pointed out, the
inclusion of music in the process of sacrifice far predated Pliny’s analysis of the
133 Quasten 1983, 14.
134 Prop. 4.6.8. …carmenque recentibus aris tibia Mygdoniis libet eburna cadis.
135 HN 28.11 (transl. Jones 1989, LCL). …alium vero praeponi qui favere linguis iubeat, tibicinem canere,
ne quid aliud exauditatur. Two female figures on the Ara Pacis Augustae seem to serve the function of
Pliny’s first attendant, gesturing for silence on the part of the people in the procession on the exterior wall.
E. Simon (1967, 19) first identified them as silentarii, whose role was to ensure silence at ceremonial
functions. As pointed out by J. Pollini (1978, 81), they occur at approximately the same point in the north
and south friezes.
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 97 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 79 pouring from Greek and Roman sources.133 In fact, playing music and pouring libations were so closely tied in a metaphorical sense that Propertius (b. between 54 and 57 B.C.E.) referred to the music of a flute as a figurative libation offering to the gods, and the pipe to the container from which it is poured: “…by the fresh turfs of the altar let the ivory pipe pour forth libation of music from Phrygian jar.”134 A more inclusive theory in the same vein is that music could have been intended to mask any extraneous noise that might mar the performance of the ritual, not solely that produced by the victims. This reasoning is certainly found in Roman literature, notably in the writings of Pliny the Elder (23/4-79 C.E.), who records the presence of two ritual attendants whose roles were to control sound in the process of sacrifice. In addition to a guard to keep general watch at the time of the proceedings, he specifies: “Yet another is put in charge to maintain a strict silence; a piper plays so that nothing but the prayer is heard.”135 He goes on to note that several cases were on record in which ill-omened sounds marred the outcome of sacrifices, indicating that cult music was understood at the time of his writing to alleviate the possibility of bungled ritual due to the introduction of improper auditory additions. However, as Fless and Moede have pointed out, the inclusion of music in the process of sacrifice far predated Pliny’s analysis of the 133 Quasten 1983, 14. 134 Prop. 4.6.8. …carmenque recentibus aris tibia Mygdoniis libet eburna cadis. 135 HN 28.11 (transl. Jones 1989, LCL). …alium vero praeponi qui favere linguis iubeat, tibicinem canere, ne quid aliud exauditatur. Two female figures on the Ara Pacis Augustae seem to serve the function of Pliny’s first attendant, gesturing for silence on the part of the people in the procession on the exterior wall. E. Simon (1967, 19) first identified them as silentarii, whose role was to ensure silence at ceremonial functions. As pointed out by J. Pollini (1978, 81), they occur at approximately the same point in the north and south friezes. |
