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81
that one important function of cult music was to make clear in auditory form the type of
cult that was being performed.138
It seems not to be the case, however, that sound was completely excluded from
chthonic ritual, but rather that other types of sound were appropriate and perhaps served
some of the same roles as did music in other rites. In several passages from Greek
literature, we find a character pounding the earth in order to summon gods of the
underworld to attend to their entreaties.139 For example, in the Iliad, Athena invokes
Hades and Persephone in the context of cursing her own son Meleager. Homer says,
“She earnestly beat the all-nurturing earth with her hands” (πολλὰ δὲ καὶ γαῖαν
πολυφόρβην χερσὶν ἀλοία).140 Similarly, in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Hera, in her
desire to bear a child, calls on Ouranos, the Titans underground (Τιτῆνές…ὑπὸ χθονὶ) and
the earth herself (Gaia) by striking and beating the ground with her bare hands.141
138 The intentional use of specific details of cult practice to clarify types of ritual in the Greek tradition is
further evidenced by the fact that the antithetical opposition suggested by the inclusion or exclusion of
music extended also to the terminology and even to the built environment of the rites. Sacrifices to non-chthonic
deities were burned on a bomos (βωμός), an elevated surface such as an altar, whereas sacrifices
offered to chthonic gods were burned in a trench or on a low-built surface called an eschara (ἐσχάρα).
When a worshiper set the offerings ablaze, the verb was thuein (θύειν) if offering to gods of the living, or
holokautein (from ὁλοκαυτέω) if burning something in honor of chthonic deities. See R.K. Yerkes 1952,
54 ff.
139 These passages were discussed in another context by C. Faraone (University of Chicago) in his paper
“Evidence for a Special Female Form of Heaxametrical Binding Incantation?” presented at the American
Philological Association 112th annual meeting, San Antonio, January 2011.
140 Il. 9.568 (transl. Goold 1999, LCL).
141 Hymn. Hom. Ap. 333, 340. She “struck the earth with the flat of her hand” (χειρὶ καταπρηνεῖ δ' ἔλασε
χθόνα)… “So saying, she beat the ground with her stout hand” (ὣς ἄρα φωνήσασ' ἵμασε χθόνα χειρὶ
παχείῃ) (both transl. West 2003, LCL). It is perhaps not insignificant that the child Hera will bear, the
monster Typhon, is elsewhere given as the offspring of Gaia and Tartaros, a mythological detail that
strengthens the association of that monster with the underworld (Hes. Theog. ll.820-85). H.P. Brown
(Southern Illinois University) has pointed out to me that the identical phrase from the Homeric hymn (χειρὶ
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 99 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 81 that one important function of cult music was to make clear in auditory form the type of cult that was being performed.138 It seems not to be the case, however, that sound was completely excluded from chthonic ritual, but rather that other types of sound were appropriate and perhaps served some of the same roles as did music in other rites. In several passages from Greek literature, we find a character pounding the earth in order to summon gods of the underworld to attend to their entreaties.139 For example, in the Iliad, Athena invokes Hades and Persephone in the context of cursing her own son Meleager. Homer says, “She earnestly beat the all-nurturing earth with her hands” (πολλὰ δὲ καὶ γαῖαν πολυφόρβην χερσὶν ἀλοία).140 Similarly, in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Hera, in her desire to bear a child, calls on Ouranos, the Titans underground (Τιτῆνές…ὑπὸ χθονὶ) and the earth herself (Gaia) by striking and beating the ground with her bare hands.141 138 The intentional use of specific details of cult practice to clarify types of ritual in the Greek tradition is further evidenced by the fact that the antithetical opposition suggested by the inclusion or exclusion of music extended also to the terminology and even to the built environment of the rites. Sacrifices to non-chthonic deities were burned on a bomos (βωμός), an elevated surface such as an altar, whereas sacrifices offered to chthonic gods were burned in a trench or on a low-built surface called an eschara (ἐσχάρα). When a worshiper set the offerings ablaze, the verb was thuein (θύειν) if offering to gods of the living, or holokautein (from ὁλοκαυτέω) if burning something in honor of chthonic deities. See R.K. Yerkes 1952, 54 ff. 139 These passages were discussed in another context by C. Faraone (University of Chicago) in his paper “Evidence for a Special Female Form of Heaxametrical Binding Incantation?” presented at the American Philological Association 112th annual meeting, San Antonio, January 2011. 140 Il. 9.568 (transl. Goold 1999, LCL). 141 Hymn. Hom. Ap. 333, 340. She “struck the earth with the flat of her hand” (χειρὶ καταπρηνεῖ δ' ἔλασε χθόνα)… “So saying, she beat the ground with her stout hand” (ὣς ἄρα φωνήσασ' ἵμασε χθόνα χειρὶ παχείῃ) (both transl. West 2003, LCL). It is perhaps not insignificant that the child Hera will bear, the monster Typhon, is elsewhere given as the offspring of Gaia and Tartaros, a mythological detail that strengthens the association of that monster with the underworld (Hes. Theog. ll.820-85). H.P. Brown (Southern Illinois University) has pointed out to me that the identical phrase from the Homeric hymn (χειρὶ |
