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84
in other Greek (and Roman) rites. In Lucian’s De Syria dea, we find the following
passage describing religious ritual as practiced by the citizens of Hierapolis: “They
sacrifice to Zeus [Hadad] in silence, without singing and without the playing of flutes;
but when they begin [the sacrifice] to Hera [Atargatis], they sing, blow the flutes, and
make a racket with their cymbals.”145
Given that music and noise-making of many kinds commonly served an
apotropaic function in antiquity, it seems likely that the silence of the ceremonies to Zeus
Hadad and similar deities would have been appropriate to attract chthonic deities and
spirits such as the Furies. If music could ward off daimones, ghosts and other harmful
spirits, just as blood could attract them (see Chapter One), it is reasonable to assume that
they were as pleased with the absence of music as their more lively counterparts were
with its inclusion. This is further illustrated by the fact that the second set of rites, those
to Hera Atargatis, call for taking up instruments. Singing, flute playing and cymbal
crashes were required not only to attract Hera, but also to drive the chthonic deities away
from the site of the rites to the life-loving goddess.146
Lucian’s example, with its two different types of rites in direct temporal contrast
to one other, illustrates a further role of music in ancient cult: to mark moments of change
or progression in rites. Perhaps this function of music played a twofold role. At the most
145 Syr. D. 44. (transl. Quasten 1983, 21). ΔΔιὶ μὲν ὦν χατ᾽ ἡσυχίην θύουσιν οὔτε ἀείδοντες οὔτε
αὐλέοντες. εὖτ ἂυ δὲ τῇ Ἥρῃ χατάχρωνται ἀείδοθσί τε χαὶ αὐλέουσι χαὶ χρόταλα ἐπιχροτέοθσι.
146 Quasten (1983, 19) notes that sacrifices to dead heroes were also devoid of musicians and cites the cases
of the myth of Minos, who sacrificed without flute players upon hearing of his son’s death, and the
historical moment in which the Roman Senate gave their customary offering of incense sine tibicines the
day after the death of Augustus (Dio Cass. 3).
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 102 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 84 in other Greek (and Roman) rites. In Lucian’s De Syria dea, we find the following passage describing religious ritual as practiced by the citizens of Hierapolis: “They sacrifice to Zeus [Hadad] in silence, without singing and without the playing of flutes; but when they begin [the sacrifice] to Hera [Atargatis], they sing, blow the flutes, and make a racket with their cymbals.”145 Given that music and noise-making of many kinds commonly served an apotropaic function in antiquity, it seems likely that the silence of the ceremonies to Zeus Hadad and similar deities would have been appropriate to attract chthonic deities and spirits such as the Furies. If music could ward off daimones, ghosts and other harmful spirits, just as blood could attract them (see Chapter One), it is reasonable to assume that they were as pleased with the absence of music as their more lively counterparts were with its inclusion. This is further illustrated by the fact that the second set of rites, those to Hera Atargatis, call for taking up instruments. Singing, flute playing and cymbal crashes were required not only to attract Hera, but also to drive the chthonic deities away from the site of the rites to the life-loving goddess.146 Lucian’s example, with its two different types of rites in direct temporal contrast to one other, illustrates a further role of music in ancient cult: to mark moments of change or progression in rites. Perhaps this function of music played a twofold role. At the most 145 Syr. D. 44. (transl. Quasten 1983, 21). ΔΔιὶ μὲν ὦν χατ᾽ ἡσυχίην θύουσιν οὔτε ἀείδοντες οὔτε αὐλέοντες. εὖτ ἂυ δὲ τῇ Ἥρῃ χατάχρωνται ἀείδοθσί τε χαὶ αὐλέουσι χαὶ χρόταλα ἐπιχροτέοθσι. 146 Quasten (1983, 19) notes that sacrifices to dead heroes were also devoid of musicians and cites the cases of the myth of Minos, who sacrificed without flute players upon hearing of his son’s death, and the historical moment in which the Roman Senate gave their customary offering of incense sine tibicines the day after the death of Augustus (Dio Cass. 3). |
