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98
you enter the temple.”168 Such dedications are often found in the context of cults of gods
related to music-making, or of cults in which the production of music played an
important part in ceremonial activity, providing further evidence for the fact that certain
cults were celebrated with an emphasis on the inclusion of music.
As much as it enriches our understanding of the relationship between music and
cult, the practice of depositing instruments as votive offerings at cult sites also
complicates the task of determining the relevance of instruments excavated in cult
contexts. Given the common practice of dedicating instruments as votives, it would be
jumping to conclusions to assume that a tibia recovered within the temenos of a sanctuary
was used in the worship of its patron deity. In some cases, however, it is possible to use
evidence from votive deposits to flesh out the picture of which instruments were used in
which cults, or at the very least to bolster the evidence already gleaned from
representations in ancient art.169
For example, an anonymous undated dedicatory epigram from Asia Minor reads
thus:
To thee, my mother Rhea, nurse of Phrygian lions, whose devotees tread the
heights of Dindymus, did womanish Alexis, ceasing from furious clashing of the
brass, dedicate these stimulants of his madness – his shrill-toned cymbals, the
noise of his deep-voiced flute, to which the crooked horn of a young steer gave a
curved form, his echoing tambourines, his knives reddened with blood, and the
168 IDélos 442.
169 This is an important distinction to make since the vocabulary of images was often formulaic, and the
specific instruments depicted in the images of cult worship might therefore not be the actual instruments
employed in the rites!
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 116 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 98 you enter the temple.”168 Such dedications are often found in the context of cults of gods related to music-making, or of cults in which the production of music played an important part in ceremonial activity, providing further evidence for the fact that certain cults were celebrated with an emphasis on the inclusion of music. As much as it enriches our understanding of the relationship between music and cult, the practice of depositing instruments as votive offerings at cult sites also complicates the task of determining the relevance of instruments excavated in cult contexts. Given the common practice of dedicating instruments as votives, it would be jumping to conclusions to assume that a tibia recovered within the temenos of a sanctuary was used in the worship of its patron deity. In some cases, however, it is possible to use evidence from votive deposits to flesh out the picture of which instruments were used in which cults, or at the very least to bolster the evidence already gleaned from representations in ancient art.169 For example, an anonymous undated dedicatory epigram from Asia Minor reads thus: To thee, my mother Rhea, nurse of Phrygian lions, whose devotees tread the heights of Dindymus, did womanish Alexis, ceasing from furious clashing of the brass, dedicate these stimulants of his madness – his shrill-toned cymbals, the noise of his deep-voiced flute, to which the crooked horn of a young steer gave a curved form, his echoing tambourines, his knives reddened with blood, and the 168 IDélos 442. 169 This is an important distinction to make since the vocabulary of images was often formulaic, and the specific instruments depicted in the images of cult worship might therefore not be the actual instruments employed in the rites! |
