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101
silently signaling the appropriateness of music to the rites, a complicated role for a
sound-producing object.
We cannot say if such representations of the “Apulian sistrum” are meant to stand
in for the music absent from the silent image - certainly a case could be made that in the
images in which it is held inert in the hand of a supposed musician the moment of music-making
has recently ceased, or will commence imminently - or whether they reflect a
reality in which the sistrum was sometimes played but in other instances served simply as
a symbol of the rites; the images in which the instrument sits on the ground or hangs on
the wall seem to support the latter theory. It may be that the instrument was always
played in actual cult practice and thus has taken on a symbolic role as part of the
shorthand of illustrating those rituals in visual representations. But as long as there is
evidence to suggest that instruments associated with cults were sometimes symbolic
rather than utilitarian it is worth exercising caution, in the absence of clear physical
evidence of use, when analyzing the role of instruments archaeologically recovered at
cult sites.
It is also important, however, not to err too far in the opposite direction. That is,
it is good to guard against downplaying the role of instruments and musicians
unnecessarily. Gullög C. Nordquist, writing on the existence of musician-priests in
Greek cults, states the following: “…priests as players of instruments appear relatively
late and are found mainly in the orgiastic and oriental cults. The instruments, usually
percussion ones, are more cult paraphernalia than musical instruments. Examples can be
found in the Ploiaphesia at Kenchreai, where the priests took part in a procession to Isis
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 119 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 101 silently signaling the appropriateness of music to the rites, a complicated role for a sound-producing object. We cannot say if such representations of the “Apulian sistrum” are meant to stand in for the music absent from the silent image - certainly a case could be made that in the images in which it is held inert in the hand of a supposed musician the moment of music-making has recently ceased, or will commence imminently - or whether they reflect a reality in which the sistrum was sometimes played but in other instances served simply as a symbol of the rites; the images in which the instrument sits on the ground or hangs on the wall seem to support the latter theory. It may be that the instrument was always played in actual cult practice and thus has taken on a symbolic role as part of the shorthand of illustrating those rituals in visual representations. But as long as there is evidence to suggest that instruments associated with cults were sometimes symbolic rather than utilitarian it is worth exercising caution, in the absence of clear physical evidence of use, when analyzing the role of instruments archaeologically recovered at cult sites. It is also important, however, not to err too far in the opposite direction. That is, it is good to guard against downplaying the role of instruments and musicians unnecessarily. Gullög C. Nordquist, writing on the existence of musician-priests in Greek cults, states the following: “…priests as players of instruments appear relatively late and are found mainly in the orgiastic and oriental cults. The instruments, usually percussion ones, are more cult paraphernalia than musical instruments. Examples can be found in the Ploiaphesia at Kenchreai, where the priests took part in a procession to Isis |
