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111
Prayer
In addition to the music that played such a key role in the performance of ancient cult,
prayers were another notable auditory element.197 In certain aspects, prayer shared many
characteristics with hymns, especially in the Greek tradition. Furley and Bremer have
noted that the distinctions between prayers and hymns in antiquity were less sharply
drawn than many modern scholars have realized.198 Prayers and hymns were
“complementary forms of religious discourse” that often resembled each other closely in
form and sometimes also in performance: some hymns were spoken rather than sung, and
certain prayers were chanted rhythmically.199 Together, they constituted important
auditory elements of ancient ritual.
Less consideration has been given by archaeologists and art historians to prayer
than to cult music. This is due in large part to the fact that visual representations of
prayer present less variety than those of musicians. Though musicians were often
portrayed in very paradigmatic ways, as discussed above, the trope of the individual
offering prayer is still more firmly established and static: a still figure, one or both hands
raised. A fine Roman example of an orant (praying) figure is a life-size statue of Livia,
the wife of Augustus (14-29 C.E., Vatican Museum (Fig. 14)). It was discovered near a
statue of that emperor represented nude, a state symbolic in Greek and Roman art of the
197 For a general discussion of prayer in sacrifice and other rituals in the Roman tradition, see J. Scheid
2003, 97-9.
198 For a discussion of the overlap between prayers and hymns in the Greek tradition, see Furley and
Bremer 2001, 2-4.
199 Furley and Bremer 2001, 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 129 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 111 Prayer In addition to the music that played such a key role in the performance of ancient cult, prayers were another notable auditory element.197 In certain aspects, prayer shared many characteristics with hymns, especially in the Greek tradition. Furley and Bremer have noted that the distinctions between prayers and hymns in antiquity were less sharply drawn than many modern scholars have realized.198 Prayers and hymns were “complementary forms of religious discourse” that often resembled each other closely in form and sometimes also in performance: some hymns were spoken rather than sung, and certain prayers were chanted rhythmically.199 Together, they constituted important auditory elements of ancient ritual. Less consideration has been given by archaeologists and art historians to prayer than to cult music. This is due in large part to the fact that visual representations of prayer present less variety than those of musicians. Though musicians were often portrayed in very paradigmatic ways, as discussed above, the trope of the individual offering prayer is still more firmly established and static: a still figure, one or both hands raised. A fine Roman example of an orant (praying) figure is a life-size statue of Livia, the wife of Augustus (14-29 C.E., Vatican Museum (Fig. 14)). It was discovered near a statue of that emperor represented nude, a state symbolic in Greek and Roman art of the 197 For a general discussion of prayer in sacrifice and other rituals in the Roman tradition, see J. Scheid 2003, 97-9. 198 For a discussion of the overlap between prayers and hymns in the Greek tradition, see Furley and Bremer 2001, 2-4. 199 Furley and Bremer 2001, 3. |
