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112
divinity of the figure. The two sculptures were created after Augustus’s death in 14 C.E.
and his subsequent deification. The orant pose indicates that Livia is represented in her
newly created and extremely politically important role as priestess of the cult of the
deified Augustus.200
As was the case when considering the purposes and forms of cult music, a good
deal of the evidence we have for Greek and Roman prayers (besides some surviving
examples of formulaic prayers and texts of prayers offered in literary contexts which,
though suggestive, must be used with the same caution necessary when treating any
fictional and potentially idealized material) is found in writers who address the non-normative.
We may return, for example, to the passage from Pliny’s Historia Naturalis,
discussed above in the context of music-making during sacrifice. The extended passage,
which is concerned primarily with prayer, runs thus:
…the sacrifice of victims without a prayer is supposed to be of no effect; without
it too the gods are not thought to be properly consulted. Moreover, there is one
form of words for getting favourable omens, another for averting evil, and yet
another for a commendation. We see also that our chief magistrates have adopted
fixed formulas for their prayers; that to prevent a word’s being omitted or out of
place a reader dictates beforehand the prayer from a script; that another attendant
is appointed as a guard to keep watch, and yet another is put in charge to maintain
a strict silence; that a piper plays so that nothing but the prayer is heard.
Remarkable instances of both kinds of interference are on record: cases when the
noise of actual ill omens has ruined the prayer, or when a mistake has been made
in the prayer itself, then suddenly the head of the liver, or the heart, has
disappeared from the entrails, or these have been doubled, while the victim was
standing.”201
200 On the statue, see S.E. Wood 1999, 115. On the political and dynastic importance of the orant Livia,
see M. Bieber 1977, 198.
201 HN 28.10-11 (transl. Jones 1968, LCL). Quippe victimas caedi sine precatione non videtur referre aut
deos rite consuli. Praeterea alia sunt verba inpetritis, alia depulsoriis, alia commendationis, videmusque
certis precationibus obsecrasse summos magistratus et, ne quod verborum praetereatur aut praeposterum
dicatur, de scripto praeire aliquem rursusque alium custodem dari qui adtendat, alium vero praeponi qui
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 130 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 112 divinity of the figure. The two sculptures were created after Augustus’s death in 14 C.E. and his subsequent deification. The orant pose indicates that Livia is represented in her newly created and extremely politically important role as priestess of the cult of the deified Augustus.200 As was the case when considering the purposes and forms of cult music, a good deal of the evidence we have for Greek and Roman prayers (besides some surviving examples of formulaic prayers and texts of prayers offered in literary contexts which, though suggestive, must be used with the same caution necessary when treating any fictional and potentially idealized material) is found in writers who address the non-normative. We may return, for example, to the passage from Pliny’s Historia Naturalis, discussed above in the context of music-making during sacrifice. The extended passage, which is concerned primarily with prayer, runs thus: …the sacrifice of victims without a prayer is supposed to be of no effect; without it too the gods are not thought to be properly consulted. Moreover, there is one form of words for getting favourable omens, another for averting evil, and yet another for a commendation. We see also that our chief magistrates have adopted fixed formulas for their prayers; that to prevent a word’s being omitted or out of place a reader dictates beforehand the prayer from a script; that another attendant is appointed as a guard to keep watch, and yet another is put in charge to maintain a strict silence; that a piper plays so that nothing but the prayer is heard. Remarkable instances of both kinds of interference are on record: cases when the noise of actual ill omens has ruined the prayer, or when a mistake has been made in the prayer itself, then suddenly the head of the liver, or the heart, has disappeared from the entrails, or these have been doubled, while the victim was standing.”201 200 On the statue, see S.E. Wood 1999, 115. On the political and dynastic importance of the orant Livia, see M. Bieber 1977, 198. 201 HN 28.10-11 (transl. Jones 1968, LCL). Quippe victimas caedi sine precatione non videtur referre aut deos rite consuli. Praeterea alia sunt verba inpetritis, alia depulsoriis, alia commendationis, videmusque certis precationibus obsecrasse summos magistratus et, ne quod verborum praetereatur aut praeposterum dicatur, de scripto praeire aliquem rursusque alium custodem dari qui adtendat, alium vero praeponi qui |
