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114
perhaps consider a spoken prayer to be the single most important auditory element of
ancient sacrifice.
An interesting variant on prayers in the context of ancient cult were those prayers
that involved cursing. I refer not to the curse tablets and formulaic ill-wishes against
enemies and ex-lovers with which we are familiar from the ancient world, but to the
actual act of utilizing abusive and transgressive words within the context of cult ritual. As
far as can be determined from our limited and almost anecdotal evidence, the reasoning
behind the hurling of invectives during religious ritual was that the gods were petulant
and prone to giving you the opposite of what you ask for. Nonius Marcellus preserves a
line of Lucilius that reads: “Obscene words avert the contentions of the gods” (deum rex
avertat verba obscaena).202 Varro’s definition of obscene runs thus: “Therefore anything
shameful is called obscaenum, because it should not be said openly, except on the
stage.”203 In addition to providing us with the interesting etymology of our English word,
derived from the Latin word for “stage” or “scene” (scaena), Varro’s definition informs
us that obscenity was appropriate in the context of performance. Sacrificial ritual,
certainly a type of performance, also seems to have been considered a proper venue in
some circumstances; cursing is thus an interesting aspect of the sound of ancient
sacrifice. In a similar vein, Pliny’s instructions for successfully cultivating basil and
202 Non. 4.357.18; Lucil. Lib. 29.
203 Ling. 7.96.
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 132 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 114 perhaps consider a spoken prayer to be the single most important auditory element of ancient sacrifice. An interesting variant on prayers in the context of ancient cult were those prayers that involved cursing. I refer not to the curse tablets and formulaic ill-wishes against enemies and ex-lovers with which we are familiar from the ancient world, but to the actual act of utilizing abusive and transgressive words within the context of cult ritual. As far as can be determined from our limited and almost anecdotal evidence, the reasoning behind the hurling of invectives during religious ritual was that the gods were petulant and prone to giving you the opposite of what you ask for. Nonius Marcellus preserves a line of Lucilius that reads: “Obscene words avert the contentions of the gods” (deum rex avertat verba obscaena).202 Varro’s definition of obscene runs thus: “Therefore anything shameful is called obscaenum, because it should not be said openly, except on the stage.”203 In addition to providing us with the interesting etymology of our English word, derived from the Latin word for “stage” or “scene” (scaena), Varro’s definition informs us that obscenity was appropriate in the context of performance. Sacrificial ritual, certainly a type of performance, also seems to have been considered a proper venue in some circumstances; cursing is thus an interesting aspect of the sound of ancient sacrifice. In a similar vein, Pliny’s instructions for successfully cultivating basil and 202 Non. 4.357.18; Lucil. Lib. 29. 203 Ling. 7.96. |
