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134
Roman sacrificial art, but rather shall consider some of these key moments of touch in
sacrifice.
In terms of written sources, touch is less often addressed in the literary record of
ancient sacrifice than are the senses of sight, hearing and smell. There is another problem
attendant on a literary study of touch in ancient sacrifice that is not present when
considering the other senses: when the sense of touch is mentioned in the sources, it is
rarely analyzed in an explicit way, with reference made to the sense of touch itself. To
put it another way, there are few moments in descriptions of ancient sacrifice in which
the sense of touch is clearly discussed, using the vocabulary of the senses, as playing an
important role in addressing the gods. By contrast, when the sweet smell of incense is
described, or the savor of a sacrifice wafting to the gods, we understand that they will
partake of the smell and be affected in some manner (see Chapter One). When a hymn is
described as being sung to Apollo, the implication is that he is expected to hear it and
therefore that the sense of sound is ritually important (see Chapter Two). The
implications of moments of ritually important touch are rarely so obvious, and when
studying the written evidence it is therefore the task of scholars to be cognizant of the fact
that touch may be the sensory vehicle for accomplishing a ritual objective, even if it is
not clearly identified as such.
The difficulty an artist has in rendering touch in a static medium, or an art
historian in interpreting a visual representation of touch, also manifests for a writer or
speaker describing sacrifice. Any language used to convey the sensation of touch is
necessarily descriptive in nature and highly personal. This presents a particular problem
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 152 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 134 Roman sacrificial art, but rather shall consider some of these key moments of touch in sacrifice. In terms of written sources, touch is less often addressed in the literary record of ancient sacrifice than are the senses of sight, hearing and smell. There is another problem attendant on a literary study of touch in ancient sacrifice that is not present when considering the other senses: when the sense of touch is mentioned in the sources, it is rarely analyzed in an explicit way, with reference made to the sense of touch itself. To put it another way, there are few moments in descriptions of ancient sacrifice in which the sense of touch is clearly discussed, using the vocabulary of the senses, as playing an important role in addressing the gods. By contrast, when the sweet smell of incense is described, or the savor of a sacrifice wafting to the gods, we understand that they will partake of the smell and be affected in some manner (see Chapter One). When a hymn is described as being sung to Apollo, the implication is that he is expected to hear it and therefore that the sense of sound is ritually important (see Chapter Two). The implications of moments of ritually important touch are rarely so obvious, and when studying the written evidence it is therefore the task of scholars to be cognizant of the fact that touch may be the sensory vehicle for accomplishing a ritual objective, even if it is not clearly identified as such. The difficulty an artist has in rendering touch in a static medium, or an art historian in interpreting a visual representation of touch, also manifests for a writer or speaker describing sacrifice. Any language used to convey the sensation of touch is necessarily descriptive in nature and highly personal. This presents a particular problem |
