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139
mola salsa, salted flour.223 It is not insignificant that mola salsa was composed of a
combination of organic and mineral substances taken from the earth, a reference to the
fecundity of nature. This symbolism is literally recorded for us in the passage of
Dionysius who either unfamiliar with the Roman term mola salsa or perhaps choosing to
employ a comparable Greek term that would have been meaningful to his readers, calls
the mixture ΔΔημητρίος καρποὺς, “the fruits of Demeter.”224 With the physical
application of a mixture symbolic of the bounty of nature (a gift of the gods to men), the
victim was handed over from human use to divine use.
A next tactile step included in many Roman rites, though apparently not in the
particular ritual witnessed by Dionysius, was wetting the animal’s forehead with a bit of
wine. This action further emphasized an appreciation for the plenitude of nature and
probably served as a ritual gesture of cleansing as well. This act is depicted in a late-third
century altar found in Rome (now in the Musei Capitolini (Fig. 16)). Mary Beard, John
North and Simon Price note that this altar is almost unique in the body of surviving
223 The flour mixture was prepared in some cases by the Vestal Virgins, although Scheid (2007, 264) points
out that it is not clear in the sources whether the mola salsa used in every public sacrificial rite was
prepared by the Vestals, or whether the flour mixed by their hands was used only for the celebration of the
Lupercalia and the Ides of September.
224 J. Rüpke (2007a, 88) uses the practice of sprinkling mola salsa on the animal in preparation for sacrifice
as an example of a ritual element that originally served a pragmatic purpose that was gradually lost. He
understands it as a relic of the culinary preparation of the meat of the animal and argues that once the
application of the salted flour moved from its supposed original place in the sacrificial process (in which it
was presumably sprinkled on the butchered meat) to the moment in which it was instead applied to the live
animal, it ceased to be pragmatic and became, instead, communicative. He posits, therefore, that possible
interpretations of the action are that it presaged the fact that the animal was destined to be killed and
consumed, or that it symbolized the transition of the animal from profane to sacred, based on the fact that
mola salsa would also later be sprinkled on the god’s portion of the meat before it was burnt. Though I
agree with his assertion that certain aspects of ritual probably derived from pragmatic considerations and
over time came instead to carry symbolic resonances (in which idea he follows W. Burkert 1984, 28), it
seems unlikely to me that the original purpose of applying the carefully-prepared mola salsa to a sacrificial
victim was simply to make it more savory.
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 157 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 139 mola salsa, salted flour.223 It is not insignificant that mola salsa was composed of a combination of organic and mineral substances taken from the earth, a reference to the fecundity of nature. This symbolism is literally recorded for us in the passage of Dionysius who either unfamiliar with the Roman term mola salsa or perhaps choosing to employ a comparable Greek term that would have been meaningful to his readers, calls the mixture ΔΔημητρίος καρποὺς, “the fruits of Demeter.”224 With the physical application of a mixture symbolic of the bounty of nature (a gift of the gods to men), the victim was handed over from human use to divine use. A next tactile step included in many Roman rites, though apparently not in the particular ritual witnessed by Dionysius, was wetting the animal’s forehead with a bit of wine. This action further emphasized an appreciation for the plenitude of nature and probably served as a ritual gesture of cleansing as well. This act is depicted in a late-third century altar found in Rome (now in the Musei Capitolini (Fig. 16)). Mary Beard, John North and Simon Price note that this altar is almost unique in the body of surviving 223 The flour mixture was prepared in some cases by the Vestal Virgins, although Scheid (2007, 264) points out that it is not clear in the sources whether the mola salsa used in every public sacrificial rite was prepared by the Vestals, or whether the flour mixed by their hands was used only for the celebration of the Lupercalia and the Ides of September. 224 J. Rüpke (2007a, 88) uses the practice of sprinkling mola salsa on the animal in preparation for sacrifice as an example of a ritual element that originally served a pragmatic purpose that was gradually lost. He understands it as a relic of the culinary preparation of the meat of the animal and argues that once the application of the salted flour moved from its supposed original place in the sacrificial process (in which it was presumably sprinkled on the butchered meat) to the moment in which it was instead applied to the live animal, it ceased to be pragmatic and became, instead, communicative. He posits, therefore, that possible interpretations of the action are that it presaged the fact that the animal was destined to be killed and consumed, or that it symbolized the transition of the animal from profane to sacred, based on the fact that mola salsa would also later be sprinkled on the god’s portion of the meat before it was burnt. Though I agree with his assertion that certain aspects of ritual probably derived from pragmatic considerations and over time came instead to carry symbolic resonances (in which idea he follows W. Burkert 1984, 28), it seems unlikely to me that the original purpose of applying the carefully-prepared mola salsa to a sacrificial victim was simply to make it more savory. |
