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145
acceptable sacrifice. Arnobius’s passage is an interesting moment of sustained literary
focus on the physicality of the sacrificial victim. Further, it serves as evidence from a
source hostile to sacrificial practice of the importance of determining litatio, a process
that involved very sustained and invasive physical contact with the victim.
As tactile as the process of investigating the entrails of the slaughtered animal
was, the rituals of litatio and extispicy were first and foremost rituals of looking: Were
the correct organs present and were they within the range of normalcy for the type of
animal offered? Were there anomalies in evidence that indicated something about the
future? In the next stage of the process, however, the organs moved from focus of visual
inspection to components whose status and suitability were dependent on how they were
touched.
The physical perfection of the exta had to be joined with proper handling as they
were removed from the animal and offered to the god. They were first prepared as if for
eating, being either boiled or roasted on spits. Now called prosecta, they were placed on
a dish and once again touched in specific meaningful ways – they were sprinkled with
mola salsa and wine before being placed on the altar, where they were burned.236
From selection through preparation, slaughter and burning, the physical perfection
of the sacrificial animal in all of its parts as well as proper tactile interaction between it
and the ritual actors was vital for successful completion of the rites. Any unusual event
that occurred between the moment of the slaughter of the animal and the delivery of the
gods’ portions to the altar was viewed as a portent and thus great care was taken to
236 Cic. Div. 2.16.37.
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 163 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 145 acceptable sacrifice. Arnobius’s passage is an interesting moment of sustained literary focus on the physicality of the sacrificial victim. Further, it serves as evidence from a source hostile to sacrificial practice of the importance of determining litatio, a process that involved very sustained and invasive physical contact with the victim. As tactile as the process of investigating the entrails of the slaughtered animal was, the rituals of litatio and extispicy were first and foremost rituals of looking: Were the correct organs present and were they within the range of normalcy for the type of animal offered? Were there anomalies in evidence that indicated something about the future? In the next stage of the process, however, the organs moved from focus of visual inspection to components whose status and suitability were dependent on how they were touched. The physical perfection of the exta had to be joined with proper handling as they were removed from the animal and offered to the god. They were first prepared as if for eating, being either boiled or roasted on spits. Now called prosecta, they were placed on a dish and once again touched in specific meaningful ways – they were sprinkled with mola salsa and wine before being placed on the altar, where they were burned.236 From selection through preparation, slaughter and burning, the physical perfection of the sacrificial animal in all of its parts as well as proper tactile interaction between it and the ritual actors was vital for successful completion of the rites. Any unusual event that occurred between the moment of the slaughter of the animal and the delivery of the gods’ portions to the altar was viewed as a portent and thus great care was taken to 236 Cic. Div. 2.16.37. |
