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165
multiple rooms for celebrating post-sacrificial banquets can be identified with certainty is
preserved in the archaeological remains of a sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in
Corinth.281 According to the calculations of the excavators, at the time of the latest active
stage of the sanctuary, a minimum of 200 people could be accommodated in the dining
halls, which occupied at least 25 buildings.282 The site is particularly illustrative for a
discussion of the separation of the divinities from their worshipers because the sanctuary
is clearly divided into three terraces. The bottommost was filled with the dining
buildings; sacrifices were conducted on the second, higher terrace. Demeter and Kore
received their offerings prior to distribution of the sacrificial meal to attendees.
Following the sacrifices, the worshipers would leave the second terrace by a processional
stairway that cut through the middle of the site and take their meal in the buildings on the
lower terrace.283 If the process of sacrifice and feasting is to be understood literally rather
than symbolically as a “communal banquet” with the deities, we must conclude that in
terms of neither location nor schedule did the Corinthian worshipers eat with the
goddesses.
With the human banquet removed both spatially and temporally from the gods’
meal, the idea of communion, though clearly one of the foundational concepts of Greek
and Roman sacrificial practice, is weakened by the stark differentiation between what is
to be consumed by humans as opposed to deities, and where and when. I propose that
281 On which, see N. Bookidis 1997, with earlier bibliography.
282 Bookidis 1993, 45.
283 Bookidis 1993, 47. The highest terrace housed a rock-cut theater that was perhaps used for initiation
rites.
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 183 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 165 multiple rooms for celebrating post-sacrificial banquets can be identified with certainty is preserved in the archaeological remains of a sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Corinth.281 According to the calculations of the excavators, at the time of the latest active stage of the sanctuary, a minimum of 200 people could be accommodated in the dining halls, which occupied at least 25 buildings.282 The site is particularly illustrative for a discussion of the separation of the divinities from their worshipers because the sanctuary is clearly divided into three terraces. The bottommost was filled with the dining buildings; sacrifices were conducted on the second, higher terrace. Demeter and Kore received their offerings prior to distribution of the sacrificial meal to attendees. Following the sacrifices, the worshipers would leave the second terrace by a processional stairway that cut through the middle of the site and take their meal in the buildings on the lower terrace.283 If the process of sacrifice and feasting is to be understood literally rather than symbolically as a “communal banquet” with the deities, we must conclude that in terms of neither location nor schedule did the Corinthian worshipers eat with the goddesses. With the human banquet removed both spatially and temporally from the gods’ meal, the idea of communion, though clearly one of the foundational concepts of Greek and Roman sacrificial practice, is weakened by the stark differentiation between what is to be consumed by humans as opposed to deities, and where and when. I propose that 281 On which, see N. Bookidis 1997, with earlier bibliography. 282 Bookidis 1993, 45. 283 Bookidis 1993, 47. The highest terrace housed a rock-cut theater that was perhaps used for initiation rites. |
