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194
through the butchering – were confined to the officially designated area.322 The refuse pit
was to be covered at the end of the three-day sacrificial period. The results of the
sacrifices, however, impacted the entire neighborhood around the sacrificial center.
When approaching and leaving the area, I witnessed dozens of families carrying plastic
bags of meat to their homes.323 It was also impossible to prevent blood from reaching the
street. I passed a few areas where private sacrifices had been carried out in shop spaces
and garages, and the celebrants were simply washing the blood out into the thoroughfare.
In such ways, the experience of the sacrifices was carried out into the greater space of the
city. After all of the bulls and other sacrificial animals were slaughtered, prayers and
feasting (some public, some private) continued throughout the city. Even the culmination
of the religious festivities did not bring the sensory impact of the sacrificial process to an
end; further research conducted at a later date at the slaughter site illustrates this fact.
A Return to the Site
I returned to the site of the Kurban Bayram sacrifices on 27 January 2009, 50 days
after the rites had taken place. The temperature was around 17° C (in the low 60s F),
322 For reasons of public hygiene, residents are required to bring their sacrifices to be performed at a
specified location within each neighborhood. There are some who ignore this directive and carry the
slaughter out in the street, on playgrounds, even on apartment balconies, but as a result of increased
pressure from the city government, the largest numbers of animals are now sacrificed in city-designated
areas.
323 This is comparable to the distribution of meat among the participants in Roman sacrifices, who on some
occasions carried it home in baskets (sportulae) to be consumed there. According to Islamic custom, one-third
of the meat will be used by the family, one-third distributed to friends and extended family, and one-third
donated to charity. Siddiqi 2000, 42-3. In contrast to the ancient custom of gifting portions of the
flesh to the priests who performed the sacrifices, under Islamic law it is strictly forbidden to make payment
to the butcher in the form of meat. Siddiqi 2000, 45.
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 212 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 194 through the butchering – were confined to the officially designated area.322 The refuse pit was to be covered at the end of the three-day sacrificial period. The results of the sacrifices, however, impacted the entire neighborhood around the sacrificial center. When approaching and leaving the area, I witnessed dozens of families carrying plastic bags of meat to their homes.323 It was also impossible to prevent blood from reaching the street. I passed a few areas where private sacrifices had been carried out in shop spaces and garages, and the celebrants were simply washing the blood out into the thoroughfare. In such ways, the experience of the sacrifices was carried out into the greater space of the city. After all of the bulls and other sacrificial animals were slaughtered, prayers and feasting (some public, some private) continued throughout the city. Even the culmination of the religious festivities did not bring the sensory impact of the sacrificial process to an end; further research conducted at a later date at the slaughter site illustrates this fact. A Return to the Site I returned to the site of the Kurban Bayram sacrifices on 27 January 2009, 50 days after the rites had taken place. The temperature was around 17° C (in the low 60s F), 322 For reasons of public hygiene, residents are required to bring their sacrifices to be performed at a specified location within each neighborhood. There are some who ignore this directive and carry the slaughter out in the street, on playgrounds, even on apartment balconies, but as a result of increased pressure from the city government, the largest numbers of animals are now sacrificed in city-designated areas. 323 This is comparable to the distribution of meat among the participants in Roman sacrifices, who on some occasions carried it home in baskets (sportulae) to be consumed there. According to Islamic custom, one-third of the meat will be used by the family, one-third distributed to friends and extended family, and one-third donated to charity. Siddiqi 2000, 42-3. In contrast to the ancient custom of gifting portions of the flesh to the priests who performed the sacrifices, under Islamic law it is strictly forbidden to make payment to the butcher in the form of meat. Siddiqi 2000, 45. |
