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214
waist of the victimarius in the sarcophagus relief indicate tools similar to those wielded
by the Bayram butcher, including a sharp knife for quick killing and a whetting tool to
keep the blade in prime condition between victims.
As in the Muslim sacrifices I witnessed, the man who carried out the actual killing
at Roman ceremonies must have been a highly trained specialist who no doubt would
have had the same goal of severing the arteries, gullet and windpipe. Not only is this the
quickest and most humane approach, it would also have cut down on the possibility of
adverse reactions on the part of the animal – even the body of a stunned animal can react
violently to extreme trauma, but the ideal cutting described above effectively discourages
that. Since in antiquity the behavior of the sacrificial victim was of vital importance,
killing the animal quickly and with the minimum amount of struggle must have been a
primary goal.
The Moment of Death
One of the most striking aspects of the sacrifices I observed was the docility of the
animals at the moment of their death. This has led me to reassess my understanding of
the images that serve as a primary source of our evidence for Greek and Roman
sacrificial practice.
There has long been an understanding that the greater part of sacrificial imagery
in the Greek and Roman tradition does not depict the actual moment of the slaughter of
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 232 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 214 waist of the victimarius in the sarcophagus relief indicate tools similar to those wielded by the Bayram butcher, including a sharp knife for quick killing and a whetting tool to keep the blade in prime condition between victims. As in the Muslim sacrifices I witnessed, the man who carried out the actual killing at Roman ceremonies must have been a highly trained specialist who no doubt would have had the same goal of severing the arteries, gullet and windpipe. Not only is this the quickest and most humane approach, it would also have cut down on the possibility of adverse reactions on the part of the animal – even the body of a stunned animal can react violently to extreme trauma, but the ideal cutting described above effectively discourages that. Since in antiquity the behavior of the sacrificial victim was of vital importance, killing the animal quickly and with the minimum amount of struggle must have been a primary goal. The Moment of Death One of the most striking aspects of the sacrifices I observed was the docility of the animals at the moment of their death. This has led me to reassess my understanding of the images that serve as a primary source of our evidence for Greek and Roman sacrificial practice. There has long been an understanding that the greater part of sacrificial imagery in the Greek and Roman tradition does not depict the actual moment of the slaughter of |
