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228
by no means a daily occurrence. They were costly illustrations of the power and
prominence of a deity (or of the emperor) and would have been limited to very special
occasions. Even those individuals living in close proximity to the temples, who may well
have “tuned out” the smells, sounds and sights of smaller-scale, more common rites,
would have felt (and smelled, heard and been visually affected by) the impact of a
massive sacrifice on the scale of a hekatomb. Therefore, while cultivating an awareness
of the ways in which the sensescape of ancient cities differed markedly from our own
experience of modern city living, we may also acknowledge that the sensory impact of
large-scale ancient sacrifice, including all of the elements discussed above, would have
been notable and impressive in an urban setting such as Ephesos.
By considering the full range of sensory experiences that accompanied ancient
cult rites – visual and auditory cues, things smelled, tasted and touched – we may
construct a more robust and provocative picture of Greek and Roman sacrifice. The
value of such a study does not lie in recreating the sensory experience of an ancient
worshiper, an exercise that in any case would yield ultimately un-testable hypotheses.
Rather, given the enormous ritual importance of the sensory products of ancient sacrifice,
a deeper analysis of those elements of the rites may lead to a more nuanced
understanding of the processes and meanings of the sacrifices.
In this chapter, I have illustrated some ways in which analysis of modern
sacrificial practice, combined with traditional historical, art historical and archaeological
inquiry, may enhance our understanding of those sensory effects of ancient ritual. In
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 246 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 228 by no means a daily occurrence. They were costly illustrations of the power and prominence of a deity (or of the emperor) and would have been limited to very special occasions. Even those individuals living in close proximity to the temples, who may well have “tuned out” the smells, sounds and sights of smaller-scale, more common rites, would have felt (and smelled, heard and been visually affected by) the impact of a massive sacrifice on the scale of a hekatomb. Therefore, while cultivating an awareness of the ways in which the sensescape of ancient cities differed markedly from our own experience of modern city living, we may also acknowledge that the sensory impact of large-scale ancient sacrifice, including all of the elements discussed above, would have been notable and impressive in an urban setting such as Ephesos. By considering the full range of sensory experiences that accompanied ancient cult rites – visual and auditory cues, things smelled, tasted and touched – we may construct a more robust and provocative picture of Greek and Roman sacrifice. The value of such a study does not lie in recreating the sensory experience of an ancient worshiper, an exercise that in any case would yield ultimately un-testable hypotheses. Rather, given the enormous ritual importance of the sensory products of ancient sacrifice, a deeper analysis of those elements of the rites may lead to a more nuanced understanding of the processes and meanings of the sacrifices. In this chapter, I have illustrated some ways in which analysis of modern sacrificial practice, combined with traditional historical, art historical and archaeological inquiry, may enhance our understanding of those sensory effects of ancient ritual. In |
