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304
production of sound, the transmission of sound, the action of sound upon the sensory
organ of hearing, and the perception of sound by that organ are all tactile in nature.
Sound and touch are inextricably linked.
Smell
The Greeks and Romans lived in a smelly world. The air of ancient cities was thick with
the scents of people and the byproducts of their daily lives: food, spices, incense, waste –
indeed, the ancient city could be navigated by a well-honed sense of smell. Some of the
same thinkers of antiquity who had labored to understand the most “important” senses of
sight and hearing also approached the question of scents and the capacity of man to sense
them, but theories of scent perception were neither as frequent nor as detailed. In their
structure, they were often patterned on the more sophisticated discussions of sight. For
example, Plato understood odors to be made up of particles traveling in the air, which
were effectively blocked from entering the nose when it was congested.444 Aristotle
favored a subtler theory, stating outright that the sense of smell and its function was more
difficult to explain than either sight or hearing. He noted that man’s sense of smell was
Though Ptolemy is speaking of the properties of the agent rather than of the sound itself, it is tempting to
extrapolate that he intends the sound also to be understood as possessing the same qualities. Such a
conclusion is supported by the peripatetic philosophical theory, of which he was probably aware, which
uses some of the same terms to describe the sounds themselves: “As a general rule shrillness neither
depends on the swelling of the voice nor on relaxed and heavy tones, nor on the succession of sounds but
rather upon sharpness, thinness and distinctness ([De Audib.] 804 a 25-28) (transl. Hett 1993, LCL). ὅλως
γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτ᾽ ἐν ὄγκῳ φωνῆς τὸ λιγυρόν, οὔτ ἐν τόνοις ἀνιεμένοις καἰ βαρέσιν, οὔτ᾽ ἐν ταῖς τῶν
φθόγγων ἁφαῖς, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὀξύτητι καὶ λεπτότητι καὶ ἀκριβείᾳ. See Rocconi (2002, 391).
444 Ti. 66 E.
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 322 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 304 production of sound, the transmission of sound, the action of sound upon the sensory organ of hearing, and the perception of sound by that organ are all tactile in nature. Sound and touch are inextricably linked. Smell The Greeks and Romans lived in a smelly world. The air of ancient cities was thick with the scents of people and the byproducts of their daily lives: food, spices, incense, waste – indeed, the ancient city could be navigated by a well-honed sense of smell. Some of the same thinkers of antiquity who had labored to understand the most “important” senses of sight and hearing also approached the question of scents and the capacity of man to sense them, but theories of scent perception were neither as frequent nor as detailed. In their structure, they were often patterned on the more sophisticated discussions of sight. For example, Plato understood odors to be made up of particles traveling in the air, which were effectively blocked from entering the nose when it was congested.444 Aristotle favored a subtler theory, stating outright that the sense of smell and its function was more difficult to explain than either sight or hearing. He noted that man’s sense of smell was Though Ptolemy is speaking of the properties of the agent rather than of the sound itself, it is tempting to extrapolate that he intends the sound also to be understood as possessing the same qualities. Such a conclusion is supported by the peripatetic philosophical theory, of which he was probably aware, which uses some of the same terms to describe the sounds themselves: “As a general rule shrillness neither depends on the swelling of the voice nor on relaxed and heavy tones, nor on the succession of sounds but rather upon sharpness, thinness and distinctness ([De Audib.] 804 a 25-28) (transl. Hett 1993, LCL). ὅλως γὰρ οὐκ ἔστιν οὔτ᾽ ἐν ὄγκῳ φωνῆς τὸ λιγυρόν, οὔτ ἐν τόνοις ἀνιεμένοις καἰ βαρέσιν, οὔτ᾽ ἐν ταῖς τῶν φθόγγων ἁφαῖς, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ὀξύτητι καὶ λεπτότητι καὶ ἀκριβείᾳ. See Rocconi (2002, 391). 444 Ti. 66 E. |
