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328
methodologies. The unanswerable questions they posed, as well as the sometimes
convoluted argumentation they applied, and even their difficulty harnessing appropriately
clear and descriptive terminology in their considerations of the topic, illustrate how
difficult it is to “get a handle” on this sense. The very fact that tactile sensation is
inseparable from the entire surface of the human body resulted in great appreciation for
its necessary role in interacting with the world, a recognition of its role as the most
sensitive and refined of the human senses, and a healthy distrust of it.
It will be remembered from the analyses of sight, hearing, smell and taste above
that touch, for Greek and Roman thinkers, was the one sense that played a role in the
function of all of the other senses. It was the most ubiquitous sense in the animal world
and yet the sense consistently considered the basest. The unwillingness to trust explicitly
the sense responsible for perception of the physical world in contact with the body recalls
similar distrust of the other senses in antiquity. Such distrust is indicative of the extent to
which Greek and Roman thinkers considered the right function of the senses to be crucial
for maintaining both a correct relationship with the physical world and the ability to think
clearly. Writes Lucretius:
Lastly, as in a building, if the original rule is warped, if the square is faulty and
deviates from straight lines, if the level is a trifle wrong in any part, the whole
house will necessarily be made in a faulty fashion and be falling over, warped,
sloping, leaning forward, leaning back, all out of proportion, so that some parts
seem about to collapse, all betrayed by false principles at the beginning. So
therefore your reasoning about things must be warped and false whenever it is
based upon false senses.503
503 Lucr. 4.513-521 (transl. Rouse 1975, LCL). Denique ut in fabrica, si pravast regula prima, normaque si
fallax rectis regionibus exit, et libella aliqua si ex parti claudicat hilum, omnia mendose fieri atque obstipa
necesse est prava cubantia prona supine atque absona tecta, iam ruere ut quaedam videantur velle,
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 346 |
| Contributing entity | University of Southern California |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 328 methodologies. The unanswerable questions they posed, as well as the sometimes convoluted argumentation they applied, and even their difficulty harnessing appropriately clear and descriptive terminology in their considerations of the topic, illustrate how difficult it is to “get a handle” on this sense. The very fact that tactile sensation is inseparable from the entire surface of the human body resulted in great appreciation for its necessary role in interacting with the world, a recognition of its role as the most sensitive and refined of the human senses, and a healthy distrust of it. It will be remembered from the analyses of sight, hearing, smell and taste above that touch, for Greek and Roman thinkers, was the one sense that played a role in the function of all of the other senses. It was the most ubiquitous sense in the animal world and yet the sense consistently considered the basest. The unwillingness to trust explicitly the sense responsible for perception of the physical world in contact with the body recalls similar distrust of the other senses in antiquity. Such distrust is indicative of the extent to which Greek and Roman thinkers considered the right function of the senses to be crucial for maintaining both a correct relationship with the physical world and the ability to think clearly. Writes Lucretius: Lastly, as in a building, if the original rule is warped, if the square is faulty and deviates from straight lines, if the level is a trifle wrong in any part, the whole house will necessarily be made in a faulty fashion and be falling over, warped, sloping, leaning forward, leaning back, all out of proportion, so that some parts seem about to collapse, all betrayed by false principles at the beginning. So therefore your reasoning about things must be warped and false whenever it is based upon false senses.503 503 Lucr. 4.513-521 (transl. Rouse 1975, LCL). Denique ut in fabrica, si pravast regula prima, normaque si fallax rectis regionibus exit, et libella aliqua si ex parti claudicat hilum, omnia mendose fieri atque obstipa necesse est prava cubantia prona supine atque absona tecta, iam ruere ut quaedam videantur velle, |
