e.g., Faraone and Naiden Reference Faraone and Naiden2012: 4; Prescendi Reference Prescendi2007: 36 and 1089. Was a portion consumed later? 3.3.2, citing the late republican jurist Trebatius; Prescendi Reference Prescendi2007: 256. Home. The problem is widely acknowledged, but see specifically Moussy Reference Moussy1977; Reference Moussy1990; Engels Reference Engels2007: 25982. 40 423L s.v. 31. The modern assumption that sacrifice requires an animal victim obfuscates the full range of sacrificium among the Romans. Greek governments varied from kings and oligarchs to the totalitarian, racist, warrior culture of Sparta and the direct democracy of Athens, whereas Roman kings gave most famously those of Burkert, who identifies sacrificial slaughter as the basic experience of the sacred, and Girard, who begins his investigation into the origin of sacrifice by asserting its close kinship to murder and criminal violence.Footnote 9 Columella 2.21.4 might also refer to dog sacrifice, but the verb (feceris) leaves it ambiguous as to which ritual was being performed. Thus the most likely reading of the passage in Pliny is that Curius sacrificed the guttum faginum to the gods. Mactare is another ritual performed on animals (referred to as hostiae and victimae) at an altar, but also on porridge (Nonius 539L). Hemina fr. 44 molo; de Vaan Reference De Vaan2008: 3867 s.v. 72 Although Roman writers most frequently do not explicitly identify the object of a sacrifice, when they do, cattle, pigs and sheep are well attested.Footnote It is likely, but admittedly not certain, that the concept of sacrificium I delineate here was also at play in citizen communities throughout the Empire, at least at moments when those communities performed public rituals in the same manner as did people in the capital. Despite the fact that the S. Omobono assemblage dates to several centuries before the Classical period, the range of faunal remains from the site are primarily what one would expect from a sanctuary based on what we know from literary texts. 45 Parents: Aeacus: Zeus and Aegina; Rhadamanthus and Minos: Zeus and Europa. 22. 70 216,Footnote Correct answer: What is a major difference between Greek and Roman temples? 61 Total loading time: 0 66 Modern theorizations of sacrifice focus on animal victims, treating the sacrifice of vegetal substances, if they are considered at all, as an afterthought or simply setting vegetal offerings as a second, lesser ritual, a substitution or a pale imitation.Footnote An exception is Scheid Reference Scheid2005: 52. Render date: 2023-03-04T10:22:59.089Z Compare Var., R. 2.8.1. The skeletal remains of dogs sometimes found interred with human remains or inside city walls are often interpreted as sacrifice by archaeologists.Footnote but in later texts as well. This is suggested by Ov., F. 1.1278. In this way, the native, or emic, Roman view of sacrifice is more expansive than ours. 89 In Livy's account of the first devotio in 340 b.c.e. Furthermore, there is reason to think that the crucial moment, or perhaps the first crucial moment, in the whole ritual process of sacrificium for the Romans was the sprinkling of mola salsa onto the victim, whereas several important modern theorizations of sacrifice place the greatest emphasis on, and see the essential meaning of sacrifice in, the moment of slaughter. Lelekovi, Tino By looking at Roman sacrificium through the insider-outsider lens, by keeping in sight what is there in the sources, what we add to it, and where our modern notion of sacrifice does and does not align with the Romans own idea, we have a sharper, more detailed picture of one aspect of Roman antiquity. Ubiquitous in the scholarship is the assumption that if the gods receive an animal, it is sacrifice, but if the gods receive vegetable produce and other inanimate edibles, those are something different: they are offerings. 59 Also the same poverty has established from the very beginning an empire for the Roman people and, on behalf of this, still today she sacrifices to the immortal gods a little ladle and a dish made of clay. Although Roman sources identify some specific types of sacrifice (e.g., sollemne, piaculare, lustrale, anniversarium), they do not identify any of the other rituals under discussion here as types of sacrificium.Footnote The prominence of animal victims in Roman accounts overshadows a substantial number of passages that make it absolutely clear that Roman gods received sacrifices of inanimate edibles. Yet to limit the consideration of immolatio to the moment of killing is to overlook the other actions (running a knife along the animal's back, cutting a few hairs from it) that Scheid has identified as being part of that stage of sacrificium Although the focus of this investigation is the recovery of some details of the Romans idea of sacrificium, I do not mean to imply that their concept is the right one and that the modern idea is wrong or completely inapplicable to the Roman context. Aldrete counts at least fifty-six sculptural reliefs dating from the seventh century b.c.e. 36 Paul. One can also pollucere grain, wine, oil, cheese, meat, fish with scales, a host of other food items, and even unidentified (and presumably inedible) goods.Footnote WebRomans invested much of their time serving the gods, performing rituals and sacrifices in honor of them. 96 Knives would have been used only in conjunction with one or other of these implements. Reference Morris, Leung, Ames and Lickel1999 and Berry Reference Berry, Headland, Pike and Harris1990. WebDifferences between Greek and Roman sacrifices. Marcellus, de Medicamentis 8.50; Palmer Reference Palmer and Hall1996: 234. It is understandable that, from the etic viewpoint, two rituals performed in roughly the same way should appear to be identical to each other, even if emic accounts distinguish between them. Sacrifices of wine and incense are common in the Commentarii Fratrum Arvalium, e.g. Var., L. 5.112; see also Cic., Har. van Straten has offered a stronger explanation: the absence of slaughter scenes in Greek art is due to a lack of interest in this particular aspect of sacrifice on the part of those Greeks whose religious beliefs are reflected in this material, shall we say, the common people of the Classical period.Footnote This is a bad answer - I don't have sources available. It is my understanding that we lack a great deal of the sources needed for an emic unders The preceding discussion has, I hope, made clear that the Romans own notion of sacrifice is broader and more complex than is generally perceived. Polluctum is a rite of wider scope than sacrificium, however, in that it could be performed on money and goods that do not appear to have been linked to eating in any way. 35 thysa. 50 e.g., Liv. View all Google Scholar citations Birds: Suet., Calig. 24 Footnote As in a relief from the Forum of Trajan now in the Louvre (Ryberg Reference Ryberg1955: fig. 14.30; Sil. Has data issue: true 62 Thus far, we have identified two points on which emic and etic ideas of what constitutes a Roman sacrifice do not align: when the critical transition from profane to sacred occurs and what kinds of things can be presented to the gods through the act of sacrificium. Aeacus holds the keys to Hades. Tereso, Joo Pedro 69 molo; Walde and Hofmann Reference Walde and Hofmann1954: 2.1046 s.v. As the most extensive survey of meat production in Roman Italy has concluded, Dogs were variously trained as guards, protectors, companions, and pets, but they were not raised to be eaten (MacKinnon Reference MacKinnon2004: 74). Arguably, then, it is the Christians who bequeathed to future generations the metonymic equivalence of sacrifice and violence, Knust and Vrhelyi Reference Knust and Vrhelyi2011: 17. Indeed these two rituals appear at first glance to be identical live interment in underground chambers, though admittedly in different locations within the city and with different victims. Our modern idea of sacrifice can, with some refinement and clarification, remain a useful concept for constructing accounts of how and why the Romans dealt with their gods in the ways they didFootnote Some rituals, such as the recitation of prayers, were simple. Oliveira, Cludia See Rosenblitt Reference Rosenblitt2011 for the connection between these two passages. More Greek words for sacrifice. Neither Miner's nor his reader's understanding is right and the other wrong: they are two different views of the same set of data, and both are valuable. The ritual seems to be even more flexible than sacrificium in the range of objects on which it could be performed. While there appears to have been an original distinction among the rites of sacrificium, polluctum, and magmentum, we cannot recover the details of it in any serious way. 52 Q. Fabius Pictor was sent to the oracle at Delphi to ascertain by what prayers and supplications the Romans might placate the gods, and what end would there be to such calamities. Hostname: page-component-7fc98996b9-rf4gk 358L, s.v. 57 At the centre of the whole complex was the immolatio, during which the animal was sprinkled with mola salsa (a mixture of spelt and salt), the flat of a knife was run along its back, and then it was slaughtered. For the possible link between this instance and the revelation of an unchaste Vestal, see Schultz Reference Schultz2012: 126 n. 18. For this discussion, the metaphorical extension of the English word sacrifice, by which one can sacrifice for one's family or hit a sacrifice fly in baseball, is not relevant: this meaning is completely unknown to the Romans of the Classical period. Among these criteria are a clear preference for specific parts of an animal or for animals of a specific age/sex/species, unusual butchery patterns, burning or other alterations to the remains, and the association of the remains with other material (e.g., votive offerings) linked to ritual activity. Greek influences on Italian craftsmen in the 6 th century BC saw the image of Carretero, Lara Gonzalez ex. There is a small amount of evidence for a form of auspicium performed with beans: Fest. . The most common form of ritual killing among the Romans was the disposal of hermaphroditic children.Footnote Ankarloo and Clark Reference Ankarloo and Clark1999: 756; Wilburn Reference Wilburn2012: 8790. As illustration, let us return to Livy and the human sacrifice in 216 b.c.e. Others include first-order vs. second-order categories, particular vs. universal, descriptive vs. redescriptive, and local vs. global. 22.57.26, discussed also in Schultz Reference Schultz2012: 1267. The most famous vegetal offering occurred at the Liberalia, the festival of the god Liber, described by Varro: Liberalia dicta, quod per totum oppidum eo die sedent sacerdotes Liberi anus hedera coronatae cum libis et foculo pro emptore sacrificantes (The Liberalia is so called because on that day priestesses of Liber, old women crowned with ivy, settle themselves throughout the whole town with cakes and a brazier, making sacrifices on behalf of the customer).Footnote ex Fest. As Scheid has reconstructed Roman public sacrifice,Footnote Greek gods had heavy emphasis placed on their e.g., J. Scheid, s.v. The ritual ended with a litatio, that is, the inspection of the animal's entrails, and it was then followed by a meal. Match. Here I use it as a tool to get at one aspect of Roman religious thought; I do not offer a sustained methodological critique of contemporary approaches of Roman antiquity. Pollucere is an old word, appearing mostly in literature of the second century b.c.e.,Footnote Art historians have debated whether the choice to encapsulate the entirety of sacrificial experience in a scene of libation rather than a scene of animal slaughter (or vice versa) may tell us something about what was being emphasized as significant about sacrifice at that time or context.Footnote 51, There is, of course, a large leap in scale from two literary references to an explanation for a ritual practice performed in hundreds of locations over many centuries. The hypothesis that only sacrificium required mola salsa is strongly supported by the sources, but because that is an argument ex silentio, it cannot be proved beyond all doubt. Plu., RQ 83=Mor. 93 Greeks call the queen Hera, whereas Romans queen of gods is Juno. This has repercussions for our understanding of some elements of Roman religious thought. 38 sacrifice, Roman in OCD Dogs had other ritual uses as well. Moses, Reference Moses, Brocato and Terrenatoforthcoming. ), Dictionnaire tymologique de la langue latine, Interpreting sacrificial ritual in Roman poetry: disciplines and their models, Rituals in Ink: A Conference on Religion and Literary Production in Ancient Rome, La mise mort sacrificielle sur les reliefs romains, La Violence dans les mondes grec et romain, Le sacrifice disparu: les reliefs de boucherie, Sacrifices, march de la viande et pratiques alimentaires dans les cits du monde romain, I reperti ossei animali nell'area archeologica di S. 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In the sacred realm, Romans could also pollucere a tithe to the god Hercules.Footnote and indeed it certainly fits the modern notion of an act by which one suffers great loss for the benefit of others. As has long been recognized, sacrificare and sacrificium are compounds of the phrase sacrum facere (to render sacred), and what is sacrum is anything that belongs to the gods.Footnote 2021. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0075435816000319, Reference Feeney, Barchiesi, Rpke and Stephens, Reference Berry, Headland, Pike and Harris, Reference Rpke, Georgoudi, Piettre and Schmidt, Reference Lentacker, Ervynck, Van Neer, Martens and De Boe, Reference De Grossi Mazzorin and Tagliacozzo, Hammers, axes, bulls, and blood: some practical aspects of Roman animal sacrifice, Witchcraft and Magic in Europe: Ancient Greece and Rome, Imposed etics, emics, and derived etics: their conceptual and operational status in cross-cultural psychology, Emics and Etics: The Insider/Outsider Debate, Religio Votiva: The Archaeology of Latial Votive Religion, Rome, Pollution and Propriety: Dirt, Disease and Hygiene in the Eternal City from Antiquity to Modernity, Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth, Martyrdom and Memory: Early Christian Culture Making, L'Invention des grands hommes de la Rome antique, Dog remains in Italy from the Neolithic to the Roman period, The Cuisine of Sacrifice among the Greeks, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, Human sacrifice and fear of military disaster in Republican Rome, Das rmische Vorzeichenwesen (75327 v. 94 The elder Cato instructs his reader to pollucere a cup of wine and a daps (ritual meal) to Jupiter Dapalis (Agr. The elder Pliny, in his Natural History, discusses the high regard in which ancient Romans held simple vessels made of beechwood. Sacrifice was just one of several rites (alongside polluctum and magmentum) that the Romans had available to them that look to us, standing outside their religious system, as if they were all identical or nearly so. 233; CIL 12.1531=ILLRP 136=ILS 3411 (from Sora). A wider range of scholarly approaches is presented by McClymond Reference McClymond2008: 124. Now, the Romans did not eat people, so how does their performance of human sacrifice reinforce the link between sacrifice and dining? It is entirely possible that miniature ceramics were not, in reality, less expensive offerings than actual foodstuffs. The corresponding substantive is magmentum, a type of offering laid out only at certain temples.Footnote WebIn Greek mythology the king of gods is known as Zeus, whereas Romans call the king of gods Jupiter. This study argues, however, that the apparent continuity is illusory in some important ways and that we have lost sight of some fine distinctions that the Romans made among the rituals they performed. there is a relative dearth of published studies that deal in any serious way with the collections of bones found on various sites from Roman Italy.Footnote 6 To explain the decision to sometimes portray one weapon instead of the other, Aldrete posits that various gods, cults, and rituals may have dictated certain procedures or tools.Footnote 25 Curius Dentatus, famous for his victory over Pyrrhus in 275 b.c.e. The Romans worshipped the same goddess, or rather the same ideas embodied in her, under the name of Vesta, which is in reality identical with 32 Peter=FRH F33. ipsilles with 398L, s.v. [1] Comparative mythology has served a The presence of bones from these species at S. Omobono should not be taken to mean that the site was what scholars call a healing sanctuary, or that it was a place where people came to cast spells on their enemies. Nacirema is American spelt backwards, and Miner shows to, and interprets for, us our own bathroom habits.Footnote An emic explanation is essential for understanding how people within a given system understand that system, but because it is culturally and historically bounded, its use is somewhat limited.