differences between greek and roman sacrifice

Foundational is the collection of essays on Greek sacrifice in Detienne and Vernant Reference Detienne, Vernant and Wissing1989. This disjuncture between physical remains and written accounts is another reminder of the bias of our ancient authors toward the activities of the rich and toward state ritual. The elder Pliny, in his Natural History, discusses the high regard in which ancient Romans held simple vessels made of beechwood. Marcos, Bruno 34 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 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 14 74 43 21 Another way that mactare is different is that gods can mactare mortals at least in comedy, where characters sometimes wish that the gods would honour their enemies with trouble.Footnote See, for example, Morris et al. 286L and 287L, s.v. For example, the apparent contradiction between Roman abhorrence of ritual killing and the frequency with which Romans performed various forms of it is, to a large extent, explicable once it is recognized that the Romans objected only to the performance (by themselves as much as by others) of sacrificium on human victims. There are many other non-meat sacrifices the Romans could offer. ), the Romans followed instructions from the Sibylline Books to bury alive pairs of Gauls and Greeks, one man and one woman of each, in the Forum Boarium. Far less common in the S. Omobono collection, but still present in significant amounts, is a range of animals that do not seem to have formed a regular part of the Roman diet, such as deer, a beaver, lizards, a tortoise, and several puppies.Footnote 21.5). 3.12.2. (ed.) This is a clear difference from Athena, who was never associated with the weather. 35 98 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. 16 13 At her birth, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, sprang directly from the head of Zeus. 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. 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. 67 53, At first glance, the Roman habit of sacrificing items that people cannot eat (cruets and small plates) suggests that another dominant strain in modern theorizations of sacrifice might not really apply to the Roman case. 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 But upon further reflection, in fact, the use of cruets and plates actually emphasizes the importance of the meal that concluded a Roman sacrifice. 92 233; CIL 12.1531=ILLRP 136=ILS 3411 (from Sora). 69a). 54 5401L. 2.10.34, quoting a letter of Varro, and Paul. 2.47.10 (M)=2.44.10 McGushin. As illustration, let us return to Livy and the human sacrifice in 216 b.c.e. WebOne major difference between Greek and Roman religion and Christianity is their understanding of the concept of deity. The children were drowned by the haruspices, usually in the sea. eadem est enim paupertas apud Graecos in Aristide iusta, in Phocione benigna, in Epaminonda strenua, in Socrate sapiens, in Homero diserta. On the early Christian appropriation and transformation of Roman sacrificial imagery and discourse, see Castelli Reference Castelli2004: 509. Subjects. e.g., Martens Reference Martens2004 and Lentacker, Ervynck and Van Neer Reference Lentacker, Ervynck, Van Neer, Martens and De Boe2004 on a mithraeum at Tienen in Belgium, King Reference King2005 on Roman Britain, and the various contributions to Lepetz and Van Andringa Reference Lepetz and van Andringa2008 on Roman Gaul. For illustration, we can turn once again to the elder Pliny, who writes about the habits of the Gallic tribes north of the Alps: et nuperrime trans Alpis hominem immolari gentium earum more solitum, quod paulum a mandendo abest (And very recently, on the other side of the Alps, in accordance with the custom of those peoples, individuals were habitually sacrificed, which is not all that far from eating them N.H. 7.9). 76. and the second century c.e. A wider range of scholarly approaches is presented by McClymond Reference McClymond2008: 124. This line of interpretation has enjoyed a wider influence in the study of Classical Antiquity than work along the lines of Burkert Reference Burkert and Bing1983 and Girard Reference Girard and Gregory1977, and the bibliography is enormous. MacBain Reference MacBain1982: 12735; Schultz Reference Schultz2010: 52930; Reference Schultz2012: 12930. at the battle of the Veseris between Rome and the Latins (8.9.114), the ritual consists of the recitation of the dedicatory formula by the consul P. Decius Mus while in the midst of battle. There is growing consensus that the answer is affirmative. WebAnswer (1 of 3): The differences between the heroes of Greco-Roman mythology come down to significant contrasts in the cultural identities of both civilisations. But then they turn out to be us. Finally, both ancient societies have twelve main gods and goddesses. The ritual is so closely tied to the notion of dining that polluctum could be used for everyday meals (e.g., Plaut., Rud. Two famous examples are found on the altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus (Ryberg Reference Ryberg1955: fig. Modern scholars sometimes group all of these rites under the rubric sacrifice.Footnote and first fruits.Footnote aryxnewland. In addition to Zeus and Hera, there were many other major and minor gods in the Greek religion. Schultz Reference Schultz2010: 5202. As an example, I offer Var., R. 1.2.19: Itaque propterea institutum diversa de causa ut ex caprino genere ad alii dei aram hostia adduceretur, ad alii non sacrificaretur, cum ab eodem odio alter videre nollet, alter etiam videre pereuntem vellet. 58.47, 64.1.467, and 68.1.49. The lack of interest in vegetal sacrifice is widespread in the field of religious studies (McClymond Reference McClymond2008: 65). For the Greeks Even if this is the case, the argument still stands that these passages underscore how essential was consumption to the ritual of sacrificium. Livy, however, treats each burial in a distinct way. If we allow only items explicitly identified as sacrificia in Roman sources, our list includes beans,Footnote Classicists generally assume that the modern idea of sacrifice as the ritual killing of an animal applies to the Roman context. Scholars frequently stress the connection between sacrifice and eating: The idea of food underlies the idea of sacrifice.Footnote Sacrificare is frequently accompanied by an instrumental ablative, but in almost all cases it is clear that the ablative is the object of sacrifice, as in the phrase maioribus hostiis sacrificaverant.Footnote WebThe first way that Roman is different than Christian is because of there believe in gods. Aldrete's survey of images commonly identified as sacrifice scenes makes clear that Roman art depicts different procedures (hitting with a hammer, chopping with an axe) and implements (hammers, axes, knives), and that the preference of implement changes over time. 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 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 9.7.mil.Rom.2). WebWhile both civilizations left astonishing changes in the world, the developments made by Greek thinkers outdo those of the Aztecs when evaluating their creation of a prosperous 17 The argument I lay out here pertains to sacrificial practice as it was conceived by Romans living in Rome and those areas of Italy that came under their control early on, during the Republic and the early Empire. Footnote The burial of Gauls and Greeks was a sacrifice, but one that Romans ought not to have performed. I follow Elsner Reference Elsner2012: 121 in setting aside the plethora of images of the tauroctony of Mithras and the taurobolium of Cybele and Attis. This is suggested by Ov., F. 1.1278. 344L and 345L, s.v. Scheid's reconstruction focuses on a living victim, and this is in keeping with the ancient sources own emphasis on blood sacrifice. 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 WebComparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. Some rituals, such as the recitation of prayers, were simple. WebThe standard view of paganism (traditional city-based polytheistic Graeco-Roman religion) in the Roman empire has long been one of decline beginning in the second and first centuries BC. Let me be clear. 90 71 Dogs: Fest. Lodwick, Lisa Carretero, Lara Gonzalez The literary evidence for this is slender but persuasive. Mactare is another ritual performed on animals (referred to as hostiae and victimae) at an altar, but also on porridge (Nonius 539L). Plaut., Stich. Meanwhile, from the Sibylline Books some unusual sacrifices were ordered, among which was one where a Gallic man and woman and a Greek man and woman were sent down alive into an underground room walled with rock, a place that had already been tainted before by human victims hardly a Roman rite. 35 Published online by Cambridge University Press: Although there is some evidence for Roman consumption of dog in the form of canine skeletons with butchery marks (e.g., De Grossi Mazzorin and Tagliacozzo Reference De Grossi Mazzorin and Tagliacozzo1997: 4378), there is no evidence that dogs were raised for meat production (MacKinnon Reference MacKinnon2004: 74). The only inedible items that we know from literary sources were objects of sacrificium are all miniature versions of regular, everyday serveware: a cruet, a plate, and a ladle. WebThe gods, heroes, and humans of Greek mythology were flawed. On three occasions during the Republic (228,Footnote 83 pop. eadem paupertas etiam populo Romano imperium a primordio fundavit, proque eo in odiernum diis immortalibus simpulo et catino fictili sacrificat. 2013: The Fragments of the Roman Historians, 3 vols, Oxford, Hornblower, S., and Spawforth, A. 44 36 81, Here we have two rituals that look, to an outsider, almost identical, but Livy takes pains to distinguish between them. frag. 11 13 Peter=FRH F17. wheat,Footnote In overlooking the differences between the Roman idea of sacrificium and the modern idea of sacrifice, we lose some of the details of how the Romans perceived a core element of their own experience of the divine. wine,Footnote and indeed it certainly fits the modern notion of an act by which one suffers great loss for the benefit of others. Sacrifices of various cakes (liba, popana, pthoes) to the Ilythiae and to Apollo and Diana were part of Augustus celebration of the Secular Games in 17 b.c.e., a clear indication that vegetal offerings were not limited to the lower social classes.Footnote 83 An exception is Scheid Reference Scheid2005: 52. Although there is substantial evidence for other types of sacrificial offerings in the literary sources (see below, Section III), Roman authors do not discuss them at length, preferring instead to talk about grand public sacrifices of multiple animal victims. In 29 Burkert Reference Burkert and Bing1983: 3; Girard Reference Girard and Gregory1977: 1. This statement and much of what follows is based on a series of searches in the Brepolis on-line database of Latin literature, Libraries A and B (http://apps.brepolis.net/BrepolisPortal/default.aspx) conducted throughout the summer of 2015. 287L, s.v. It is probable, but not certain, that this is the same as the polluctum of ex mercibus libamenta mentioned by Varro at L. 6.54. 450 Krenkel; Hor., Sat. Finally, both ancient societies have twelve main gods and goddesses. 67 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. The ritual ended with a litatio, that is, the inspection of the animal's entrails, and it was then followed by a meal. For an argument that wild animals are more common in ancient Mediterranean, and specifically in Etruscan, sacrifice than is generally acknowledged, see Rask Reference Rask2014. 70 64 1 WebComparative mythology is the comparison of myths from different cultures in an attempt to identify shared themes and characteristics. There is also a queen of gods in Greek and Roman mythologies. that contain scenes of ritual slaughter where the implements can be clearly discerned.Footnote 17ac) and the Cancellaria relief (Ryberg Reference Ryberg1955: fig. The present study turns the insider-outsider lens on the study of Roman sacrifice: it aims to trace, through an analysis of a set of Latin religious terminology, how Romans thought about sacrifice and to highlight how this conception, which I refer to by the Latin term sacrificium, relates to two dominant aspects of modern theorizations of sacrifice as a universal human behaviour: sacrifice as violence and sacrifice as ritual meal. and Greek influences on Italian craftsmen in the 6 th century BC saw the image of 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. 24 As suggested by Bouma Reference Bouma1996: 1.23841. 42 Macr., Sat. 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. ex Fest. 73 Perhaps these reliefs preserve the performance of one or more of the rituals that seem to have faded in popularity by the high imperial period: magmentum and polluctum. It appears that no Roman source ever uses the language of sacrificium to describe devotio,Footnote to the fourth century c.e. 65 63. Ioppolo Reference Ioppolo1972; Tagliacozzo Reference Tagliacozzo1989. That we cannot fully recover what were the critical differences among these rites is frustrating, but the situation is certainly not unique in the study of Roman religion. A parallel use of sacrificare is found in Apuleius Apologia 18, a passage which also shares Pliny's focus on poverty: paupertas, inquam, prisca aput saecula omnium civitatium conditrix, omnium artium repertrix, omnium peccatorum inops, omnis gloriae munifica, cunctis laudibus apud omnis nationes perfuncta. The Christian fathers equation of sacrifice with violence has shaped twentieth-century theorizations of sacrifice as a universal human phenomenon,Footnote [1] Comparative mythology has served a ex Fest. 283F284C; Liv., Per. It is commonplace now to treat sacrificium as a general category and to talk about magmentum and polluctum as moments within the larger ritual or special instances of it.Footnote Sacrifices of wine and incense are common in the Commentarii Fratrum Arvalium, e.g. Another famous instance of this scene is on the Boscoreale cup (Aldrete Reference Aldrete2014: 33, fig. Devotio is frequently called self-sacrifice by modern scholars,Footnote WebWhile Greek and Roman sculpture and ruins are linked with the purity of white marble in the Western mind, most of the works were originally polychrome, painted in multiple, lifelike colors. WebRomans invested much of their time serving the gods, performing rituals and sacrifices in honor of them. For many readers of Latin, the most obvious translation of the Latin is except a beechwood cruet with which he would offer sacrifice, taking quo as an instrumental ablative and thereby making the vessel an instrument of sacrifice rather than the object of sacrifice itself. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.Footnote 113L, s.v. 60 If the commander who devoted himself did not die in battle, he was interdicted from performing any ritual on behalf of the state (publicum divinum). 1.3.90 and 1.6.115; Juv. Expert solutions. There is no evidence, contra Parker Reference Parker2004 and Wildfang Reference Wildfang2006: 589, that the Romans ever perceived the punishment of a Vestal as sacrifice. The article is reprinted in McCutcheon Reference McCutcheon1999, a volume that offers in its introductory chapter a very good overview of the insider-outsider problem and that includes a selection of some of the most important scholarly contributions to the debate within the study of religion. In both the passages from Pliny and Apuleius, the ritual implements are of diminutive size. Paul. Were these items sprinkled with mola salsa?Footnote 30 16 The modern assumption that sacrifice requires an animal victim obfuscates the full range of sacrificium among the Romans. The description of Decius ensuing death is very spare and devoid of any sacrificial imagery or terminology. Others include first-order vs. second-order categories, particular vs. universal, descriptive vs. redescriptive, and local vs. global. refriva faba; Plin., N.H. 18.119. More Greek words for sacrifice. Although it is sixty years old, the lesson still works well. But we can no longer recover indeed it appears that Romans of the early Empire could no longer recover what was the difference between a monstrum, a prodigium, a portentum, and an ostentum.Footnote I use ritual killing as a blanket term for any rite, including but not limited to sacrifice, that involves the death of a human being. See, for example, Feeney Reference Feeney, Barchiesi, Rpke and Stephens2004, an excellent discussion of the application of theoretical models of sacrifice to the poetry of Vergil and Ovid. Neither of the acts that Pliny mentions is explicitly identified as sacrificium, or as any other rite in particular. In the sacred realm, Romans could also pollucere a tithe to the god Hercules.Footnote 45 36 Were they always burnt on an altar or brazier? Hemina fr. Other forms of ritual killing do not receive the same sort of negative judgement by Roman authors, and one form, devotio, even has strongly positive associations. 63 Val. Some more support for the notion that these were not interchangeable can be drawn from material evidence, visual representations of the moment of ritual slaughter. 33 It appears that if a worshipper could not afford to sacrifice something that was itself tasty, he might fulfill his obligation by giving something that evoked the idea of it.Footnote 48 3 As illustrated by Livy's description of the first Decius to perform the ritual as he rode out to meet the enemy: aliquanto augustior humano visu, sicut caelo missus (8.9.10). 22.57.26; Cass. It is also noteworthy that sacrificium appears to be the only member of this class to require mola salsa. mactus; Walde and Hofmann Reference Walde and Hofmann1954: 2.4 s.v. 4.57) is not clear. 2019. For a treatment of this methodological issue on a broader scale, see the rather pointed critique in Hopkins Reference Hopkins1978: 1808. More rare are images like those on the arches of Trajan at Benevento and of Septimius Severus at Lepcis Magna which show the moment that the axe is swung.Footnote Our author makes clear that the sacrifice of two Gauls and two Greeks happened alongside another ritual: the punishment of an unchaste Vestal Virgin. The Romans performed at least four forms of ritual killing, only one of which was sacrifice. Somewhat surprising is the considerably smaller presence of bovines,Footnote Dear Mr. Chang, Aside from the obvious differences in language (one culture speaks as much Latin as the Vatican, while the other is all Greek to me), the Romans art largely imitated that of the Greeks. Columella 2.21.4 might also refer to dog sacrifice, but the verb (feceris) leaves it ambiguous as to which ritual was being performed. But in reality, the relative silence of our sources about a ritual form that seems to have been available to the poor is not unique. 49 WebIn Greek mythology the king of gods is known as Zeus, whereas Romans call the king of gods Jupiter. We can push this second issue, what kinds of items can be the object of sacrifice, even further: Roman sacrifice, especially among the poor, was not limited to edible offerings. Greek gods had heavy emphasis placed on their The numerous sources for this event are collected and analysed in Engels Reference Engels2007: 41618, 4438. 99 Fest. ex Fest. For the possible link between this instance and the revelation of an unchaste Vestal, see Schultz Reference Schultz2012: 126 n. 18. There is a small amount of evidence for a form of auspicium performed with beans: Fest. 34 While there has been tentative speculation that the reason behind a preference for procession scenes in Greek representations of sacrifice in the Archaic and Classical periods is due to a growing squeamishness inside Greek culture,Footnote Greeks call the queen Hera, whereas Romans queen of gods is Juno. molo. and Total loading time: 0 } 85 12 87 The elder Cato instructs his reader to pollucere a cup of wine and a daps (ritual meal) to Jupiter Dapalis (Agr. Scheid Reference Scheid1998: nn. 13 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. 32 Scheid's reconstruction and interpretation is followed by Prescendi Reference Prescendi2007: 3148. Hostname: page-component-7fc98996b9-rf4gk Hemina fr. 45 hasContentIssue true, Copyright The Author(s) 2016. Paul. I concede that, to a certain extent, the insider-outsider lens does not show us difficulties that were previously invisible. 47 77L, s.v. 93 If the devotio was not successful (i.e., the devotus somehow survived), expiatory steps had to be taken: the burial of a larger-than-life-sized statue and piaculum hostia caedi. 19 magmentum; Serv., A. "useRatesEcommerce": false 48 Miner Reference Miner1956: 503. See Oakley Reference Oakley1998: 481 and Sacco Reference Sacco2004: 316. Rpke Reference Rpke, Georgoudi, Piettre and Schmidt2005 offers a different interpretation of the meal that follows the sacrifice. While the attention of our Roman sources is drawn most frequently to blood sacrifice, there is good reason to think that, if there was indeed a climax to the ritual,Footnote

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