differences between greek and roman sacrifice

32 Ernout and Meillet Reference Ernout and Meillet1979: 411 s.v. 84 94 16 22.57.26; Cass. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 95 The objectivity of the outside observer can also facilitate cross-cultural comparison. Render date: 2023-03-04T10:22:59.089Z 14 Footnote Of the various forms of ritual killing that were part of their religious experience, the Romans only reacted with disgust to that form they identified as human sacrifice, a distinction in value sometimes lost when all these ritual forms are grouped together under the rubric sacrifice.Footnote On the contrary, Greek religion did not prefer to execute rituals as much as 98 The distinction is preserved by Suet., Prat. This has repercussions for our understanding of some elements of Roman religious thought. 48 The children were drowned by the haruspices, usually in the sea. incense,Footnote 87 On the general absence of wild meat from the Roman diet, see MacKinnon Reference MacKinnon2004: 1902. 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 3.12.2. It is unfortunate that the ancient sources on vegetal sacrifice are as exiguous as they are: it is not possible to determine what relationship its outward form bore to blood sacrifice. Aul. He stresses the traditional nature of the burial of the one Vestal with the phrase as is the custom (uti mos est) and describes her death in neutral terms (necare).Footnote WebFor example, the Peloponnesian War was primarily a struggle between two Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta, and was fought mainly on land and sea within the Greek world. 37 Upon examination of the Roman evidence, however, it becomes evident that this distinction is an etic one: while we see at least two different rituals, the Romans are clear that they sacrifice a wide range of food substances beyond animal flesh. and Narbo in Gallia Narbonensis (CIL 12.4333, dated to 11 c.e.). 94. 49 77 "useRatesEcommerce": false Instead, their presence should be attributed to the status of those species as valuable and efficacious: the prevalence of dogs, lizards, and beavers in medicinal and magical recipes for potions is an indication of the exceptional value the animals were thought to have, an indication that they were somehow special, and therefore might be worthy of the gods. 132; Cass. 3 3, 13456; Prescendi Reference Prescendi2007: 1225; Rpke Reference Rpke and Gordon2007: 1378. more because the Romans sacrificed things that are not animals, and less because sacrificium is not a term that encompasses every Roman ritual that involves the death of a living being. Somewhat surprising is the considerably smaller presence of bovines,Footnote 3.95: Quid Agamemnon, cum devovisset Dianae quod in suo regno pulcherrimum natum esset illo anno, immolavit Iphigeniam, qua nihil erat eo quidem anno natum pulchrius? Because the context is Greek, it is safe to assume that Cicero is using, as he often does elsewhere when addressing a general audience, technical terms in a very general way. and for his old-fashioned frugality and incorruptibility.Footnote But one of the things that I consider quite interesting was the difference approaches that the Greeks and Romans had towards the Gods as a whole. Emic and etic, terms drawn originally from the field of linguistics (Pike Reference Pike1967: 3744; reprinted in McCutcheon Reference McCutcheon1999: 2836), are one of several pairs of words used to present the insider-outsider distinction. Also unfamiliar to the Romans would be another use of sacrifice now current in the life sciences, as a term for euthanasia of research animals with no real religious significance The plea of an editorial in the Canadian Journal of Comparative Medicine and Veterinary Science from 1967 (p. 241) that researchers abandon the term because there is no deity involved in the act of euthanizing laboratory animals, fell on deaf ears: sacrifice remains common in animal management literature. 20 17ac) and the Cancellaria relief (Ryberg Reference Ryberg1955: fig. Even if this is the case, the argument still stands that these passages underscore how essential was consumption to the ritual of sacrificium. 216,Footnote e.g., Liv. J. C.), Quand faire, c'est croire: les rites sacrificiels des romains, Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Dogs and People in Social, Working, Economic or Symbolic Interaction, Proceedings of the 9, Annalisi dei resi faunistici dell'area sacra di S. Omobono, Il Viver quotidiano in Roma arcaica: materiali dagli scavi del tempio arcaico nell'area sacra di S. Omobono, Hiera Kala: Images of Animal Sacrifice in Archaic and Classical Greece, Materia Magica: The Archaeology of Magic in Roman Egypt, Cyprus, and Spain, Rome's Vestal Virgins: A Study of Rome's Vestal Priestesses in the Late Republic and Early Empire, http://apps.brepolis.net/BrepolisPortal/default.aspx. ex Fest. 22 70 113L, s.v. 77L, s.v. WebFor example, the Peloponnesian War was primarily a struggle between two Greek city-states, Athens and Sparta, and was fought mainly on land and sea within the Greek world. The fundamental belief underlying the whole system appears to be that the human body is ugly and that its natural tendency is to debility and disease. Horses: Plin., N.H. 28.146; Fest. 51 132.2; Scheid Reference Scheid2005: 1369). The other rite observed by the Romans that required a human death was called devotio, and it seems to have been restricted to a single family father, son, and grandson (it is possible our sources have multiplied a single occasion), all of whom, as commanders-in-the-field, vowed to commit themselves and the enemy troops to the gods of the underworld in order to ensure a Roman victory. Nor, in broader terms, do I think that internal, or emic, categories should automatically be privileged over external, or etic, ones.Footnote 2.47.10 (M)=2.44.10 McGushin. The corresponding substantive is magmentum, a type of offering laid out only at certain temples.Footnote The most famous instance occurred annually at the festival of the Robigalia in June when a red dog and a sheep were sacrificed by the Flamen Quirinalis to ward off rust from the crops.Footnote 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). One does, however, sacrifice with a cow, with a pig, or with a little cruet. Match. Columella 2.21.4 might also refer to dog sacrifice, but the verb (feceris) leaves it ambiguous as to which ritual was being performed. Douglas Reference Douglas and Douglas1982: 117. On fourteen occasions between 209 and 92 b.c.e., androgyne infants and children were included among the prodigies reported to the Roman Senate. Mar. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. 65 Scheid Reference Scheid2005: 4457; Reference Scheid and Rpke2007: 2639. This is a clear difference from Athena, who was never associated with the weather. Lucil. Greek and Roman View all Google Scholar citations It is important to note that there is no indication that these vegetal offerings were thought to be substitutions for what would have been, in better circumstances, animal victims.Footnote Therefore, instead of privileging either the emic or etic, I argue for an increased awareness of the insider-outsider distinction and for an approach to Roman religion that makes use of both emic and etic concepts. The most recent and most comprehensive analysis of the material details the criteria applied to the osteoarchaeological evidence for determining what is likely to be evidence for sacrifice.Footnote 55 18 233; CIL 12.1531=ILLRP 136=ILS 3411 (from Sora). Pollucere is an old word, appearing mostly in literature of the second century b.c.e.,Footnote The statues made in Greece were made with perfect people in mind often modeled after gods and goddesses, while the statues in Rome have all the faults a real person would have. MacKinnon Reference MacKinnon2004: 5974. Home. 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. and again in 114 or 113 b.c.e. D. 6.9 (which probably draws on Varro) and possibly Paul. See, for example, citations from Pomponius and Afranius in Non. nor does any Roman author ever express any sort of discomfort with this rite akin to Livy's shrinking back from the sacrifice of Gauls and Greeks. 5 Major Differences Between the Greco-Roman Gods and the God Similarities and Differences Between Greek and Roman the differences between Roman gods and Greek 1; Sall., Hist. 11 76 Furthermore, it seems reasonable to conclude that the miniature clay cows, birds, and other animals that are also commonly found in votive collections were also substitutes for live sacrificial victims.Footnote In Latin, one does not sacrifice with a knife or with an axe. For the possible link between this instance and the revelation of an unchaste Vestal, see Schultz Reference Schultz2012: 126 n. 18. Greek Gods vs Roman Gods. 48 67 3 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. 5 The Romans performed at least four forms of ritual killing, only one of which was sacrifice. for young animals (including foetal and neonatal specimens),Footnote Reference Morris, Leung, Ames and Lickel1999 and Berry Reference Berry, Headland, Pike and Harris1990. Finally, it appears that some of these rites ceased to be performed by some point in the imperial period and that sacrificium continued for centuries. 86 While the evidence does not allow us to recover precise distinctions made among these rites (sacrificium, magmentum, and polluctum), it does strongly suggest that the Romans at least through the period of the Republic conceived of these rituals as somehow different from one another. Possible Answers: Roman temples were built on the ruins of previous structures. 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. 423L s.v. 82. 9.641. How, if these animals did not make desirable entrees, could they be considered suitable for sacrifice? Modern etymologists disagree on the origin of the term. As illustration, let us return to Livy and the human sacrifice in 216 b.c.e. WebStudy with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like Which temples were Greek and which were Roman?, When was the Temple of Zeus at Olympia built?, What the features of the Temple of Zeus at Olympia? Yet so stark is the discrepancy between his (assumed) outsider perspective and our own insider understanding of the value of a bathroom, that most readers do not recognize themselves the first time they read this piece. 46 The preceding discussion has, I hope, made clear that the Romans own notion of sacrifice is broader and more complex than is generally perceived. It is a hallmark of poverty, whether in a religious context or not, appearing often in poetic passages where the narrator describes a low-budget lifestyle.Footnote Birds: Suet., Calig. pecunia sacrificium makes clear that, despite its name, this ritual did not involve money. but in later texts as well. The ultimate conclusion of this investigation is that, although in many important ways this ritual comes close to aligning with the dominant modern understanding of sacrifice, Roman sacrificium is both more and less than the ritualized killing of a living being as an offering to the divine:Footnote For the difference in Roman attitudes toward human sacrifice and other forms of ritual killing, see Schultz Reference Schultz2010. At N.H. 29.578, Pliny tells us that a dog was crucified annually at a particular location in Rome, and that puppies used to be considered to be such pure eating that they were used in place of victims (hostiarum vice) to appease the divine; puppy was still on the menu at banquets for the gods in Pliny's own day. The skeletal remains of dogs sometimes found interred with human remains or inside city walls are often interpreted as sacrifice by archaeologists.Footnote 4 were linked.Footnote 74 344L, s.v. wine,Footnote See also n. 9 above. Miner Reference Miner1956: 503. 63 Learn. Nor was it secular, capital punishment; the punishment of criminals usually took a more direct and swift form: strangulation, beating, crucifixion, or precipitation (i.e., throwing someone off a cliff).Footnote The catinus is a piece of everyday ware used to serve food that contains a lot of liquid (L. 5.120). 2 WebThe gods, heroes, and humans of Greek mythology were flawed. 08 June 2016. pop. Mactare is another ritual performed on animals (referred to as hostiae and victimae) at an altar, but also on porridge (Nonius 539L). 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. 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). In fact, devotio is viewed positively by the Romans as a selfless, almost superhuman act of true leadership.Footnote Yet the problem remains that dogs did not form a regular or significant part of the Romans diet, nor did wild animals of any sort.Footnote Plin., N.H. 31.89 is usually taken to refer to sacrifice (so Prescendi Reference Prescendi2007: 105) but the text mentions only sacra, not sacrificia. 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 67 WebRomans invested much of their time serving the gods, performing rituals and sacrifices in honor of them. 90 ex Fest. You would do well to remember that there were very few similarities between Roman and Greek religion until the Romans began borrowing from the Gree See Rosenblitt Reference Rosenblitt2011 for the connection between these two passages. 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). The modern assumption that sacrifice requires an animal victim obfuscates the full range of sacrificium among the Romans. There is no question that the live interment of the Gauls and Greeks was a sacrifice: Livy identifies it as one of the sacrifices not part of the usual practice ordered by the Sibylline Books (sacrificia extraordinaria).

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