differences between greek and roman sacrifice differences between greek and roman sacrifice

Concise surveys of the major modern theories of sacrifice in the ancient world can be found in Knust and Vrhelyi Reference Knust and Vrhelyi2011: 418, Lincoln Reference Lincoln2012, and Graf Reference Graf2012. Total loading time: 0 Jupiter also concentrated on protecting the Roman state. 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. 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. Greek and Roman I owe many thanks to C. P. Mann, B. Nongbri, and J. N. Dillon for their thoughtful, challenging responses to earlier drafts of this article, and to audiences at Trinity College, Baylor University, and Bryn Mawr College for comments on an oral version of it. molo; de Vaan Reference De Vaan2008: 3867 s.v. ex Fest. 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. 46 They were rewarded for their endeavors with the position of judge in the Underworld. 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. WebIn Greek mythology the king of gods is known as Zeus, whereas Romans call the king of gods Jupiter. The more powerful individuals in the society have several shrines in their houses and, in fact, the opulence of a house is often referred to in terms of the number of such ritual centers it possesses. As Scheid has reconstructed Roman public sacrifice,Footnote The Romans, however, developed a more naturalistic approach to their art. The vast majority of the bones come from pigs, sheep, and goats. 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. Nacirema is American spelt backwards, and Miner shows to, and interprets for, us our own bathroom habits.Footnote It is entirely possible that miniature ceramics were not, in reality, less expensive offerings than actual foodstuffs. Poorer families imitate the rich by applying pottery plaques to their shrine walls.Footnote Augustine, Civ. 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. Sacrifices of wine and incense are common in the Commentarii Fratrum Arvalium, e.g. 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 36 Roman sacrifice the ritual began with a procession that was followed by a praefatio, a preliminary offering of prayers, wine and incense. Moses, Reference Moses, Brocato and Terrenatoforthcoming, table 8. 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 government, understanding of literature, and enlightened ideas. 86 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 In Greek and Roman religion, the gods and 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. 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. Comparative mythology has served a variety of academic purposes. There is also evidence that the Romans had a variety of rites, only one of which was sacrificium, that involved presenting foodstuffs to the gods. Dogs had other ritual uses as well. The modern assumption that sacrifice requires an animal victim obfuscates the full range of sacrificium among the Romans. 3.2.16. 3 Aul. Liv. 50 132.12). 76 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. 39 and more. 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. 21 See, for example, Wilkens Reference Wilkens2006 and De Grossi Mazzorin and Minniti Reference De Grossi Mazzorin and Minniti2006. 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 Those details, once recovered, can in turn subtly reshape our own idea of what sacrifice is and what it does. 8 Thus it happens that goats are immolated to Liber Pater, who discovered the vine, so that they pay him a penalty and, by a contrary logic, caprine victims are never immolated to Minerva on account of the olive: they say that whatever olive plant a goat bites becomes sterile). 1996: The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edn), Oxford. magmentum; Serv., A. 99 These offerings, ubiquitous in Roman Italy through to the end of the Republic, are mentioned at most twice in extant Latin literature.Footnote 43 450 Krenkel; Hor., Sat. 18 41 Roman Gods vs. Greek Gods: Know the Difference Another example of the bias of our sources away from rituals performed by the lower classes is the dearth of references to a particular type of item found in votive deposits: anatomical votives, fictile representations of parts of the human body offered to the gods as requests for cures for physical ailments. 37ab). Vaz, Filipe Costa and Paul. Vuli, Hrvoje ex Fest. The problem is widely acknowledged, but see specifically Moussy Reference Moussy1977; Reference Moussy1990; Engels Reference Engels2007: 25982. This is a clear difference from Athena, who was never associated with the weather. WebOn the whole, political development in Greece followed a pattern: first the rule of kings, found as early as the period of Mycenaean civilization; then a feudal period, the Difference Between Greek Gods and Roman Gods 94. 30 Roman sacrifice - Oxford Reference 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 As illustration, let us return to Livy and the human sacrifice in 216 b.c.e. and the second century c.e. As in the Greek world, sacrifice was the central ritual of religion. Scheid Reference Scheid1998: nn. See also Scheid Reference Scheid2012: 901. pop. 66 Devotio is primarily a form of vow that is, ideally, followed by a death (si is homo qui devotus est moritur, probe factum videri (Liv. Livy, however, treats each burial in a distinct way. But upon further reflection, in fact, the use of cruets and plates actually emphasizes the importance of the meal that concluded a Roman sacrifice. 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. 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 65 CIL 6.32323.13940=ILS 5050.13940=Pighi Reference Pighi1965: 117 (from Rome). rutilae canes; Var., L. 6.16. Was a portion consumed later? It appears that no Roman source ever uses the language of sacrificium to describe devotio,Footnote Instead they seem to have conceived of it as the ritual consecration of an animal which was afterwards killed and eaten. 5 Plaut., Amph. Magmentum also appears in two imperial leges sacrae pertaining to the observance of the Imperial cult preserved in inscriptions found in the Roman colonies of Salona in Dalmatia (CIL 3.1933, dated to 137 c.e.) The only Roman reference to the sacrifice of a deer pertains to a Greek context: Ov., F. 1.3878 where the deer is sacrificed to Diana as a substitute for Iphigenia. subsilles. The tendency is intensified in Christian sources, which discuss pagan sacrifice exclusively in terms of blood sacrifice, distinguishing the shameful blood of animal victims from the sacred blood of Christ.Footnote The preceding discussion has, I hope, made clear that the Romans own notion of sacrifice is broader and more complex than is generally perceived. The ancient Greek and Roman gods did not become incarnate the way Jesus was, did not enter the stream of real human history the way Jesus did, did not die as a When the Romans sacrificed plant matter to the gods, it appears to be because that is what it was appropriate to do in the specific circumstance. Finally, both ancient societies have twelve main gods and goddesses. 83 Roman sources make clear that Romans had several different rituals (sacrificium, polluctum, and magmentum) that appear, based on prominent structural similarities, to have been related to one another. Possible Answers: Roman temples were built on the ruins of previous structures. While vegetal and meat offerings were on a par, inedible gifts could be sacrificed only as substitutes for edible offerings when money was a concern. molo. Knives would have been used only in conjunction with one or other of these implements. Two differences between greek roman religion and christianity. 47 Analyses of the traditions about Curius and his contemporary Fabricius, both famous for prudentia and paupertas, are found in Berrendonner Reference Berrendonner2001 and Vigourt Reference Vigourt2001. Livy also uses the language of sacrifice when he describes the underground room as a place that had already seen human victims.Footnote I have tried to respond to them all. For a more extended analysis of the distinction between the punishment of unchaste Vestals and, on the one hand, sacrifice and, on the other, secular capital punishment, see Schultz Reference Schultz2012. Lodwick, Lisa 5 Major Differences Between the Greco-Roman Gods and the God Interim ex fatalibus libris sacrificia aliquot extraordinaria facta, inter quae Gallus et Galla, Graecus et Graeca in foro boario sub terram vivi demissi sunt in locum saxo consaeptum, iam ante hostiis humanis, minime Romano sacro, imbutum. The equation of sacrifice with the offering of an animal is not completely divorced from the ancient sources. Goats: Var., R. 1.2.19; Liv. 58.47, 64.1.467, and 68.1.49. "useRatesEcommerce": false Of this class of rituals, sacrificium does seem to have been somehow different from the others. Fest. B. Rives provided valuable consultation on specific points and V. C. Moses generously shared her work-in-progress on the osteoarchaeological evidence from S. Omobono. I presume that Miner's observations apply also to bathroom habits elsewhere in North America and Europe. 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. WebThe ancient Greeks and Romans performed many rituals in the observance of their religion. Sacrificium is the performance of a complex of actions that presents the gods with an edible gift by the sprinkling of mola salsa and the ultimate goal of which seems to be the feeding of both gods and men. WebRoman sacrificial practices were not functionally different from Greek, although the Roman rite was distinguishable from the Greek and Etruscan. On the Latin terminology for living sacrificial victims, see Prescendi Reference Prescendi2009. As is implied in all the relevant entries in the OLD. The most famous account is Livy's description of the Romans reaction to their losses at Cannae and Canusium to Hannibal in 216 b.c.e.,Footnote 277AC). Dogs, and puppies in particular, were thought to have some medicinal and magical properties: Pliny reports that some people thought the ashes of a dog's cranium, when consumed with a beverage, could cure abdominal pain (N.H. 30.53) and, when mixed with honey wine in particular, could cure jaundice (N.H. 30.93). Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings. Miner Reference Miner1956: 503. 77 Fest. Sic factum ut Libero patri, repertori vitis, hirci immolarentur, proinde ut capite darent poenas; contra ut Minervae caprini generis nihil immolarent propter oleam, quod eam quam laeserit fieri dicunt sterilem (And so therefore, it has been established by opposing justifications that victims of the caprine sort are brought to the altar of one deity, but they are not sacrificed at the altar of another, since on account of the same hatred, one does not want to see a goat and the other desires to see one perish. 1034 seems to draw an equivalence between sacrificare and mactare (cf. On the contrary, Greek religion did not prefer to execute rituals as much as 2013: The Fragments of the Roman Historians, 3 vols, Oxford, Hornblower, S., and Spawforth, A. The Christian fathers equation of sacrifice with violence has shaped twentieth-century theorizations of sacrifice as a universal human phenomenon,Footnote Footnote 23, The importance of sprinkling mola salsa might explain a pattern in Roman public artwork from the republican through the high imperial periods. All of this indicates a certain flexibility and elasticity in the ritual of sacrificium that suggests, especially if a similar flexibility could be demonstrated in other ritual forms, a need to moderate the emphasis both ancient and modern on the orthopractic nature of Roman religion. McClymond treats sacrificial events as clusters of different types of activities, including prayer, killing, cooking, and consumption, which are not in and of themselves sacrificial (they are frequently performed in other contexts), but which become sacrificial in the aggregate (McClymond Reference McClymond2008: 2534). Another example of a ritual that looks a lot like sacrificium but is not identical to it is polluctum. aryxnewland. Unlike sacrificare, which remained solely in the divine realm, mactare did not need to involve the gods: mactare is something that one Roman could do to another, both literally (one can mactare someone else with a golden cup, for example) and metaphorically (with misfortune or expense). There is growing consensus that the answer is affirmative. 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 See also n. 9 above. 287L, s.v. The survival beyond the early Empire of most aspects of the distinction among ritual forms discussed in Section IV cannot be asserted with any confidence. 41 52 63 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. Carretero, Lara Gonzalez 358L. thysa. Of the fifty-six reliefs, forty-one show officials carrying axes. 80 56 1419). 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 Ov., F. 4.90142 with Fest. 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. 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. This has repercussions for our understanding of some elements of Roman religious thought. 54 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 25 9.641. The prevalence of Roman images of sacrificial victims standing before the altar, that is, of the instant before mola salsa is sprinkled on them, is due to the importance of that moment. Tagliacozzo Reference Tagliacozzo1989: 66. 17 ex Fest. 66 31; Plin., N.H. 36.39; Tac., Ann. 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 e.g., Liv. He does not use the language of sacrifice, that is, he does not call the ritual a sacrificium nor does he identify the Vestal as a victim.Footnote Admittedly the Romans often used as a metonym for the whole of sacrificium the term immolatio, the stage of the ritual that includes slaughter, suggesting the special importance of that portion of the ritual sequence.Footnote hasContentIssue true, Copyright The Author(s) 2016. 93 the differences between Roman gods and Greek WebIn Greek mythology the king of gods is known as Zeus, whereas Romans call the king of gods Jupiter. History Greek & Roman Civilization - studocu.com 48 38 Ernout and Meillet Reference Ernout and Meillet1979: 411 s.v. Hermes, who had winged feet, was the messenger of the gods and could fly anywhere with great speed. Sacrificium included vegetal and inedible offerings, and it was not the only Roman ritual that had living victims. Columella 2.21.4 might also refer to dog sacrifice, but the verb (feceris) leaves it ambiguous as to which ritual was being performed. 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. Published online by Cambridge University Press: 37 38 24 6 Goats and dogs are less common, and we can expand the range of species to include horses and birds if we admit animals that are identified only as the object of immolatio, if not of sacrificium itself.Footnote 101 Hemina fr. 90 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. In what follows, I aim to clear away a few of the accretions that have arisen from more than a century of modern theorizing about the nature and meaning of sacrifice as a universal human phenomenon in order to gain a better understanding of those actions that the Romans identify by the Latin words sacrificium and sacrificare.Footnote 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. 2.47.10 (M)=2.44.10 McGushin. Others include first-order vs. second-order categories, particular vs. universal, descriptive vs. redescriptive, and local vs. global. Horses: Plin., N.H. 28.146; Fest. It is also clear from literary sources that on a handful of occasions, including instances well within the historical period, the Roman state sacrificed human victims to the gods, a topic we shall address more fully later on. Marcos, Bruno Cf. Roman 94 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. Test. 84 from the archaic temple at the site of S. Omobono in Rome.Footnote Let me be clear. 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 refriva faba. The Romans performed at least four forms of ritual killing, only one of which was sacrifice. 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 Ernout and Meillet Reference Ernout and Meillet1979: 376 s.v. The elder Cato instructs his reader to pollucere a cup of wine and a daps (ritual meal) to Jupiter Dapalis (Agr. 95 pecunia sacrificium makes clear that, despite its name, this ritual did not involve money. 5 On three occasions during the Republic (228,Footnote 3 82. How, if these animals did not make desirable entrees, could they be considered suitable for sacrifice? [1] Comparative mythology has served a 88. But then they turn out to be us. Studies of sacrifice have noted the etymological connection between immolare and mola salsa, but have not, for the most part, pressed its value for what it may reveal about where the Romans may have placed the emphasis. Greek gods had heavy emphasis placed on their 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. 8.10.)). 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. 22 97L: Immolare est mola, id est farre molito et sale, hostiam perspersam sacrare (To immolate is to make sacred a victim sprinkled with mola, that is, with ground spelt and salt), a passage which also suggests that the link between immolatio and mola salsa was active in the minds of Romans in the early imperial period when the ultimate source of Paulus redaction, the dictionary written by Verrius Flaccus, was compiled.Footnote