Sacrifice in ancient Roman religion

Preparatory rites

In Roman artwork depicting sacrifices, the sacrificant—the individual paying for the ceremony—is distinguished by the presence of a toga fold covering their head, as if they were wearing a hood. For instance, on the altar at the Temple of Vespasian (r. 69–79) in Pompeii, a sacrificial scene includes an individual standing beside a tripod vessel with their head covered (capite velato), thereby identifying them as the sacrificant. At the beginning of a Roman sacrificial ritual, the hands of the sacrificant were ceremonially cleansed with water extracted from a moving source and then poured from a jug (gutus) by an adolescent minister. Afterwards, this minister would then catch the falling water in a bowl (polybrum) and hand a towel (mantele) to the sacrificant. On the Pompeian relief, the minister is identifiable as the young boy standing beside the sacrificant holding a jug and a bowl and wearing a scarf.^[10]

Once the preparatory washing had been completed, the sacrificant would then pour a libation (libatio) of wine and incense over a circular, portable hearth with a fire.^[12][13] In the Acts of the Arval Brotherhood, for instance, reference the pouring of wine and incense on the fire of a type of small tripod altar known as a foculus ("ture et vino in igne in foculo facere").^[14] Cato the Elder, a 3rd-2nd century BCE Roman politician and writer, provides sacrificial instructions in which the libation is dedicated Jupiter, Janus, and Vesta.^[15] Then, the suppliants complete a purificatory ritual known as the immolatio, wherein wine and mola salsa (salted spelt) made in a bowl known as the molucrum were sprinkled upon the animal.^[12] The Pompeian artwork does not provide a depiction of this ceremony, though it does portray an adult attendant known as the camillus carrying an oval bowl itself identifiable as the molucrum.^[16] Only after these procedures had been completed could actual sacrifice begin.^[12]

Sacrificial depictions provide evidence for the performance of music during the ceremony: One relief, for instance, depicts Emperor Marcus Aurelius (r. 161–180) performing a sacrifice whilst a tibia-player (tibicen) stood nearby.^[17] The classicist Candace Livingston suggests that music perhaps helped calm the animals, noting that modern research on animals in the beef industry has also supported the soothing effect of music on cattle.^[18] Virgil, a 1st-century BCE Roman poet, mentions—during an account of a sacrificial rite—that "only the surface sand ("harena") is darkened with the thin gore,"^[19] perhaps implying that sand lay strewn about the floor of the sacrificial area. According to Livingston, this sand perhaps would have provided traction for the animals, thereby minimizing their chance of slipping whilst walking across the marble pathways of most Roman temples, which would have been slippery—especially when coated in blood—and therefore somewhat treacherous for hooved beasts. Livingston also suggests it might have reduced the intensity of odors related to animal by-products, such as feces, urine, and gore.^[20]

Killing of the victim

Generally,^[21] it is thought that, once the animal had been led to the altar, to slay the beast, various priestly attendants would hold the creature down while another individual, the popa—depicted wearing a loincloth and holding a weapon in the Pompeian image—would ask the sacrificant "agene?" ("shall I act?") and then strike the animal with an axe or a hammer.^[16] This blow would perhaps stun the animal, but—to kill it—a cultrarius would pierce the carotid artery of the bull with a knife (culter).^[22] The usage of hammers in the execution of bovines is not limited to the Roman world, and modern medical science has supported their efficacy. There exists a particular location atop the skull of a bovine where a forceful strike may create a depressed fracture in the roof of the cranium and induce hemorrhaging in the brain, which can render the animal immediately unconscious.^[23] However, Roman images showcase that the strike was performed from above, in which case the bull's skull would ideally be situated parallel to the ground to facilitate the most efficient execution, yet Roman artworks portray the animal with their skull angled perpendicularly. According to the Aldrete, in some Roman depictions of bovine sacrifices, the head of the animal is positioned so acutely that "it is hard to imagine how the popa would even have been able to make contact with the desired strike zone."^[24] Moreover, successfully performing this technique on the first strike requires significant precision and force, both of which are not consistently present in reality.^[25] Failure to immediately kill the animal would present major concern for the Romans, for whom an adverse reaction on the part of the sacrificial victim could compromise the integrity of the ritual.^[26] According to the classicist Gregory S. Aldrete, it is unlikely that the Romans would have opted for an unreliable method of sacrifice, on account of the expense and importance of the ritual.^[27]

Ultimately, Aldrete rejects the notion that axes or hammers were used to stun the animal, instead suggesting that the sacrificer aimed to strike the neck of the victim, thereby severing their spinal cord and immobilizing the animal. In Roman sacrificial scenes, the victimarii are depicted holding the neck the animal downwards, which would—according to modern anatomical science—create gaps between the vertebrae, exposing the underlying tissue of the spinal cord to the popa.^[28] Roman literary accounts imply that the popa targeted the neck of the animal: Ovid, a 1st-century BCE Roman poet, describes a sacrificial scene wherein the "axes struck at the brawny necks of bulls with ribbons about their horns."^[29] Virgil compares the cries of Laocoon to "the bellowings of a wounded bull that has fled from the altar and shaken from its neck the ill-aimed axe."^[30] Moreover, Seneca the Younger, a 1st-century CE Roman writer, describes Clytemnestra—before murdering Agamemnon—determining where to strike her axe just as the "attendant at the altar marks out the bulls’ necks by eye" prior to the sacrifice.^[31]

However, there are also certain literary descriptions of sacrifices wherein the head of the animal was targeted: Dionysius of Halicarnassus, a 1st-century BCE Greek historian, details a Roman sacrifice of oxen during which the attendants struck the temple of the animal with a hammer.^[32] Ovid, in addition to the aforementioned mention of an axe striking the neck during a sacrifice, also recounts one ceremony wherein a "suckling calf" ("lactentis vituli") is killed by a hammer ("malleus") striking the temples of its head.^[33][34] Aldrete suggests that hammers were used to strike the head when the sacrificial victim was a smaller animal with a lighter skull, such as a pig or a calf, but the method wherein axes were utilized to sever the spinal cord was employed when the victim was a larger animal such as a bull.^[35]

At the conclusion of a Roman sacrifice, the cultrarius would perform a diagonal cut across the throat of the animal, slitting the jugular veins and carotid arteries, which would cause the beast to lose a large amount of blood in a short period of time.^[35] Lucretius, a 1st-century BCE Roman philosopher, mentions the sprinkling of "altars with the blood of beasts in showers,"^[36] which is perhaps a literal description of the ceremony given the immense blood loss induced by this procedure. The large quantity of blood spilt during sacrifices also perhaps motivated the choice of outfit for the victimarii, who are depicted bare-chested with an apron-like garment around their wastes, possibly so as to avoid blood staining their clothing. Depictions of Roman sacrifices also showcase the group of priests standing separate to the victimarii, possibly as part of an attempt to protect their togas from blood splatter.^[37] Regarding the practicalities of slitting the throat, Roman depictions portray the cultrarius kneeling beside the animal, presumably awaiting the moment when it is struck by the popa and they are able to slash the neck of the animal utilizing their triangular knife.^[37]

Sacrifice to particular deities

Sacrifice to deities of the heavens (di superi, "gods above") was performed in daylight, and under the public gaze. Deities of the upper heavens required white, infertile victims of their own sex: Juno a white heifer (possibly a white cow); Jupiter a white, castrated ox (bos mas) for the annual oath-taking by the consuls. Di superi with strong connections to the earth, such as Mars, Janus, Neptune and various genii–including the Emperor's–were offered fertile victims. After the sacrifice, a banquet was held; in state cults, the images of honored deities took pride of place on banqueting couches and by means of the sacrificial fire consumed their proper portion (exta, the innards). Rome's officials and priests reclined in order of precedence alongside and ate the meat; lesser citizens may have had to provide their own.^[38]

Chthonic gods such as Dis pater, the di inferi ("gods below"), and the collective shades of the departed (di Manes) were given dark, fertile victims in nighttime rituals. Animal sacrifice usually took the form of a holocaust or burnt offering, and there was no shared banquet, as "the living cannot share a meal with the dead".^[39] Ceres and other underworld goddesses of fruitfulness were sometimes offered pregnant female animals; Tellus was given a pregnant cow at the Fordicidia festival. Color had a general symbolic value for sacrifices. Demigods and heroes, who belonged to the heavens and the underworld, were sometimes given black-and-white victims. Robigo (or Robigus) was given red dogs and libations of red wine at the Robigalia for the protection of crops from blight and red mildew.^[38]

Following the sacrifice

The exta were the entrails of a sacrificed animal, comprising in Cicero's enumeration the gall bladder (fel), liver (iecur), heart (cor), and lungs (pulmones).^[40] The exta were exposed for litatio (divine approval) as part of Roman liturgy, but were "read" in the context of the disciplina Etrusca. As a product of Roman sacrifice, the exta and blood are reserved for the gods, while the meat (viscera) is shared among human beings in a communal meal. The exta of bovine victims were usually stewed in a pot (olla or aula), while those of sheep or pigs were grilled on skewers. When the deity's portion was cooked, it was sprinkled with mola salsa (ritually prepared salted flour) and wine, then placed in the fire on the altar for the offering; the technical verb for this action was porricere.^[41]