Editing Libation (section)

===Antiquity===
==== Ancient Sumer ====
The [[Sumer]]ian afterlife was a dark, dreary cavern located deep below the ground.{{sfnm|1a1=Choksi|1y=2014|2a1=Barret|2y=2007}} This bleak domain was known as [[Kur]],{{sfnm|1a1=Choksi|1y=2014|2a1=Black|2a2=Green|2y=1992|2p=114|3a1=Nemet-Nejat|3y=1998|3p=184}} where the souls were believed to eat nothing but dry [[dust]]{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=58}} and family members of the deceased would ritually pour libations into the grave through a clay pipe, thereby allowing the dead to drink.{{sfn|Black|Green|1992|p=58}}
{{Gallery
|title=
|width=
|lines=
|File:Relief libation Louvre AO276.jpg|[[Relief]] of libation to a vegetation goddess (ca. 2500 BCE) found in ancient [[Girsu]]
|File:Orthostat Malatya A-3, 01.jpg|Hittite king offering libation to a [[Hittite mythology and religion|Storm god]], [[orthostat]] from [[Malatya]] (12th century BCE)
|File:Palmyrenian relief Louvre AO2200.jpg|Syrian priest of [[Palmyra]] holding a libation vessel and an incense box (176 AD)
}}

==== Ancient Egypt ====
Libation was part of [[ancient Egyptian]] society where it was a drink offering to honor and please the various divinities, sacred ancestors, humans present and humans who are alive but not physically present, as well as the environment.<ref name="auto3">{{cite book |last1=Nehusi |first1=Kimani S.K. |title=Libation. An Afrikan Ritual of Heritage in the Circle of Life |date=2016 |publisher=University Press of America |isbn=978-0-7618-6710-4 |page=14 |language=en }}</ref> It is suggested that libation originated somewhere in the upper Nile Valley and spread out to other regions of Africa and the world.<ref name="auto">Delia, 1992, pp. 181-190{{full citation needed|date=March 2024}}</ref><ref name="auto1">{{cite book |last=James |first=George G. M. |year=1954 |title=Stolen Legacy |place=New York |publisher=Philosophical Library}}</ref> According to [[Ayi Kwei Armah]], "[t]his legend explains the rise of a propitiatory custom found everywhere on the African continent: libation, the pouring of alcohol or other drinks as offerings to ancestors and divinities."<ref name="auto2">{{cite book |last=Armah |first=Ayi Kwei |year=2006 |title=The Eloquence of the Scribes: a memoir on the sources and resources of African literature |place=Popenguine, Senegal |publisher=Per Ankh |page=207}}</ref>

Milk libations for [[Osiris]] may have originated at [[Philae temple complex|Philae]] and spread southwards into [[Meroë|Meroe]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Yellin |first=Janice W. |title=Abaton-style milk libation at Meroe |url=https://www.academia.edu/download/32296635/Yellin__Abaton-Style_Milk_Libation_at_Meroe__Meroitica_6.pdf |journal=Meroitic Studies}}</ref> It is also possible the reverse occurred; as milk libation was already known to Nubians, they may have introduced it to Philae.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Ashby |first=Solange |title=Milk Libations for Osiris Nubian Piety at Philae |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/705360 |journal=Near Eastern Archaeology|date=December 2019 |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=200–209 |doi=10.1086/705360 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
{{Gallery
|title=
|width=
|lines=|File:Maler der Grabkammer des Userhêt (III) 004.jpg|Egyptian tomb painting of a mortuary priest offering libation (1298–1235 BCE)
|File:Stèle de la musicienne de Tefnout, Meretitef - Musée du Louvre Antiquités égyptiennes N 267 ; C 116.jpg|Libation on a musician's [[stele]] (332–284 BCE)
|File:Libation basin Louvre E25551 n01.jpg|Libation basin representing the flooding of the [[Nile]] (2nd–3rd century CE)
}}

==== Ancient Greece ====
[[File:Bell-krater sacrifice Pothos Painter Louvre G496.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Scene of sacrifice, with a libation poured from a jug ([[Pothos Painter]], [[Attic red-figure vase|Attic red-figure]] [[krater]], 430–420 BCE)]]
Libation ({{Langx|grc|σπονδή|}}, {{Lang|grc-Latn|spondȇ}}, {{IPA|grc|spondɛ&#780;ː|}}) was a central and vital aspect of [[ancient Greek religion]], and one of the simplest and most common forms of religious practice.{{sfn|Zaidman|Schmitt Pantel|1992|p=28}} It is one of the basic religious acts that define piety in ancient Greece, dating back to the [[Bronze Age Greece|Bronze Age]] and even [[prehistoric Greece]].{{sfn|Burkert|1985|pp=70, 73}} Libations were a part of daily life, and the pious might perform them every day in the morning and evening, as well as to begin meals.<ref>[[Hesiod]], ''Works and Days'' 724–726.</ref>{{sfn|Zaidman|Schmitt Pantel|1992|p=39}} A libation most often consisted of mixed wine and water, but could also be unmixed wine, honey, oil, water, or milk.{{sfnm|1a1=Zaidman|1a2=Schmitt Pantel|1y=1992|1p=40|2a1=Burkert|2y=1985|2pp=72–73}}

The typical form of libation, {{Lang|grc-Latn|spondȇ}}'','' is the ritualized pouring of wine from a jug or bowl held in the hand. The most common ritual was to pour the liquid from an ''[[Oenochoe|oinochoē]]'' (wine jug) into a ''[[Phiale (libation vessel)|phiale]]'', a shallow bowl designed for the purpose. After wine was poured from the phiale, the remainder of the oinochoē's contents was drunk by the celebrant.{{sfn|Zaidman|Schmitt Pantel|1992|p=40}} A libation is poured any time wine is to be drunk, a practice that is recorded as early as the [[Homeric epics]]. The etiquette of the [[symposium]] required that when the first bowl ''([[krater]])'' of wine was served, a libation was made to [[Zeus]] and the [[Twelve Olympians|Olympian gods]]. [[Greek hero cult|Heroes]] received a libation from the second krater served, and {{Lang|grc-Latn|Zeús Téleios}} ({{Lang|grc|Ζεύς Tέλειος}}, <small>lit.</small> "Zeus who Finishes") from the third, which was supposed to be the last. An alternative was to offer a libation from the first bowl to the [[Agathos Daimon]] and from the third bowl to [[Hermes]]. An individual at the symposium could also make an invocation of and libation to a god of his choice.

Libation generally accompanied prayer.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|pp=70–71}} The Greeks stood when they prayed, either with their arms uplifted, or in the act of libation with the right arm extended to hold the phiale.<ref>{{cite book |first=William D. |last=Furley |chapter=Prayers and Hymns |title=A Companion to Greek Religion |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2010 |page=127}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Jan N. |last=Bremmer |chapter=Greek Normative Animal Sacrifice |title=A Companion to Greek Religion |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2010 |page=138}}</ref>

[[File:Omphalos pushkin.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Apollo]] pouring a libation from a ''[[Phiale (libation vessel)|phiale]]'' onto the [[omphalos]], with his sister [[Artemis]] attending; a [[bucranium]] hangs above]]
In conducting [[animal sacrifice]], wine is poured onto the offering as part of its ritual slaughter and preparation, and then afterwards onto the ash and flames.{{sfnm|1a1=Zaidman|1a2=Schmitt Pantel|1y=1992|1p=36|2a1=Burkert|2y=1985|2p=71}} This scene is commonly depicted in [[ancient Greek art|Greek art]], which also often shows sacrificers or the gods themselves holding the ''phiale''.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|p=71}}

The Greek verb ''{{lang|grc-Latn|spéndō}}'' ({{lang|grc|σπένδω}}), "pour a libation", also "conclude a pact", derives from the [[Indo-European root]] {{lang|ine-x-proto|spend-}}, "make an offering, perform a rite, engage oneself by a ritual act". The noun is ''{{Lang|grc-Latn|spondȇ}} (''plural ''{{Lang|grc-Latn|spondaí}})'', "libation." In the [[middle voice]], the verb means "enter into an agreement", in the sense that the gods are called to guarantee an action.<ref name="Adams-Mallory">{{harvnb|Adams|Mallory|1997|p=351}}: From the same root derives the Latin verb ''{{lang|la|spondeo}}'', "promise, vow".</ref> Blood sacrifice was performed to begin a war; ''{{Lang|grc-Latn|spondaí}}'' marked the conclusion of hostilities, and is often thus used in the sense of "armistice, treaty." The formula "We the [[polis]] have made libation" was a declaration of peace or the "Truce of God", which was observed also when the various city-states came together for the [[Panhellenic Games]], the [[Ancient Olympic Games|Olympic Games]], or the festivals of the [[Eleusinian Mysteries]]: this form of libation is "bloodless, gentle, irrevocable, and final".{{sfn|Burkert|1985|p=71}}

Libations poured onto the earth are meant for the dead and for the [[chthonic]] gods. In the Book of the Dead in the ''[[Odyssey]]'', [[Odysseus]] digs an offering pit around which he pours in order honey, wine, and water. For the form of libation called ''{{lang|grc-Latn|choē}}'' ({{Langx|grc|χεῦμα}}'', {{lang|grc-Latn|cheuma}}'', "that which is poured"; from Proto-Indo-European {{lang|ine-x-proto|gʰeu-}}),<ref name="Adams-Mallory"/> a larger vessel is tipped over and emptied onto the ground for the chthonic gods, who may also receive ''spondai''.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|p=70}} Heroes, who were divinized mortals, might receive blood libations if they had participated in the bloodshed of war, as for instance [[Brasidas]] the [[Sparta]]n.<ref>Gunnel Ekroth, "Heroes and Hero-Cult," in ''A Companion to Greek Religion'', p. 107.</ref> In rituals of caring for the dead at their tombs, libations would include milk and honey.<ref>D. Felton, "The Dead," in ''A Companion to Greek Religion,'' p. 88.</ref>

''[[Oresteia#The Libation Bearers|The Libation Bearers]]'' is the English title of the center [[Greek tragedy|tragedy]] from the ''[[Oresteia|Orestes Trilogy]]'' of [[Aeschylus]], in reference to the offerings [[Electra]] brings to the tomb of her dead father [[Agamemnon]].{{sfn|Burkert|1985|p=71}} [[Sophocles]] gives one of the most detailed descriptions of libation in [[ancient Greek literature|Greek literature]] in ''[[Oedipus at Colonus]]'', performed as atonement in the [[sacred grove|grove]] of the [[Erinyes|Eumenides]]:

<blockquote>
First, water is fetched from a freshly flowing spring; cauldrons which stand in the sanctuary are garlanded with wool and filled with water and honey; turning towards the east, the sacrificer tips the vessels towards the west; the olive branches which he has been holding in his hand he now strews on the ground at the place where the earth has drunk in the libation; and with a silent prayer he departs, not looking back.{{sfn|Burkert|1985|p=72}}</blockquote>

[[Hero of Alexandria]] described a mechanism for automating the process by using altar fires to force oil from the cups of two statues.{{citation needed|date=April 2012}}

====Ancient Rome====
[[File:RMW - Opfernder Togatus.jpg|thumb|Roman bronze statuette of a priest, his [[capite velato|head ritually covered]], extending a [[patera]] in a gesture of libation, 2nd-3rd century CE.]]

In [[Religion in ancient Rome|ancient Roman religion]], the libation was a religious act in the form of a liquid offering, most often unmixed wine and perfumed oil.{{sfn|Scheid|2007|p=269}} The [[List of Roman deities|Roman god]] ''Liber Pater'' ("Father [[Liber]]"), later identified with the Greek [[Dionysus]] or [[Bacchus]], was the divinity of ''libamina'', "libations," and ''liba'', sacrificial cakes drizzled with honey.<ref>[[Isidore of Seville]], ''Etymologies'' 6.19.32.</ref><ref name="Adams-Mallory"/><ref>Robert Turcan, ''The Gods of Ancient Rome'' (Routledge, 2001; originally published in French 1998), p. 66.</ref>

In Roman art, the libation is shown performed at a ''mensa'' (sacrificial meal table), or [[sacrificial tripod|tripod]]. It was the simplest form of [[sacrifice]], and could be a sufficient offering by itself.{{sfn|Moede|2007|pp=165, 168}} The introductory rite ''({{lang|la|praefatio}})'' to an animal sacrifice included an incense and wine libation onto a burning altar.{{sfn|Moede|2007|pp=165, 168}}<ref>Nicole Belayche, "Religious Actors in Daily Life: Practices and Related Beliefs," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'', p. 280.</ref> Both [[Roman emperor|emperors]] and divinities are frequently depicted, especially on coins, pouring libations.<ref>Jonathan Williams, "Religion and Roman Coins," in ''A Companion to Roman Religion'', pp. 153–154.</ref> Scenes of libation commonly signify the quality of ''{{lang|la|[[pietas]]}}'', religious duty or reverence.{{sfn|Scheid|2007|p=265}}

The libation was part of [[Roman funerals and burial|Roman funeral rites]], and may have been the only sacrificial offering at humble funerals.{{sfn|Scheid|2007|pp=270–271}} Libations were poured in rituals of caring for the dead (see {{lang|la|[[Parentalia]]}} and {{lang|la|[[Caristia]]}}), and some tombs were equipped with tubes through which the offerings could be directed to the underground dead.<ref>Nicola Denzey Lewis, entry on "Catacombs," ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece and Rome'' (Oxford University Press, 2010), vol. 1, p. 58; John R. Clarke, ''Art in the Lives of Ordinary Romans: Visual Representation and Non-elite Viewers in Italy, 100 B.C.–A.D. 315'' (University of California Press, 2003), p. 197.</ref>

Milk was unusual as a libation at Rome, but was regularly offered to a few deities, particularly those of an archaic nature<ref>Such as [[Epithets of Jupiter#Iuppiter Latiaris|Jupiter Latiaris]] and [[Pales]].</ref> or those for whom it was a natural complement, such as {{lang|la|[[Rumina]]}}, a [[List of Roman birth and childhood deities|goddess of birth and childrearing]] who promoted the flow of breast milk, and Cunina, a [[tutelary deity|tutelary]] of the cradle.<ref>Hendrik H.J. Brouwer, ''Bona Dea: The Sources and a Description of the Cult'' (Brill, 1989), pp. 328–329.</ref> It was offered also to Mercurius Sobrius (the "sober" [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]]), whose cult is well attested in [[Africa (Roman province)|Roman Africa]] and may have been imported to the city of Rome by an African community.<ref>[[Robert E.A. Palmer]], ''Rome and Carthage at Peace'' (Franz Steiner, 1997), pp. 80–81, 86–88.</ref>

==== Ancient Judaism ====
{{main|Drink offering}}
Libations were part of ancient [[Judaism]] and are mentioned in the [[Bible]]:<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bar |first1=Shaul |title=A Nation Is Born: The Jacob Story |date=2016 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1-4982-3935-6 |page=53 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPlJDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |access-date=5 May 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
{{blockquote|And Jacob set up a Pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a Pillar of Stone; and he poured out a drink offering on it, and poured oil on it.|[[Book of Genesis|Genesis]] 35:14}}

In [[Isaiah 53]]:12, [[Isaiah]] uses libation as a [[metaphor]] when describing the end of the [[Suffering Servant]] figure who "poured out his life unto death".

Libations of wine were offered at [[Temple in Jerusalem|the Jerusalem temple]], and a double libation of wine and water was offered during [[Sukkot]], possibly as a rain making ritual.<ref>{{Cite web |title=ניסוך המים a Sukkot Rain Making Ritual - TheTorah.com |url=https://www.thetorah.com/article/water-libation-a-sukkot-rain-making-ritual |access-date=2024-02-15 |website=www.thetorah.com}}</ref>

Idolatrous libations were forbidden, along with the Torah's prohibitions on idolatrous sacrifice and worship generally.

==== Early Christianity ====
Libation is present and in [[Christianity]] appears in the [[New Testament]] and is the practice of [[Jesus in Christianity|Jesus]] and other biblical figures.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Bible Gateway passage: Matthew 26:7, Matthew 26:28, Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20, Acts 2:33, Acts 10:45, Romans 5:5, Philippians 2:7, Philippians 2:17 - World English Bible|url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2026%3A7%2CMatthew%2026%3A28%2CMark%2014%3A24%2CLuke%2022%3A20%2CActs%202%3A33%2CActs%2010%3A45%2CRomans%205%3A5%2CPhilippians%202%3A7%2CPhilippians%202%3A17&version=WEB|access-date=2021-11-05|website=Bible Gateway|language=en}}</ref>

{{blockquote|In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. |Luke 22:20}}

This phrasing in Luke refers to the act of libation as the new covenant, to the blood of Jesus to be poured out in death.

{{blockquote|But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. |Philippians 2:17}}Libations were normally conducted in a spirit of peace, the Greek term for libation, σπονδή (''spondȇ''), became synonymous with "peace treaty".<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Cup of God's Wrath: Libation and Early Christian Meal Practice in Revelation | year=2018 | doi=10.3390/rel9120413 | doi-access=free | last1=Warren | first1=Meredith | journal=Religions | volume=9 | issue=12 | page=413 }}</ref>