Editing Libation (section)

====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>