Editing Religion in ancient Rome (section)

=== Sacrifice ===
[[File:Stockholm - Antikengalerie Opferszene.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Roman [[relief sculpture|relief]] depicting a scene of sacrifice, with [[libation#Ancient Rome|libations]] at a flaming altar and the ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#victimarius|victimarius]]'' carrying the sacrificial axe]]
In Latin, the word ''[[:wikt:sacrificium|sacrificium]]'' means the performance of an act that renders something ''[[:wikt:sacer|sacer]]'', sacred. Sacrifice reinforced the powers and attributes of divine beings, and inclined them to render benefits in return (the principle of ''[[do ut des]]'').

Offerings to [[household deity|household deities]] were part of daily life. [[Lares]] might be offered spelt wheat and grain-garlands, grapes and first fruits in due season, honey cakes and honeycombs, wine and incense,<ref>Orr, 23.</ref> food that fell to the floor during any family meal,<ref>Pliny the Elder, Natural History, 28, 27.</ref> or at their [[Compitalia]] festival, honey-cakes and a pig on behalf of the community.<ref>Lott, 31: Dionysius of Halicarnassus claims the Compitalia contribution of honey-cakes as a Servian institution.</ref> Their supposed underworld relatives, the malicious and vagrant [[Lemures]], might be placated with midnight offerings of black beans and spring water.<ref>Ovid, ''Fasti'', 2.500–539. See also Thaniel, G., Lemures and Larvae, ''The American Journal of Philology'', 94.2, (1973) 182–187: the offering of black beans is distinctively [[chthonic]]. Beans were considered seeds of life. Lemures may have been the restless dead who had not passed into the underworld, and still craved the life they had lost. Beans were a ritual pollution for Jupiter's priesthood, possibly because his offerings must be emasculated and thus devoid of generative power.</ref>

==== Animal sacrifice ====
{{further|October Horse|Tauromachy|Taurobolium|Haruspicy}}
The most potent offering was [[animal sacrifice]], typically of domesticated animals such as cattle, sheep and pigs. Each was the best specimen of its kind, cleansed, clad in sacrificial regalia and garlanded; the horns of oxen might be gilded. Sacrifice sought the [[pax deorum|harmonisation of the earthly and divine]], so the victim must seem willing to offer its own life on behalf of the community; it must remain calm and be quickly and cleanly dispatched.<ref>Halm, in Rüpke (ed.), 239.</ref>

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 (mythology)|Juno]] a white heifer (possibly a white cow); [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] a white, castrated ox (''bos mas'') for the annual oath-taking by the [[Roman consul|consuls]]. ''Di superi'' with strong connections to the earth, such as Mars, Janus, Neptune and various ''[[Genius (mythology)|genii]]'' – including the Emperor's – were offered fertile victims. After the sacrifice, a banquet was held; in state cults, the images of honoured 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.<ref name="Scheid, in Rüpke ed, 263–271">Scheid, in Rüpke (ed.), 263–271.</ref>

[[File:AUGUSTUS RIC I 368-711372.jpg|thumb|left|upright=1.3|[[Denarius]] issued under Augustus, with a bust of Venus on the [[obverse]], and ritual implements on the reverse: clockwise from top right, the augur's staff ''([[lituus]])'', libation bowl ''([[patera]])'', [[sacrificial tripod|tripod]], and ladle ''([[simpulum]])'']]
[[Chthonic]] gods such as [[Dis pater]], the ''[[di inferi]]'' ("gods below"), and the collective shades of the departed ''([[Manes|di Manes]])'' were given dark, fertile victims in nighttime rituals. Animal sacrifice usually took the form of a [[holocaust (sacrifice)|holocaust]] or burnt offering, and there was no shared banquet, as "the living cannot share a meal with the dead".<ref>Though the household Lares do just that, and at least some Romans understood them to be ancestral spirits. Sacrifices to the spirits of deceased mortals are discussed below in [[#Funerals and the afterlife|Funerals and the afterlife]].</ref> [[Ceres (Roman mythology)|Ceres]] and other underworld goddesses of fruitfulness were sometimes offered pregnant female animals; [[Terra (mythology)|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.<ref name="Scheid, in Rüpke ed, 263–271" />

{{anchor|piaculum}}
A sacrifice might be made in thanksgiving or as an [[expiation]] of a sacrilege or potential sacrilege (''[[:wikt:piaculum|piaculum]]'');<ref>Jörg Rüpke, ''Religion of the Romans'' (Polity Press, 2007, originally published in German 2001), p. 81 [https://books.google.com/books?id=fcsynr0fQIoC&dq=piaculum&pg=PA81 online.]</ref>
a ''piaculum'' might also be offered as a sort of advance payment; the [[Arval Brethren]], for instance, offered a ''piaculum'' before entering their [[sacred grove]] with an iron implement, which was forbidden, as well as after.<ref>[[William Warde Fowler]], ''The Religious Experience of the Roman People'' (London, 1922), p. 191.</ref>
The pig was a common victim for a ''piaculum''.<ref>[[Robert E.A. Palmer]], "The Deconstruction of Mommsen on Festus 462/464 L, or the Hazards of Interpretation", in ''Imperium sine fine: T. Robert S. Broughton and the Roman Republic'' (Franz Steiner, 1996), p. 99, note 129 [https://books.google.com/books?id=wEtE8c1jGY4C&dq=piaculum&pg=PA99 online]; Roger D. Woodard, ''Indo-European Sacred Space: Vedic and Roman Cult'' (University of Illinois Press, 2006), p. 122 [https://books.google.com/books?id=EB4fB0inNYEC&dq=piaculum&pg=PA122 online.] The [[Augustus|Augustan]] historian [[Livy]] (8.9.1–11) says [[Publius Decius Mus (consul 340 BC)|P. Decius Mus]] is "like" a ''piaculum'' when he makes his vow to sacrifice himself in battle (''[[devotio]]'').</ref>

The same divine agencies who caused disease or harm also had the power to avert it, and so might be placated in advance. Divine consideration might be sought to avoid the inconvenient delays of a journey, or encounters with banditry, piracy and shipwreck, with due gratitude to be rendered on safe arrival or return. In times of great crisis, the Senate could decree collective public rites, in which Rome's citizens, including women and children, moved in procession from one temple to the next, supplicating the gods.<ref>Hahn, in Rüpke (ed.), 238.</ref>

Extraordinary circumstances called for extraordinary sacrifice: in one of the many crises of the [[Second Punic War]], Jupiter Capitolinus was promised every animal born that spring (see ''[[ver sacrum]]''), to be rendered after five more years of protection from [[Hannibal]] and his allies.<ref>Beard et al., Vol 1, 32-36.</ref> The "contract" with Jupiter is exceptionally detailed. All due care would be taken of the animals. If any died or were stolen before the scheduled sacrifice, they would count as already sacrificed, since they had already been consecrated. Normally, if the gods failed to keep their side of the bargain, the offered sacrifice would be withheld. In the imperial period, sacrifice was withheld following [[Trajan]]'s death because the gods had not kept the Emperor safe for the stipulated period.<ref>Gradel, 21: but this need not imply sacrifice as a mutual contract, breached in this instance. Evidently the gods had the greater power and freedom of choice in the matter. See Beard et al., 34: "The gods would accept as sufficient exactly what they were offered – no more, no less." Human error in the previous annual vows and sacrifice remains a possibility.</ref> In [[Pompeii]], the ''Genius'' of the living emperor was offered a bull: presumably a standard practise in Imperial cult, though minor offerings (incense and wine) were also made.<ref>Gradel, 78, 93</ref>

{{anchor|Exta}}
The ''exta'' were the entrails of a [[animal sacrifice|sacrificed animal]], comprising in [[Cicero]]'s enumeration the gall bladder (''fel''), liver (''iecur''), heart (''cor''), and lungs (''pulmones'').<ref>Cicero, ''De divinatione'' 2.12.29. According to [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] (''Natural History'' 11.186), before 274 BC the heart was not included among the ''exta''.</ref> 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 (Roman 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 ''[[:wikt:porricere|porricere]]''.<ref>Robert Schilling, "The Roman Religion", in ''Historia Religionum: Religions of the Past'' (Brill, 1969), vol. 1, pp. 471–472, and "Roman Sacrifice", ''Roman and European Mythologies'' (University of Chicago Press, 1992), p. 79; [[John Scheid]], ''An Introduction to Roman Religion'' (Indiana University Press, 2003, originally published in French 1998), p. 84.</ref>

==== Human sacrifice ====
Human sacrifice in ancient Rome was rare but documented. After the [[Battle of Cannae|Roman defeat at Cannae]] two Gauls and two Greeks were buried under the [[Forum Boarium]], in a stone chamber "which had on a previous occasion [228 BC] also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings".<ref>Livy 22.55-57</ref> Livy avoids the word "sacrifice" in connection with this bloodless human life-offering; Plutarch does not. The rite was apparently repeated in 113 BC, preparatory to an invasion of Gaul. Its religious dimensions and purpose remain uncertain.<ref>Livy, 22.57.4; Plutarch, ''Roman Questions'', 83 & ''Marcellus'', 3. For further context and interpretive difficulties, see Beard et al., Vol. 1, 81: the live burial superficially resembles the punishment of Vestals who broke their vows. A living entombment assuages the blood-guilt of the living: the guilty are consigned to earth deities. But the Vestals are entombed outside the city limits, not its centre; no sacrificial victims are burned in either case, and the Gauls and Greeks appear to be personally guiltless.</ref>

In the early stages of the [[First Punic War]] (264 BC) the first known Roman [[gladiator]]ial ''munus'' was held, described as a funeral blood-rite to the ''[[manes]]'' of a Roman military aristocrat.<ref>Welch, 18-19: citing Livy, summary 16.</ref> The gladiator ''munus'' was never explicitly acknowledged as a human sacrifice, probably because death was not its inevitable outcome or purpose. Even so, the gladiators swore their lives to the gods, and the combat was dedicated as an offering to the ''[[Manes|Di Manes]]'' or the revered souls of deceased human beings. The event was therefore a ''sacrificium'' in the strict sense of the term, and Christian writers later condemned it as human sacrifice.<ref>For example, [[Prudentius]], ''Contra Symmachum'' 1.379–398; see Donald G. Kyle, ''Spectacles of Death in Ancient Rome'' (Routledge, 1998, 2001), p. 59.</ref>

The small woollen dolls called ''Maniae'', hung on the Compitalia shrines, were thought a symbolic replacement for child-sacrifice to [[Mother of the Lares|Mania, as Mother of the Lares]]. The [[Junii]] took credit for its abolition by their ancestor [[Lucius Junius Brutus|L. Junius Brutus]], traditionally Rome's Republican founder and first consul.<ref>The sacrifice was demanded by an oracle during the reign of the last king, the Etruscan [[Tarquinius Superbus]]. See Macrobius, Saturnalia, 1.7 & Lilly Ross Taylor, "The Mother of the Lares", ''American Journal of Archaeology'', '''29'''.3, (July–September 1925), pp 299–313.</ref> Political or military executions were sometimes conducted in such a way that they evoked human sacrifice, whether deliberately or in the perception of witnesses; [[Marcus Marius Gratidianus]] was a gruesome example.

Officially, human sacrifice was obnoxious "to the laws of gods and men". The practice was a mark of the [[barbarian]]s, attributed to Rome's traditional enemies such as the Carthaginians and Gauls. Rome banned it on several occasions under extreme penalty. A law passed in 81 BC characterised human sacrifice as murder committed for magical purposes. [[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] saw the ending of human sacrifice conducted by the [[druid]]s as a positive consequence of the conquest of Gaul and Britain. Despite an empire-wide ban under [[Hadrian]], human sacrifice may have continued covertly in [[Africa (Roman province)|North Africa]] and elsewhere.<ref>Beard et al., Vol. 1, 233–4, 385.</ref>