Roman rituals

A bit of a delay, as I wasn't able to post through the past two months (equivalent). But here I am again, and addressing some further topics of definition.

This time, we're looking at Roman religious rituals. The cornerstone of religion in the ancient Hellenistic world, not just for the Romans but for virtually all people in the Mediterranean Basin and beyond, was the regular practice of particular rituals. Often these were oriented at one or more gods, though they could just as often be oriented at lesser spirits, such as those of the dead, the land, or of natural phenomena. The distinction between "god" and "spirit" was not all that strongly delineated in some cultures, particularly among the Romans. The Greeks were a bit more strict about the difference between a god and, say, a nature spirit or a dead person's spirit. But Roman religious language is laden with terms that have multiple uses, including terms that refer to some supernatural power.

And while belief in such varied Powers are ubiquitous in ancient religion, it is not what defines the religion of each ancient culture. Since polytheism and animism were almost universal (Judaism being a main exception), it is the rituals and practices that came to define boundaries between, say, Roman religion and Greek religion, or Gaulish religion, or Phoenician religion. Each culture had their own methods, their own practices. We tend to think of the Romans as being so universal, because of the eventual "universal" scope of their claim to Empire; but their religion was just as peculiar to their culture as that of the Hebrews or the Britons or any other ethnic group. So today I'm going to discuss those ancient Roman rituals, as that is what primarily guides modern religio romana.

The Romans were peculiarly legalistic when it came to religion. The precise use of words, gestures, tools, props, and bodily orientation were of great importance. Rituals had to be done properly, under ancient guidelines, for any religious action to be successful. This was especially so when it came to public religion. Roman identity was so wrapped up in religious customs and traditions, and the view was that they were successful because of their collective piety. The Romans framed their religion, especially in the public sphere, around the concept of maintaining good relations between the gods and mankind. Religion was just as much a Roman public and civic duty as voting; it is hard for many of us living in secular states to fully understand how deeply the civic and the religious were intertwined in Rome.
This is not to say that religion was a strictly public exercise, or devoid of personal spiritual passions and activity. Religion was guided by the state, but it began and ended at home; there was a significant domestic dimension to Roman religious practice, with the home as a microcosm of the state. Just as the state would have its national hearth at the Temple of Vesta, so every Roman household would have a hearth where Vesta's flame burned. Just as each state temple had an altar for major rituals, so every Roman home had an altar in miniature for domestic offerings. Just as the Roman government made sacrifice to the founders of the city, so each family would make regular offerings to its ancestors.
Private organisations also came about at various points in Roman history that conducted rituals to very specific gods, often foreign imports, and many of them were mystery cults in the Hellenistic fashion. These were not necessarily domestic, but were not public either, straddling a place in between "proper" household religion and the public expressions of civic piety.

Whether state or domestic, private or public, major or minor, all rituals operated from the same broad underpinnings. The ultimate principle at work in Roman religious activity is thus: do ut des. This is a Latin phrase that means "I give, so that you might give". In other words, Romans performed sacrifices and gave offerings so that supernatural powers would give aid or favour in return. It was practical and contractual, depending on tried-and-true practice rather than faith or dogma to deliver results. Many different kinds of rituals were--and today, are--conducted, for a variety of culturally-specific reasons. But at their core, most can boil down to a few stages.

The preface of any ritual was a purification or cleansing rite. How elaborate this was depended on the scale of the ritual; it was fairly simplified in everyday domestic rituals, but a purification was still done in some fashion. When participating in larger community or city-state rituals, more elaborate measures were taken. At its heart, a purification was an invocation to be cleansed of one's impurities so that one may be clean in spirit as well as in body when approaching the gods. The Greek concept of miasma is related, but is a bit more involved. Once again, I recommend people to check out Elani Temperance over at Baring the Aegis for her definition and description of Greek religious concepts. Because of the Hellenistic influence over Roman civilisation and culture, there is a fair amount of overlap.

The next stages correspond somewhat to Greek religious rituals. The ritual formally begins with a procession where the cult images of the deities being invoked are brought to the altar, and where the participants stride up to the altar to formally place themselves in the sacred space. In domestic situations, this would be a brief striding from a shrine to the religious workspace; in larger functions, especially state rituals, a procession along a major road would include hundreds or even thousands of people to a temple. The big difference, aside from scale, is that in temples the cult image would already be stored there and the altar was a fixed structure in front of the temple. Think of temples as being enormous shrines--a place where the deity is held to reside, a focus for devotional thought and action. Whereas an altar, no matter how large or small or where it is placed, is a religious work space. This stage is usually where a sacred flame is either lit or brought out. The Romans in domestic religion often made use of candles or oil lamps lit from brands or coals from the home's hearth; temples employed the use of braziers filled with oil or coals. In most cases, the fire was supposed to originate from the temple of Vesta, which held the city's hearth; the domestic fire would be lit from either the temple itself, or from a neighbourhood hearth that was in turn lit from Vesta's temple. State-ran temples were lit from Vesta's flame, and sometimes used portable hearths called a foculus.

More solemn, and especially larger-scale, rituals also followed this with a devotional preface where a small offering of incense, wine, or cakes was made while invoking Janus and sometimes Jupiter, and sometimes Vesta to bear witness to the subsequent ritual. This is because Janus of the god of beginnings and endings, because Jupiter is the supreme god, and because Vesta is the goddess of the hearth and is present at all rituals through the use of fire. Most domestic rituals did not include this stage, though some did. This may be considered equivalent to the Greek custom of libations prior to a sacrifice.
The main part of the ritual began with an invocation to the main gods or spirits being addressed in the rite. The reason for the sacrifice or offering is clearly stated, and the hoped-for result is also clearly stated. Some wrote of the power of touching the altar with one's hands while speaking these parts. In any case, this is one of the most important parts of the ritual. It is vital to state clearly and directly--though, of course, courteously and respectfully--whom one is addressing, what is being given, and what blessings for which one is asking. To the Romans and many others, prayer accompanied an offering to give it meaning, and offerings (or the vow to offer) accompanied prayer to give it power.

The real "meat" of the ritual (pardon the pun) was the stage in which offerings were given. This varied widely, but the most prominent in public religion and the most ubiquitous in ancient religion, was the blood sacrifice of an animal on the altar and the subsequent butchering, cooking, and consumption of the animal by the participants. Walter Burkert in his seminal books Greek Religion and Homo Necans gives a detailed analysis as to the purpose and origin of sacrificial ritual, particularly in Graeco-Roman religion, though his findings are meant to be applicable to sacrifice in general. But animal sacrifice was not the only kind of offering given; incense was popular in domestic religion, as was wine and cakes or pieces of prepared meals. First fruits offerings in harvest seasons were popular. Various methods were employed, broadly delineated by the kind of Powers to which one was offering. Sea gods and water spirits often had their offerings tossed into the relevant body of water. Gods or spirits of the dead and the underworld, and sometimes deities of the harvest and the land, had offerings burnt or buried (usually both) in a pit dug for the purpose. Most gods were given burnt offerings on free-standing raised altars. In most cases, only a part of a thing was burnt; the remainder was utilised or consumed by the participants. The main exception is chthonic spirits--those of the dead and the underworld--with whom no one living is permitted to dine without making themselves ritually unclean. Often in this stage, other gods would be honoured; sometimes a mirror of the solemn preface would be done, with token offerings to Janus, Jupiter, and/or Vesta as the rite may have began with invocations to them.

After the prayers and offerings, the disposition of the offerings is conducted. Usually, as I said, this meant the consumption of either part or most of the item. If it was/is an offering to underworld Powers, it would usually be burnt as a whole or buried. Sometimes an offering to non-chthonic gods, called celestial or ouranic gods in some writings, would be burnt whole; but this was usually only in times of great peril or when grandiose sacrifices were being made by the state for some important purpose. The remains, such as ashes of burnt bones or incense resin, were disposed up respectfully. (Personal note: in my domestic practice, I collect my offscourings in a bin and consign it to the titaness Hekate on the night before the new moon, then bury it at a crossroads; mind, of course, I have a private cult to Hekate due to a pre-existing relationship with the goddess).

And that, broadly speaking, is the general framework of Roman religious ritual.