In Latin, the word sacrificium means the performance of an act that renders something sacer, sacred. Ancient Romans demonstrated their respect and reverence for the gods in their prayers, offerings, and festivals. The invocations were addressed to the gods for the purpose of obtaining favors, and were often accompanied by vows. The religious sacrifices consisted either of the fruits of the earth, such as flowers, wine, milk, and honey; or the offerings of domestic animals, such as oxen, sheep, and swine. The Roman religion was very peculiar: it had almost a "commercial" aspect. You give a present to the gods and in return they give you something back...and if you are in their good grace, they should listen to your prayers and requests. Romans held sacrifices in which a bull, a sheep and a pig were offered. There was even a word to describe it ( suovetaurilia) which was made by combining the Roman words for the three animals. Oxen were also sacrificed. The philosopher Titus Flavius Clemens wrote : “Sacrifices were devised by men, I do think, as a pretext for eating meals of meat." (Miscellanies Book 2, xiii). Most of the evidence for sacrifices in the Roman world come to us from inscriptions on altars which were themselves considered sacrifices. A bull ready for sacrifice, with the tibiae player ! For ordinary Roman families, religion was a part of daily life. Each home had a household shrine at which prayers and libations to the family's domestic deities were offered. Neighborhood shrines and sacred places such as springs and groves dotted the city. According to history, It does not appear to have been usual for the average Roman citizen to perform an animal sacrifice. It was more the case that the person who wanted to make the sacrifice made arrangements for the ceremony with the aedituus of a particular temple who hired a victimarius to perform the actual slaughter. Sometimes there might also have been music provided by a flute player, or tibiae, in order to please the god but also to cover up any sounds of ill-omen from the victim. Relief of Marcus Aurelius performing a sacrifice Hadrian. Pietas raising both hands in prayer before altar Ancient Rome also incorporated the practice of libation, both as an offering to the gods and as a means to honor the dead. In fact, Roman tombs were sometimes designed as sarcophagi lidded massive stone sculptures of what looked like reclining, dining figures. In one particular tomb design, the mourner could actually pour a wine libation into the stone cup in the statue’s hand, and a hole in the bottom of the cup would ensure that wine made it to the actual human remains. Scene of a Libation Diocletian. Genius of the Roman people pouring Libation from patera (you can see the liquid flows) I'm pretty sure you all have examples in your collections of Roman sacrifices. Please show us your favorite coins related to this subject !
Informative art-history write-up, @Ocatarinetabellatchitchix , as always! Well done! I have many, but this one is my favorite, because it's a previously unrecorded imitative issue. It features Pietas sacrificing over a small altar. Faustina I, AD 138-140. Unofficial imitative issue, 3.19 g, 17.6 mm, 6 h. Ca. AD 140-160? Obv: DIVA FAVSTINA, bare-headed and draped bust, right. Rev: PIETATI AVG, Pietas, veiled and draped, standing left, dropping incense from right hand onto lighted altar and holding box in left hand. Refs: Cf. BMC p. 67, † note, RSC 234b, CRE 113 and Strack 462 (Budapest), all of which read PIETAS AVG.
L POMPONIUS MOLO ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS POMPONIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Laureate head of Apollo right; L POMPON MOLO around REVERSE: Numa Pompilius standing right before altar preparing to sacrifice a goat which is being held by a youth; NVMA POMPIL in exergue Struck at Rome 97 BC 3.7g, 18mm Crawford 334/1; Pomponia 6 TI VETURIUS ROMAN REPUBLIC; GENS VETURIA AR Denarius OBVERSE: Helmeted bust of Mars right REVERSE: Youth kneeling l., between two warriors who touch with their swords a pig which he holds., ROMA above Struck at Rome 137 BC 3.7g, 18mm Cr.234/1; RSC Veturia 1
Great post as usual. Here are my favorite sacrifice scenes: Commodus, Alexandria,Tetradrachm,(24.2mm., 10.19g), 183-185 AD, (RY 24) Laureate head of Commodus r./ Rev. Commodus, in priestly attire, standing left before bust of Serapis set on low cippus, sacrificing and dropping incense over lighted altar, L-K-Δ. RPC Online 16005, Dattari-Savio Pl. 207, 9553 (this coin) From the Dattari Collection. Elagabalus, AR Denarius (19 mm, 3.13), Rome, 220-222. Laureate and draped bust r., wearing 'horn' over forehead./ Rev. SACERD DEI SOLIS ELAGAB Elagabalus standing r. holding patera over lighted altar in his r. hand and club in his l.; star in field to r. RIC 131 Victorinus, Antoninianus, 269-270,(22 mm, 3.90 g.), Radiate and cuirassed bust r./Rev. PIETAS AVG Pietas, veiled, standing l. sacrificing out of patera over altar at her feet. RIC 57. NAC 2020 Spring Auction.
The most graphic is this Elagabalus sacrificial type. All his sacrificial types have him in a special head gear which out of ignorance we call a "horn". Holding a club before the image of his god ( a star) he is holding a type of club which he has just used to brain a recumbent bull with a patera in his hand sprinkling sacred wine over it all-i think! Very common coins-I once had one!
Geta. 209-212 AD. Philippopolis, Thrace; Æ 28. Obv: His laur., dr., and cuir. bust right. Rev: Emperor stg. facing, hd. l., sacrificing over tripod altar, and holding scepter, to right of a statue of Apollo Kendrizos on a column; victimarius holding axe to l., bringing bull to r. for sacrifice. Varbanov III, 1626.(R7)
I would love a Pomponius Molo. I don't see them often, and when I do they're either in awful condition or more expensive than I'm usually willing to pay. In other words, my standard dilemma! My only coin at present that shows a sacrifice (beyond pouring oil from a patera) is my Postumius Albinus denarius showing the imminent sacrifice of a heifer: Roman Republic, A. Postumius A.f. Sp.n. Albinus (Aulus Postumius Albinus, son of Aulus [mint magistrate ca. 96 BCE], and grandson of Spurius [Consul 110 BCE]), AR Serrate Denarius, 81 BCE. Obv. Draped bust of Diana right, with bow and quiver over shoulder, bucranium above [off flan] / Rev. Roman priest standing facing on rocky ground (on Aventine Hill), head left, with right arm extended holding aspergillum, sprinkling heifer [Harlan, RRM I*], bull [Crawford & Sear], or ox [RSC] which he is about to sacrifice, a lighted altar between them, A POST - AF - SN • ALBIN [AL in monogram] around. RSC I Postumia 7, Crawford 372/1, Sydenham 745, Sear RCV I 296 (ill.), Harlan, RRM I Ch. 1 at pp. 1-7, BMCRR 2836. 18.54 mm., 3.85 g. Ex. Spink & Sons Ltd. (before 2000 because of address on Spink coin tag; probably before 1974 given citation to Sydenham but not Crawford.) * See Michael Harlan, Roman Republican Moneyers and their Coins, 81 BCE-64 BCE (2012) (“RRM I”) (using this coin-type as the cover illustration for his book). At pp. 3-4, Harlan argues that in the legend which, as Crawford acknowledges, is the basis for the reverse of this coin -- namely, the sacrifice to Diana on the Aventine Hill founding her temple there ca. 500 BCE, establishing Rome as the caput rerum for all of Italy [and symbolizing the victory of Sulla over the rebel Italians in 82 BCE] -- the sacrificed animal was a heifer with wondrous horns, not a bull or an ox. (Citing Livy, The History of Rome, Book 1, ch. 45 [available at http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0145:book=1:chapter=45 ]. I find Harlan's argument persuasive. In addition, most bulls portrayed on Roman coins are depicted with certain noticeable attributes missing from this animal. Hence, most likely a heifer.
MOLO RR AR Denarius 3.88g L Pomponius Molo 97 BCE Rome Apollo Numa Pompilius stdng Lituus alter sacrifice goat Cr 334-1 Syd 607 VITURIUS RR Veturius 137 BCE AR Den Mars X Oath Scene pig S 111 Cr 234-1 MARSIC CONFEDERATION Marsic Confederation / Italian Allies Social War 90-88 BCE AR Denarius 19x17.9mm, 3.7g Anonymous Issue, Corfinium Mint Obv: Italia head, l, ITALIA behind Rev: Oath-taking scene with eight warriors, four on each side, pointing their swords towards a sacrificial pig, which is held by an attendant kneeling at the foot of a standard. - Binding the Marsi, Picentines, Paeligni, Marrucini, Vestini, Frentani, Samnites, and Hirpini Tribes into the Marsic Confederation against Rome during the Social War Comment: The reverse is based on the gold Stater and Half-Stater from the Second Punic War, and the Ti Viturius denarius... Sear 227 SYD 621 SCARCE
Maximianus A.D. 305 quarter-follis 18x19mm 2.6gm IMP CMA MAXIMIANVS PF AVG; laureate head. GENIO POP-VLI ROMANI; Genius standing left, holding patera and cornucopiae. In ex. SIS RIC VI Siscia 146 "These very rare coins, known so far for Herculius only, show a portrait which is not truly Herculian, though it is certainly not truly Galerian either...conceivably they were struck at the moment of abdication. It is right, however, to draw attention to the fact that similar coins- not without some problems of their own- were being produced in group II RIC VI pg 471, footnote 1
I posted this elsewhere, but I think it is appropriate here also. CAIUS (CALIGULA), SESTERTIUS, BMCRE Vol. I, Rome, No. 69 (Pl. 29.12) CAIUS (CALIGULA), SESTERTIUS, RIC Vol. I, Rome, No. 51 (40-41AD, 35mm, 26.2gm) Obverse depiction: Personification of Pietas, draped, seated left Inscription: C CAESAR DIVI AVG PRON AVG PM TRP IIII PP (in exergue): PIETAS Reverse depiction: Caligula, veiled and togate, standing left holding patera over altar - attendants (victimarius) on either side holding bull for sacrifice - hexastyle temple of Divus Augustus, surmounted by quadriga and festooned with garlands, in background. Reverse Horizontal Inscription: {small lettering} DIVO AVG and below: S C (left and right) Note: Also BMCRE 41, RIC 36 - with obverse legend: C CAESAR AVG GERMANICVS PM TR POT (in exergue): PIETAS
