their privilege, raising them above the other participants in the cult for that period.
As the sacrificial scene is to mark their area of responsibility, it must not be read as
a narrative report on the ritual in question; it does not have to respect any ritual
prescriptions. This is why the collegiummay appear together around one altar or be
divided into pairs. Our examples show very clearly how the pictorial rendition of
ancient rituals persistently follows its own laws and demands and how poorly they
qualify as a mere illustration of written sources.
Rituals and their Special Iconography
After all, it is quite clear that the simple libation performed at an altar or tripod is
one of the basic elements of religious scenes. It can be increased and specified
as much as you like, yet at the same time it is the unambiguous and rather general
formula for ritual action. This scene could be used to represent all religious rituals
containing the sacrifice at the altar as central element. Through other elements the
altar scene could be expanded and transferred into animal sacrifice. By this com-
bination of non-synchronous ritual sequences the generalized images became the
characteristic representations of Roman rituals. The peculiarities of visual art made
it necessary to amalgamate non-synchronous moments of a coherent sequence into
one unified scene. The contemporary beholder was able to relate the elements to
the familiar ritual of his reality. Unlike modern viewers, he was not tempted to view
these images as documentation of the actual event of the ritual, because he very well
knew the sequences of the ritual.
Usually the animal stands beside the altar and is escorted by victimarii. Rarely,
images combine the altar scene with the killing of the sacrifice (fig. 12.2 below).
Roman historical reliefs show only the killing of bulls. Sheep and pigs do not have
to die on these monuments. To reproduce the immolatio boumthe Romans use a
defined iconographic scheme (Brendel 1930): the bull’s head is pressed down by
one victimariuswhile another swings back the axe or hammer. The first represen-
tation of this scene is preserved on one part of the Boscoreale cup of Tiberius (Ryberg
1955: 114 pl. 50 fig. 77 c–d). It is on the opposite side of the cup from the tri-
umphal procession and shows Tiberius during the sacrifice in front of the temple of
Jupiter on the Capitolium (Hölscher 1980). Only for this sacrifice before a military
campaign is it allowed to act inside Rome in military clothes.
The key information for explaining these scenes is readily offered by the so-called
Feldherrensarkophage(for example, the sarcophagus of Mantua: Fless 1995: cat. 38
I pl. 39 fig. 1). The bull-killing sequence is also shown on these sarcophagi in a
military ambience, but not in relation to the triumph. Here it is one of three illus-
trations of the life of the general between the subjugation of the barbarians and the
get-together with his wife. Additionally the general of these sarcophagi is acting in
military clothes in front of the Capitoline temple on his departure. This sacrifice alone
is the guarantee for his victory or his success in the Roman provinces.
The bull-killing scene is not limited to the objects mentioned so far. Big histor-
ical monuments deal with our iconographic scheme, too. One of the most famous
168 Katja Moede