emperor. A medallion of Antoninus Pius fromad 158/9 also uses the bull-killing
scene, and the inscription identifies the occasion: votis susceptis decennalibus tertium.
That means that the vows for the last decenniumare offered and those for the next
ten years are defined (Gnecchi 1912; Fless 1995: pl. 3).
All these various representations so far have made clear how closely the bull-killing
scene is linked with sacrifices before war, the inauguration of periods of reign, or
the assumption of office by consuls or censors. The sacrifice at the Capitolium is a
big honor and allows the general or censor to take the position of the emperor for
this special moment. For this reason the private altar vowed for the censor C. Manlius
in Caere (Ryberg 1955: 84 fig. 39 a–c) has special interests for us. The inscription
leaves no doubt that C. Manlius held the Roman post of censor and that the altar
was consecrated in honor of him by his clientes. The reliefs of the altar also present
scenes of the life of Manlius. The front shows the bull-killing scene, and it is quite
clear that he has chosen this to remember the assumption of his censorship and thereby
the only moment in his life when he has acted in the same position as the Roman
emperor during the inauguration of his periods of reign. This use of official Roman
cult iconography on private monuments shows how well known the link between
these special sacrifices and the bull-killing scene was for the ancient observer.Big Events, Lavish Processions
All the images we have seen so far are concentrated very closely on the events around
the altar. Roman imagery is full of representations showing religious processions,
too, and the long and lavish processions of some Roman religious rituals distinguish
them from one another. Sometimes all the participants, the priests, acolytes, and sacri-
ficial animals, walk through the city; the Roman triumph will be treated later.
Conspicuously for both the ancient participant and the modern viewer of the monu-
ments are the rituals with the sacrifice of three different animals (ram, boar, and
bull). For this sacrifice two names (solitauriliaand suovetaurilia: Scholz 1973) and
a lot of occasions are preserved in ancient written sources. During the rituals the
procession played an exceptional role, because it did not only go from a point A to
a point B like the triumph. Instead it orbited the object (a group of persons, a city)
three times for lustration. This sequence is suited to defining an integrated topo-
graphical or sociological situation. Any space is clearly connected with a group of
persons. This community was constituted by the procession and everybody resting
outside is clearly marked as a non-member. A place which was lustrated during this
Roman ritual is marked as a Roman place, too. At the same time the ritual produces
an atmosphere of transparency because the hierarchical structure of a community
becomes visible. The person who is acting in a special role during the ritual also has
a big responsibility for the society (Baudy 1998: 105 – 6).
But to which deity is this ritual addressed? If there are a lot of monuments and
sources that show Mars at an altar (e.g. the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus), he is
not only a deity for lustration. A deity could be the addressee in other specific
situations, too. A frieze from Beaujeu in the Museum of Lyon (Ryberg 1955: 115
170 Katja Moede