CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sacrifices for Gods and
Ancestors
John Scheid
Sacrifice was at the heart of most acts of cult worship. Depending on the context
and on the divinities being honored, there was great variety in the way a sacrifice
was performed, in its use of incense, liquid libations, vegetal offerings, or animal
victims. The particulars of a sacrifice were equally influenced by the ritual context
of all the great religious ceremonies.
The Sacrificial Rite
Sacrifices took place in an open space, in front of the community concerned. In the
realms of civic worship, it was celebrated in front of the temple, near a raised altar
within the cult space. In the domestic setting, this altar, either permanent or tem-
porary, was installed in one of the communal spaces of the house, the atriumor the
peristyle. By contrast, for sacrifices of divination and defixiones, which were intended
to be secret, more isolated, unfrequented surroundings were sought, either a remote
area or a burial site. The sacrifice was offered by those who held authority within
that particular community: the father, as head of the family, in the domestic sphere,
the head (magister) of a college, the annual magistrates, or the public priests within
a city. The sacrificer was assisted by freeborn young men, porters, and slaves who
took charge of the practical arrangements.
Whether it concerned the public religion or private cults, the sacrifice usually began
at the start of the civic day, at sunrise, on the edge of the cult area. By contrast,
sacrifices considered “magic” were celebrated at night, far from all civic participa-
tion. The sacrificers and assistants bathed or washed themselves beforehand. In the
“Roman,” that is, “traditional,” version of the rite, the official dress was the toga,
which indicated a citizen, draped in such a way as to leave the arms free and form