yet entirely left his earthly community, and so could receive a share of a sacrificial
victim with Ceres, who was not a goddess of the Underworld, and with his family.
Once the ashes or the body of the deceased were laid in the tomb, and as soon
as the eight days of mourning were complete, the family gathered near the tomb to
celebrate a second sacrifice. This one was addressed to the Manes of the deceased.
As a consequence, the victim was burnt in its entirety on the ground. It appears that
the family offered another sacrifice, to the Penates, which then gave way to a large
sacrificial banquet at home, to which all the family, neighbors, and, in the case of
grand funerals, the people of the local district or even the whole citizen body were
invited. Whereas the first sacrifice established the first degree of separation between
the deceased and the living, and because it ritually stated that the deceased could
no longer eat his share around a table alongside the living, the second sacrifice was
the definitive mark of their separation. From this point on, the living and the domes-
tic gods could no longer share a sacrifice or food with him, and moreover, the deceased
had now himself become the beneficiary of a sacrifice, in as much as he now formed
part of the collective divinity, the Manes. And it was doubtless this sacrifice of sep-
aration and the sacrifice to the Penates that were repeated during the annual festival
of the dead.
From archaeological study, more is known about funerary sacrificial rites than other
kinds of sacrifice, since the remains of these rites are easier to identify than those in
a temple or banqueting space. These remains reveal the great variety in these prac-
tices (see Fasold et al. 1998; Fasold and Witteyer 2001; Heinzelmann et al. 2001;
Ortalli 2001). Some communities continued to perform animal sacrifices at funerals
and the subsequent periodic funerary rites, while others seem to have replaced them
with libations. Many things are still uncertain, but progress in current research should,
in the not too distant future, provide a clearer picture of the variations between Rome,
Italy, and the provinces.FURTHER READINGStarting points for the study of Roman sacrificial ritual are some more detailed descriptions.
For private sacrifices: Cato, De agricultura83, 132, 134, 139. For the public vowspro salute
reipublicaeand problems during the ritual: Livy 41.14.7–15.4; for the sacrifice Graeco ritu:
Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities7.72.15–17; Schnegg-Köhler (2002: 34 – 43)
(Secular Games, sacrifices Graeco ritu, and holocausts). A general description of the sacrifice
and the evidence is given in: Wissowa (1912: 409– 32); Latte (1960: 375– 93); Scheid (1990:
326–36; 441– 676; 2005c). For a comparative study of sacrifice in the ancient world:
Reverdin and Rudhardt (1980); Grottanelli and Parise (1988); Georgoudi et al. (2006). For
iconography of the sacrifice: Ryberg (1955); ThesCRA 1.2.a. figs. 76 –254.
For the problem of the sacrificial banquets and sharing of sacrificial meat: Kajava (1998);
Santini (1988); Scheid (2005c: 213 – 54); for interpretation of Greek sacrifice: Detienne and
Vernant (1979); for interpretation of Roman sacrifice: Scheid (1990: passim); ThesCRA 1.2.a.
190 –2; for ancient speculations about Roman sacrifice: Prescendi (forthcoming).
(trans. Jane E. A. Anderson)
Sacrifices for Gods and Ancestors 271