Gods” or “the Roman people’s gods” (tous dèmou Rhômaiôn theous) (TAM5.1.423).
All the gods could be seen as protectors, even YHWH, to whom Jews made public
vows “for the emperor’s sake” (CIJud 972). In that respect, mystery cults or
so-called oriental cults were no different. Epigraphic and literary documents they
have left demonstrate that they are votive in the majority (Apul. Met.11.9.5; Belayche
2000), and that the expected salvation was first and foremost a terrestrial one (Bianchi
and Vermaseren 1982; Burkert 1992: 23–38).
Ordinary testimonies of votive relationships consist of graven dedications on stone
and contracts painted on uotiuae tabellae(Cic. Nat.3.37.89, at the Samothracian
gods’ sanctuary; Tibullus 1.3.27f.; Juvenal 12.27f., 100f.). They were very similar
to offerings hung as mere gifts or thanksgivings (de Cazanove 1993). Votive objects
by the thousand were unearthed in Italian sanctuary deposits (fauissae), a practice
that came to an end during the second century bce(CstipiVot; Bouma 1996; ThesCRA
4. 226 – 8); but the habit remained in the Greek-speaking Mediterranean (van
Straten 1981; Schörner 2003). These “ex-votos par destination” (Morel 1992) were
figurines, showing a veiled head like that of ritual actors, and miniature objects molded
as anatomic ex-votos figuring parts of the body, either external ones (arm, leg, eye,
penis, etc.) or internal organs (uterus, belly; Gladigow 1995: 353 – 9; ThesCRA 1.
359– 68) for the most part. They were quite similar in all sanctuaries, notwithstanding
local or chronological peculiarities. They show day-to-day images of a society as summed
up in the title of a book that presents ex-votos in modern contemporary practices:
Le miracle et le quotidien(Cousin 1983). The objects were produced on a quanti-
tative level that we may qualify as “industrial” for the time. They were then sold in
shops settled by sanctuaries or inside temenèthemselves, where the faithful could
choose the one fitting their own wishes. In Rome, roads going to Aesculapius’ tem-
ple on Tiber Island were lined with shops of that kind. Excavations at the springs
of the river Seine have brought many of these sculpted, wooden ex-votos to light
(Deytz 1983). In Rome, the votive deposit of Minerva Medica’s temple on the Esquiline
dates back to the fourth century bce. The goddess’s epiclesis, written on a vase,
attests to her curative function (Gatti Lo Guzzo 1978). Further to the east, in Lydia,
stone dedications show side by side a text telling the matter of the vow and its figura-
tion: “for the good health of my feet” going with a carving of two legs; “for
my breasts” (with relevant depiction; TAM5.1.323 – 4). Consequently the “market-
place of religions,” to quote North when defining the polytheistic conception, was
a lucrative economic market as well (Dignas 2002). At the temple of Artemis in
Ephesus, small silver models were sold as reproductions of the temple itself, hence the
jewelers’ riot against Paul of Tarsus when his preaching denounced these hand-made
objects as mere stuff (Acts 19.23 – 8).
In terms of structure, the votive relationship is a voluntary and dynamic one, because
it weaves a reciprocal link. The faithful usually initiated communication, but the engage-
ment of both parties was constrained. When the faithful person had gotten satis-
faction, when he was uoti compos(CIL6.402), he became damnatusor reus uoti
(Livy 39.9.4); that was the starting point for the Bacchanaliaaffair (see also Servius,
Aeneis4.699; Macr. Sat.3.2.6; Turlan 1955). Fulfillment was regularly made pub-
lic in an abbreviated written formula: V S L M(uotum soluit libens merito). Divine
284 Nicole Belayche