The suovetaurilia or suovitaurilia was one of the most sacred and traditional rites of Roman religion: the animal sacrifice of a pig (sus), a sheep (ovis) and a bull (taurus) to the deity Mars to blessing and purify land (Lustratio).
Ritual
There were two kinds:
-
suovetaurilia lactentia ("suckling suovetaurilia") of a male pig, a lamb and a calf, for purifying private fields
-
suovetaurilia maiora ("greater suovtaurilia") of a boar, a ram and a bull, for public ceremonies.
The ritual for private fields is preserved in Cato the Elder's De Agri Cultura, "On Agriculture". It was performed each May on the festival of Ambarvalia,
If a Roman temple were destroyed, the site of the temple must be purified by a suovetaurilia before a new temple could be reconstructed on the site. When the Capitolium was burnt as a result of a struggle for Roman Empire succession in the year 69, a suovetaurilia was performed to reconsecrate the site. A public suovetaurilia was also offered to bless the army before a major military campaign. On Trajan's column, the Roman emperor Trajan is depicted as offering a suovetaurilia to purify the Roman army. A suovetaurilia is shown on the right hand panel of The Bridgeness Slab. It was suggested that the sacrifice might have been made at the start of the building of the Antonine Wall.
Performance of the suovetaurilia lactentia
Circumambulation
The first step was to lead the three animals around the boundaries of the land to be blessed, pronouncing the following words:
- Cum divis volentibus quodque bene eveniat, mando tibi, Mani, uti illace suovitaurilia fundum agrum terramque meam quota ex parte sive circumagi sive circumferenda censeas, uti cures lustrare.
- "That with the good help of the gods success may crown our work, I bid thee, Manius, to take care to purify my farm, my land, my ground with this suovetaurilia, in whatever part thou thinkest best for them to be driven or carried around."
"Manius" in this passage may be an obscure minor deity, related to the Manes, or may be the equivalent of English John Doe.
Sacrificial prayer
Before the sacrifice is performed, an extended
prayer to Mars must be made. It is written in an archaic metrical and
incantation form; even in
Old Latin, the prayer contains many rhetorical figures such as
alliteration and liberal use of
and
antithesis. It illustrates the metrical and poetic format of
polytheism prayers.
Calvert Watkins versifies the text as follows:
Sacrifice
Cakes of bread were sacrificed along with the three animals. At the moment the sacrifices were made, the landowner was to say:
- Eiusque rei ergo macte suovitaurilibus inmolandis esto.
- "To this intent deign to accept the offering of these victims."
Omens
If favourable
as a response to the sacrifice were not forthcoming, the landowner was instructed to redo the sacrifice and offer a further prayer:
- Mars pater, siquid tibi in illisce suovitaurilibus lactentibus neque satisfactum est, te hisce suovitaurilibus piaculo.
- "Father Mars, if aught hath not pleased thee in the offering of those sucklings, I make atonement with these victims."
If only one or two of the omens expected after the three sacrifices failed to appear, the landowner was instructed to offer an additional swine, saying:
- Mars pater, quod tibi illoc porco neque satisfactum est, te hoc porco piaculo.
- "Father Mars, inasmuch as thou wast not pleased by the offering of that pig, I make atonement with this pig."
The nature of the expected omens is not given by Cato. The omens, however, were likely determined by the art of haruspex, the examination of the entrails, and especially the , of sacrificed animals for divination signs.
Parallels
Some religious rites similar to the Roman suovetaurilia were practiced by a few other Indo-European peoples, from Iberia to India. The Cabeço das Fráguas inscript (found in
Portugal) describes a threefold sacrifice practiced by the
Lusitanians, devoting a sheep, a pig and a bull to what may have been local gods.
In the Indian
Sautramani, a ram, a bull and a goat were sacrificed to
Indra Sutraman;
in
Iran ten thousand sheep, a thousand cattle and a hundred stallions were dedicated to
Anahita.
Similar to the above rituals is the Greek , the oldest known being described in the
Odyssey and dedicated to
Poseidon. The philosopher and historian
Plutarch related in the
Parallel Lives a story from the life of Pyrrhus about the sacrifice of a ram, a pig and a bull. The Umbrian
Iguvine Tables also describe a sacrificial ritual related to the aforementioned rites.
See also
-
Glossary of Roman religion
Bibliography
External links
