Sphagia

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Sphagia on a relief from Larymna , Boiotien . 5th century BC Chr.

Sphagia ( Greek σφάγια ), plural of Sphagion ( σφάγιον 'sacrifice (animal)' ), were victims in the Greek religion . They included killing the sacrificial animal and interpreting the signs. They are known as the last victim before a battle. Sphagia have been around since the 5th century BC. Chr. Handed down.

definition

The verb ( Greek σφάζειν ) means "to pierce the throat". Sphagia contained no fire, no altar, and the meat was not eaten. The focus was on the act of killing and the interpretation of the signs formed by the spurting blood.

Sphagia were performed in oaths , purifications , certain rites for the dead or heroes, the soothing of winds, and the crossing of rivers by an army. The Sphagion was the last victim before a battle began. Common to all situations was the tension of the moment when the signs had to be interpreted quickly in order to indicate success or impending failure. The normal give and take between humans and gods seems to be absent.

Demarcation

In his study “Sacrifice before battle” Michael H. Jameson follows the approach of modern research, which distinguishes between Sphagia and Hiera as fundamental terms of the Greek victim system. If the term hiera is broader and related to religious rites, it is of a more general nature and can include the more specific Sphagia. The difference is important because, for example, a number of sacrifices were made during a war, which could include either general (Hiera) or special (Sphagia) rites. Sphagia were made before crossing a river and as the last sacrifice before the battle, while general sacrifices, such as a Thysia , were made before going to war, at border crossings and when setting up a camp. Sphagia, as well as similar rites that focused on the shedding of blood, contrasted with Thysia.

ritual

A sphagion consisted of a single action and an observation: the killing of the victim and the interpretation of the blood flow. The depiction of a Sphagion on a cup from the 5th century BC. BC gives an impression of how the sacrificial animal was killed. In the picture, a warrior presses his left knee on the back of a ram and holds it in a clamp with his right leg. He covers his muzzle with his left hand and stabs the sword through the throat with his right.

The last sacrifice before the battle

Sphagia were the last victim before the battle of a Greek army. You were the last in a long line of different kinds of victims. Every new leg of a Greek campaign was initiated, be it the crossing of a border or a river, the building of a base or the attack on a city. The location of the encounter with the opposing army as well as the time were checked with victims. After a victory, thanksgiving and victory offerings were made. The army was accompanied by a herd of sacrificial animals (sheep and goats), of which a maximum of three animals were sacrificed per day.

At the last sacrifice before the battle, the armies faced each other, or at least were in sight. In some cases the first skirmishes had already started, but then "according to custom, the fortune-tellers brought the victims, trumpeters blew the hoplites to fight, and they started moving."

Albert Henrichs said about the Sphagia:

"(...) the brutalizing experience of battle and impending doom ... lies also at the root of the σφάγια sacrifice as such in its regular animal form ... men at the threshold of hand-to-hand combat sought unusual ritual remedies in an effort to cope with extraordinary psychological strain, and with the threat to their lives. Sinister and different, the σφάγια anticipated the bloodshed of the battle and marked its ritual beginning. "

Offerings

Domestic animals served as sacrifices in the Sphagia. On the arduous war march, the army was accompanied by a whole herd of sheep and goats, which were robust enough for the long journey and easy to walk. Male animals were preferred.

receiver

The recipients of the Sphagia are usually not named. The only reliable tradition is the goddess Artemis Agrotera.

intention

Sphagia's goal was to get divine support from a company. In war situations, the literary sources dramatically describe delays in waiting for favorable signs and the catastrophic consequences when an enterprise is pushed ahead despite unfavorable forecasts. Sometimes the sacrifices were repeated many times in order to achieve the expected result. Herodotus puts the words in the mouth of the Persian general Mardonios : "But the sacrificial signs of Hegesistratus should be allowed to be good and not enforced ..."

At the center of Sphagia was the sacrifice of a pet. The sacrificial animals were valuable to a community and their sacrifice also meant an economic sacrifice to appease the gods in dangerous situations and to save the rest of the community.

Sources

The oldest literary reference to a sphagion comes from Xenophon in the 5th century BC. The differentiated content of the Sphagia in the early period then became increasingly blurred with the concept of a general sacrifice in the literary sources, so that the original meaning of a quick and short sacrifice, in which the killing and the interpretation of the signs were the focus, was lost . This is clearly shown in the story of the Spartan leader Pausanias , which has been passed down by Herodotus and was retold by Plutarch . "Two rituals have been conflated, at the cost of clear visualization of what was done on the battlefield."

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society . Cambridge 2014, pp. 102-103.
  2. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society . Cambridge 2014, pp. 102-103.
  3. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 108.
  4. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 115.
  5. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 98-99.
  6. ^ Thucydides , History of the Peloponnesian War 6,69,1–2; Translation after Christoph Schneider: Information and intention in Thucydides: Investigation into the motivation of action (= Hypomnemata . Volume 41). Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht, Göttingen 1974, p. 113; see also Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 106.
  7. ↑ Quoted from: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 124.
  8. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 99.
  9. ^ Gunnel Ekroth: The Sacrificial Rituals of Greek Hero-Cults in the Archaic to the Early Hellenistic Period . Liège 2002, Chapter III, paragraph 104.
  10. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 112.
  11. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 98 and 100.
  12. ↑ Herodotus 9.41.4; Translation after Adolf Schöll : Herodotus von Halikarnaß story. Volume 11. Metzler, Stuttgart 1832, p. 1311; see. also Herodotus 9,45,2; Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 124 translated: "To hell with trying to force (βιάζεσθαι) the σφάγια".
  13. ↑ Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 123.
  14. ↑ Xenophon, Lakedaimonion politeia 13: 2-3.
  15. ↑ Michael H. Jameson : Sacrifice before battle. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, pp. 98-99.
  16. ↑ Herodotus, 9.61.3-9.62.1.
  17. ↑ Plutarch, Aristeides 17-18.
  18. ↑ Michael H. Jameson : Sacrifice before battle. In: Michael H. Jameson: Cults and Rites in Ancient Greece: Essays on Religion and Society. Cambridge 2014, p. 110.