Suovetaurilia

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Suovetaurilia for Mars (Roman sarcophagus, Louvre )

The Suovetaurilia ( Latin , plural, also Solitaurilia ) were a specific form of animal sacrifice in the Roman religion .

Three sacrificial animals, a boar ( sus , "pig"), a ram ( ovis , "sheep") and a bull ( taurus ) were led around people or a place who were to be atoned for or saved from harm. So it was an apotropaic act . The animals were then killed and, as is generally the case with ancient animal sacrifices, eaten. A distinction was made between suovetaurilia lactentia and suovetaurilia minora , in which the young animals were sacrificed (piglet, lamb and calf) and suovetaurilia maiora , in which the adult animals were sacrificed.

With Cato the Elder there is a description of the course of the ceremony.

The Suovetaurilia took place during the lustrum , during the cleaning ( lustratio ) of an army, the grove of the Arval brothers or a field, as well as during the spolia opima and the triumphal procession .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Cato the Elder De agri cultura 141