How to worship when travelling

From NovaRoma

 Home| Latíné | Deutsch | Esperanto | Español | Français | Italiano | Magyar | Português | Româna | Русский | English

This is a post made by Pontifex Maximus M. Moravius Horatianus on the religio Romana mailing list on Jan. 27, 2009.

M. Moravius Horatianus Pont. Max. cultoribus Deorum, Quiritibus, et omnibus s. p. d.

Senator App. Tullius has provided us with some good information below and in other posts. For the Romans there were many factors to consider, but having been raised in the tradition it would not have been difficult for them to know what to do in every situation.

First, to answer a point brought up by Pontifex Metellus, Pliny does tell us that when generals went on campaign, none would do so without bringing along his patera and salser. I would imagine that the same was true for any traveller.

As Senator Tullius wrote, someone travelling through Roman territory, or even in foreign but civilized regions, would come upon many altars along the way. When in Rome, one did as the Romans did. On the other side, a Roman in Locri, or in Athens, or in Alexandria would perform rites to the local deities, at the altars provided. In a city that he might visit frequently, a Roman might join with his fellow countrymen in a sodalitas, erecting their own altars, or their own temples even, as Roman merchants were to do at Delos. Although the tamples and altars he would visit in foreign cities were dedicated to foreign Gods, and employed foreign rites, a Roman would probably have performed his rites in accordance with Roman practice if he was unfamiliar with local practice. But don't forget that temple precincts posted their own lex templi and had specialists who performed the actual sacrifices. One did not go to a temple and perform a sacrifice on his own. He purchased a sacrificial victim, and with that came state-slaves who did the killing, slaughter, and butching for the cultor. The cultor would sanctify the victim by using his patera and mola salsa (from his salser), and then signal or order the sacrifice to be made. For lesser sacrifices, there were small altars erected as votives, on which to offer incense and perhaps a libation. These are the type we are usually shown, the small stone altars with the dedication inscribed on it, designating the God for whom it was dedicated and the names of those who dedicated it.

Offerings were of various sorts, as a situation might provide. One sort of offering was to place a stone at a crossroads, the pile of stones building up with each passing traveller to form a type of altar that was usually dedicated to Mercurius or to the Lares Viales. On such an altar of piled stones one might pour libations. One might come upon a niche in a wall where there was an image of some deity and baskets might be there in which to place a piece of fruit. One might pass by a tree from which offerings hung, as you might see today in Japan, and you would then add your own. Or you might come upon a large stone or even a statue over which libations had previously been poured, as you could probably see find in India today, and you would make your own contribution. Or in West Africa today you might come upon a little shrine to some ancestors, crudely carved figures seated inside a little hut, or in southeast Asia, the little spirit houses, highly decorated, set on walls or posts, the landscape of Western Culture is quite different today from what a Roman would have known, but parallels can be found in other cultures, and even remnants of what a Roman would have known are still seen in some Christian practices.

Another thing to keep in mind was that Roman augurs distinguished five categories of land. First there were Roman lands (Romanus), in which rites were performed according to Roman tradition. Then there were Latin lands (Gabinus), who followed the same religious tradition but were not Roman. Then there were the Peregrinus, foreign lands that were civilized and had peaceful relations with Rome, but which followed different religious traditions. Barbaric lands, hostile to Rome, were called hosticus. And fifth were incertus. These distinctions would determine what you would find and how you might conduct your rites. In the first three categories you would normally follow local custom and also keep your family tradition to your Lares. In hostile lands, or if travelling in distant land of uncertain traditions, you would follow Roman tradition, calling upon Roman Gods and your Lares to protect you.

In the case of entering hosticus lands, likely you were travelling with the army. Then it was as Senator Tullius wrote. The soldiers would most often erect turf altars. You cut a square into the turf, turn it over onto the ground and then add on two more layers. Many people do not realize that the little stone altars that you find in museums were actually stands. On top of these were placed turf, with the soil facing up, on which to build the altar fire. Look on top of a stone altar. There is usually a bowl-like indentation. Notice that these were not blackened by fire. What I think they were probably for was to receive moisture as might come from the plants in the upturned turf. In the field, the army would just use something convenient on which to place the turf, or else build turf up to form an altar.

The commanding officer of a legion would not necessarily have had to resort to a turf altar. At least not in later times. If you look at Trajan's column, or at Marcus Aurilius' column, you see the emperors offering incense over a fire that is held in a bowl on a tripod. A shallow bowl, called a lebes, was used for different functions in a ritual. These bowls came in different sizes, too. Some were used to catch the vicitm's blood so that it might be carried to an altar fire. A lebes would receive the first portions cut from the victim's liver, heart, and lungs, which were also them brought to the altar fire. But one can also be set on a tripod, as we see famously with Marcus Aurelius, to act as the focus.

In a somewhat later period, deep metal bowls were used to hold the altar fire. That practice was continued into Christian ritual in the early centuries of its becoming the imperial religion. A famous example of this is the so-called Chalice of Antioch. This is a large, highly decorated, silver bowl that once stood on a Christian altar, and is probably one of a pair of such bowls used to hold fires. Christian use of such bowls was, I suppose, to light the altar space as one might find candles used today. But the practice of using such deep bowls on an altar began with what is called Late Paganism where they served a different purpose. And they were quite portable.

Let me try to answer some of the other historical questions, and maybe find some photos or links to upload, and then we'll see what we might do for ourselves in a modern practice of the religio Romana. In addition to my stone altars, I do have a copper shallow bowl, with a stand, that I sometimes use like the lebes type of focus when in my hortus Cereri. I also have a deep, brass bowl to hold charcoals. And I have a small cast iron cauldren with handle that I use to transfer charcoals from my stone altar for the Manes, or from a fire of Vesta, to an altar at some other location. It depends on what I am doing, where I am doing it, and for whom, but there are lots of ways to offer sacrifice and lots of ways to establish a place on which to offer them.

Valete et vadete in pace Deorum