How to sacrifice
Deity | Character | Rite | Known inanimate offerings | Known living offerings | Comments | Sources |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Apollo | Celestial | Ritus Graecus | wheat, incense, crown of laurel, cakes of cheese, cakes of honey, cakes of parsley, crowns of laurel; calendula; wine | bull; ox with gilded horns; white goats | Prayers: Arnob. Adv. Nat. 3.43; Claud. Olyb. 71-2; Hor. Carm. 1.2.30; Livy 5.21.2; Mart. 9.42; Ovid Rem. Amor. 75; 704; Petron. PLM 94; Satyr. fr. 31Plaut. Merc. 678; Seneca Herc. Fur. 592; 900; Statius Theb. I 643-5; I 694-6; I 716-20; IV 649-51; VI 296-300; VII 779-88; VIII 90-94; Tib. 2.5.1ff; 3.10; 4.4.1; Val Flacc. Argo. 1.5; 5.17; 5.244; Virg. Aen. 3.85; 6.55; 10.875; 11.785; 12.197 Varro LL 7.17;.CIL 6.32323 Lines 141-46 | CIL 6.32323; Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.10.4; Livius 25.12, 27, 23.5; 23.11; Plinius HN 12.3; 15.134 |
Carna | Domestic | Ritus Romanus | beans mixed with hot spelt, bacon | - | - | Ovid, Fasti, 6.169-170 |
Ceres | Chtonic | Ritus Romanus (a part of the cult celebrated on the Aventine Hill corresponded to the Mysteries of Eleusis and was considered Graeca Sacra and thus not included in the Roman public cult) | spelt cakes, incense, salt, bread, first samplings of ears of wheat, oak leaves, wine, honeycombs mixed with milk, crown of wheat (corona spicea), crown of oak, poppies, violets, hyacinths | sow (sometimes pregnant); sheep; piglets | Fasting and nine days of abstinence was required of participants in the sacrificium annuae sacrae
Prayers: Apul. Met. VI 2; XI 2; XI 5; Cic. In Verr. II 5.184; IV 72.187-8; Horat. Serm. II 2,124; Livy 24.38.8; Ovid Amor. 3.10.2; Fasti 1.669-704; 4.401-8; Ibis 419-20; Petr. Satyr. 122, 156; Seneca Herc. Fur. 299; Serv. Ad Geor. 1.21; Tib. 1.1.15-16; 2.1.3-4; Virg. Georg. 1.7-12; 1.338 |
Cato, De Agricultura 134; Fest. s. v. praesentanea porca; s. v. sacrima; Gellius NA 4.6.8; Hor. Carm. Saec. 29-30; Livius, 10.23; 36.37.4-5; Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.11.10; Ovidius, Amor. 3.10; Fasti, 1.657-704; 2.519-20; 2.539; 4.393-416; 4.547-48; Metamorphoses, 10.431-36; Pliny NH 1.191; 18.2.8; Tibullus, Elegies,1.1.11-18; Varro Rust. 2.4.9-10; Varro in Non. Marc. 163; Virgilius, Aeneid 4.56-59; Georgics, 1.212; 1.338-350 |
Diana | Celestial | Ritus Romanus (although at the Ludi Saeculares she was honoured - like any other deity - Graeco Ritu) | cakes of cheese, cakes of honey, cakes of parsley | hind, white she-goat?, cow | Prayers: Apul. Met. XI 2; Catul 34.21-2; Cic. In Verr. II 5.184; Horat. Carm. 1.21.1; 3.22.2; Epist. 5.5; Carm. Saec. 13; Laevius fr. 26; Livius Andronicus fr. Equos Troianos; Ovid Fasti 2.449; 3.255-56; Met. 5.618-20; Sil. It. Pun. 9.168-72; 13.137; Statius Theb. IV 746-64; VI 633-37; 9.606-35; 10.360-70; Tertul de Anim. 39; Tibullus 4.4.1 ff; 4.6.1 ff; Val. Cato Lyd. 41-4; Virg. Aen. IX 404; XI 483; XI 557; XII 197; CIL 3.8298; 6.32323 Lines 141-46; 10.3796 | Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, 1.45] [Livius, Ab Urbe Condita, 25.12, 27, 23.5] [Ovidius, Fasti, 1.387-388] [CIL 6.32323] [Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium, 7.3.1 |
Dis, Dis Pater | Underworld | Ritus Romanus | ? | black sheep and other black victims | Prayers: Audolent p.197 no.139, p. 292 no. 218; Ennius Androm; Festus (s.v. lapidem silicem); Macro. Sat. III 9,10; Sil. It. Pun. 8.140-2; Statius Theb. I 56-9; IV 473-87 | Valerius Maximus, Factorum et Dictorum Memorabilium, 2.4.5] [Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.9.10-12 |
Diva | Celestial | Ritus Romanus | ? | cow | Probably the same as Iuno | CIL 6.32349 |
Divus | Celestial | Ritus Romanus | ? | ox, sheep | Probably the same as Iuppiter | ILS 5047; Feriale Duranum |
Genius Augusti | Celestial | Ritus Romanus | incense, wine | bull, bull-calf | - | CIL 6.32352; Horatius, Odes, 4.5.30 seq. Petronius, Satiricon, 60.7 |
Genius or Iuno (personal) | - | Ritus Romanus | incense, wine, cakes of boiled salted wheat (liba) | two-month old piglet (on the Saturnalia) | Blood sacrifice was explicitly not recommended on one's birthday | Horatius, Odes, 3.17.14-16; Ovidius, Tristia, 5.5.12; Persius, Satires, 2.1-3; Plinius, Naturalis Historia, 18.84; Tibullus, Elegies, 2.6.8; 4.6.14; Varro in Censorinus, De Die Natali, 2.2 |
Genius Loci/Lar | Domestic/Chtonic | Ritus Romanus | fruits of the Earth (namely first samplings), wine, garlands of flowers | pig, heifer, ewe-lamb | Inanimate offerings should be dropped/poured to the ground or natural altar in libation | Cato, De Agricultura 139 - 140; Apuleius, Apologia, 56.5-6; Florides, 1.3-4; Tibullus, Elegies, 1.1.19-24 |
Hercules | Domestic | Ritus Graecae | aconite, henbane, herb Robert. Opopanax, poplar, water lilies | - | Prayers: Apul. Met. IX 21; CIL 1.1290;Hor. Serm. 2.6.14; Sat. 6.10.3; Pers. Sat. 2.8; Plaut. Curc. 358; Bacch.892; Prop. 4.9.71-4; Sil. It. Pun. 1.505-7; Virg. Aen. 8.301-2; | Apul. Met. IX 21; CIL 1.1290;Hor. Serm. 2.6.14; Sat. 6.10.3; Pers. Sat. 2.8; Plaut. Curc. 358; Bacch.892; Pliny NH 12.3; 25.12; 25.15; 25.17; 25.37; 27.4; Prop. 4.9.71-4; Sil. It. Pun. 1.505-7; Virg. Aen. 8.301-2; |
Ianus | Domestic (doors, passages) / Celestial (beginings and ends) | Ritus Romanus | incense, wine, cakes (strues) | ram | Prayers: Acta Frat. Arv. CIL 6.2107 vs. 2-13 = ILS 5048; 6.2099; Auson. III 5; Cato Agr. 134, 141; Cic. Nat. Deor. 2.67.27; Fest. s.v. Chaos; Horat. Epist. I 16; Sat. 2.6.20; Livy 1.32.10; 8.9.6; Macrob. Sat. 1.9.9, 1.16.25; Martial Epigr. 8.2.8, 8.8.1; 10.28.1; 10.28.12, Ovid Fast. 1.65; 1.172; 1.287 Plaut. Cist. 512; Serv. Ad Aen. 7.610; Varro LL 7.26. Virg. Aen. 12.197 | [Cato, De Agricultura 141] [Cato, De Agricultura 134] Cic. Nat. Deor. 2.67.27; Fest. s.v. Chaos; Horat. Epist. I 16; Sat. 2.6.20; ILS 5047; Livy 1.32.10; 8.9.6; Macrob. Sat. 1.9.9, 1.16.25; Martial Epigr. 8.2.8, 8.8.1; 10.28.1; 10.28.12, Ovid Fast. 1.65; 1.172; 1.287; 1.317-24; Plaut. Cist. 512; Serv. Ad Aen. 7.610; Varro, De Lingua Latina, 6.12; 726; Virg. Aen. 12.197 |
Ilithyia (Juno Lucina) | Domestic | Ritus Graecus (at least at the Ludi Saeculares) | cakes of cheese, cakes of honey, cakes of parsley | - | Prayers: Apul. Met. VI 4; Horat. Carm. Saec. 14 | CIL 6.32323 |
Iuno | Celestial | Ritus Romanus | incense, wine; silver; wild fig; cypress tree; blue flag iris | bull, ram, white cow, sheep, suovetaurilia (sheep, pig and bull) | Prayers: Apul. Met. VI 4; XI 5 (Sospita); Arnob. Adv. Nat. 3.10; Catul. 34.13; Cic. Domo 144-5; In Verr. II 5.184, Nat. Deor. 2.27.68; Livy 5.21.3; 6.16.1; 8.5; 38.51; Macro. Sat. 3.16.27; Ovid Fasti 3.255; Tib. 3.12.4; Petr. Satyr. 25;Plaut. Aulul. 692; Scr Hist. Aug. Vit. Prob. 12.7; Serv. Ad Aen. 1.8; Sil. It. Pun. 2.531-42; 6.466-72; 7.78-85; 10.432-8; Terent. Adelph. 486; Andria 473; Tertul. De Anim. C. 39; Tib. 4.6.7; Val. Flac. Argo. 1.79; Varro LL 6.27Virg. Aen 4.607; 12.176; CIL VI 32323 (Acta Sacr. Saec) vs 117; VI 32329 vs 10; CIL 6.2065; 6.32323 Lines 121-22, 125-27; 6.32329 | [Cato, De Agricultura 134] CIL 6.2043; 6.2099; Feriale Duranum ILS 5047; Livy 22.1; Varro LL 6.18 |
Iuppiter | Celestial | Ritus Romanus | incense, wine (namely first samplings), cakes (fertum), meat, spelt cake (far), fruits; beans and greens; cinnabar; fluorspar; holm oak; beech tree; laurel, vervain | white heifer, white ox, ewe-lamb, whether, suovetaurilia (sheep, pig and ox), bull?, ram? | According to the ancients books, only castrated victims should be offered to Iuppiter.
Prayers: Accius Aen. Sive Dec. fr. 4; Cato Orig. 1 fr 12; Agr. 132, 134; Cic. Domo 144-5; Catul. 64.171; 66.30; 66.48; 67.2; 70.2; Horat. Epist. 1.18.10; Sat. 2.3.281; 2.3.288; Juv. Sat. 10.185; Liv Andro. Odis. 1.45; Livy 1.10.6; 1.12.4; 1.18.8; 1.24.7-9; 1.32.6; 6.16.1; 8.6.5; 8.9.6; 22.53.10; Macrob. Sat. 3.9.10; Mart. 7.6; Ovid Fasti 3.365; 4.827; 4.893; 5.716; Heroid. 13.49; Pers. Sat. 3.35; 10.185; Petron. Sat. 44; 122, 156; 126; 498; Plaut. Poen. 1187; Persa 251; Persa 753; Prop. 2.28a.1-2; 4.10.15; 4.11.18; Scr Hist. Aug. Vit. Prob. 12.7; Seneca Herc. Fur. 205; 299; 516; 900; 930; Sil. It. Pun. 3.565-7; 4.126-7; 6.102-7; 6.466-72; 10.432-8; 12.643-5; 14.440-1; 15.362-3; Statius Theb. III 471-96; VI 197-201; Tacit. Ann. 16.35; Hist. 4.58; Tib. 1.3.51; Val. Flac. Argo. 1.667; 4.474; 6.727; Val Sor. fr 4 (Aug. Hip. C. Dei 7.9); Vel. Pat. 2.131.1; Virg. Aen. 1.731; 2.689; 4.206; 5.687; 8.572; 9.495; 9.625; 10.668; 12.176; 12.197; CIL VI 32 323 vs 105; III 01933 (=ILS 4907); CIL 2.172; 3.1933; 5.5543; 6.2065; 6.32323 Lines 105-6. |
[Cato, De Agricultura 141] [Cato, De Agricultura 134] CIL 6.2065; CIL 6.2099; Festus-Paul, On the meaning of the words, Lindsay ed., p.40.27 and 57.16-18; ILS 5047; Livius 22.10; Macrobius, Saturnalia, 3.10.3 Ovidius, Fasti, 1.55-57; 1.83 seq.; 2.67-70; 3.730; 4.863-900; 5.507-23; Plinius, NH 12.3; 15.13433.111; 37.18; Servius, ad Virg. Eclog., 8.82; Varro LL 5.152; 6.16 |