1 Earliest Rome

5.5 Ritual conservatism and innovation
5.5 Ritual conservatism and innovation
Roman religious ritual can be characterized as both rigidly conservative and
extraordinarily open to innovation. Alongside a stress on strict adherence to
the traditional rules of religious observance, the history of Roman religion was
marked by novelty and change: not only the introduction of new festivals for
particular deities or changes in the interpretation of festivals, but also new
forms of ritual, and adaptations of ritual performance to fit changing circumstances.
The passages that follow explore this paradox - starting from an
expression of the importance of the exact performance of the prescribed ritual
formulae, then contrasting this with two particular types of innovation in ritual,
the lectisternium {5.5b and c) and changes in the fetial ritual (5.5d).
See further: Vol 1, 32-4; North (1976)*.
5.5a Scrupulous observance
Pliny, Natural History xxvin.10-11
In discussing the general question 'do words have power?', the Elder Pliny
draws on examples from Roman religion. He notes, in particular, the importance
attached to repeating the prescribed formulae of prayers or sacrifice without
any alteration or omission. In principle at least, whole ceremonies could be
required to be repeated if minor errors in pronouncing the formulae or in other
ritual actions occurred.
See further: Koves-Zulauf (1972) 21-34; North (1976) 1-5*.
In fact a sacrifice without a prayer is thought to have no effect, or not to constitute a
proper consultation of the gods. 1
Besides, one kind of formula is used in seeking omens,
another in averting evil, another for praise. We see too that senior magistrates make their
prayers using a precise form of words: someone dictates the formula from a written text
to ensure that no word is omitted or spoken in the wrong order; 2
someone else is assigned
as an overseer to check ; yet another man is given the task of ensuring
silence; and a piper plays to prevent anything else but the prayer being audible. There are
records of remarkable cases of both types of fault - when the actual sound of ill omens
has spoilt the prayer, or when the prayer has been spoken wrongly. Then suddenly, as the
victim stood there, its head or heart has disappeared from the
entrails, or alternatively a second head or heart has been produced. 5
1. Suggesting public belief in the power of words.
2. See, for example, 5.7b line 123; 6.6a; 10.1c.
3. These abnormalities of the entrails would make it an ill-omened sacrifice - simply
because (as Pliny claims) the prayer had been incorrectly recited. See 13.2.
129