1 Earliest Rome

6.1 The stages of sacrifice
(a) Small frieze from inner altar of the Augustan Ara Pacis (sce 4.3) (height, 0.30 m.;
width, 2.15 m.). Note die distinction in dress here, and throughout these images,
between the major officiants ofthe sacrifice, fully clad in togas, and the bare-chested
slave attcndants (victitnarii aná popae) whose job it was to introduce and eventuaily kili
the animals. See Vol. 1, fig. 7.1 Outside a military camp', for an Illustration (from
Trajan's column) of a sacrificial procession in a military camp.
(b) Panel from triumphal arch of Marcus Aurelius, Rome, A.D. 176 (height, 3.14 m.;
width, 2.10 m.). Beside the emperor offering a libation at the altar stand an attendant
{camitlus) with incense box and a musician (see 4.3b, n.l).
(c) Panel from the 'Altar of Scipio Orfitus', Rome, A.D. 295 (height, 0.77 m.; width, 0.59
m.). The technical term for this part ofthe ritual (immolare) was also used for the act
of animal sacrifice as a whole. But despite its importance as a stage in the process, this
sculpture is almost unique in offering a visual representation ofthe scene.
149