Ritual, Narrative, and Trauma Considering the Socio-Psychological Significance of Roman Martial Rituals by ARJEN J. VAN LIL UTRECHT UNIVERSITY RMA-THESIS RESEARCH MASTER IN ANCIENT STUDIES SUPERVISOR: DR. ROLF STROOTMAN SECOND READER: DR. SASKIA STEVENS STUDENTNUMBER: 4157192 Ritual, Narrative, and Trauma Abstract The Roman conduct of war appears to have been a ritualized affair. This thesis is concerned with unfolding this ritual pattern and discussing the socio-psychological significance this may have held for the Roman soldier at war. It investigates the various rituals that the soldier would have been witness or participant of: the lustratio, auspicium, devotio hostium, and passum sub iugum. The comparative analysis and source collection of these rituals may already offer new insights. Its Republican chronological scope results from this. Literary sources form the primary focus of this approach, intermittently supported by the disciplines of archaeology, numismatics, and epigraphy. Accordingly, it attempts to position these rituals in the course of warfare, as it would feature for the soldier. From the vantage point of trauma studies and the principle of narrative understanding, this thesis offers an alternative interpretation of the significance ritual may have had for the Roman soldier’s experience of battle. Thereby, it explores new avenues of study to the experience of ritual and battle. This thesis argues that the various rituals that featured in the preamble and summation of battle had significant potential to shape the individual’s anticipation, experience, and memory of the event. The rituals that the soldier would be witness or participant of, aided him in the creation of a meaningful narrative of events, thereby having the potential to offer psychological relief. 3 Arjen J. van Lil Abbreviations App. Civ. – Appian, Civil Wars App. Mithr. – Appian, Mithridatic Wars App. Pun. – Appian, Punic Wars App. Sam. – Appian, Samnite Wars App. Span. – Appian, Spanish Wars App. Syr. – Appian, Syrian Wars Caes. Gall. – Caesar, Gallic Wars Cass. Dio – Cassius Dio, Roman History Cat. Agri. – Cato the Elder, On Agriculture Cic. Div. – Cicero, On Divination Cic. Nat. Gods – Cicero, On the Nature of the Gods Cic. Pis. – Cicero, Against Piso Dion. Hal. – Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities Eutr. Sum. – Eutropius, Summary of Roman History Fest. – Festus, Breviarium Fest. Lex. – Festus, Lexicon Flav. Jos. Jew. War – Flavius Josephus, The Jewish War Flor. Epit. – Florus, Epitome of Roman History Front. Strat. – Frontinus, Stratagems Hirt. Afr. – Hirtius, On the African War Hirt. Alex. – Hirtius, On the Alexandrine War Liv. – Livy, The History of Rome Liv. Peri. – Livy, Periochae Macr. Sat. – Macrobius, Saturnalia Oros. His. Pag. – Orosius, History against the Pagans Plin. Nat. His. – Pliny the Elder, Natural History Plut. Aem. – Plutarch, Life of Aemilius Plut. Brut. – Plutarch, Life of Brutus Plut. Cam. – Plutarch, Life of Camillus Plut. Cras. – Plutarch, Life of Crassus Plut. Marc. – Plutarch, Life of Marcellus Plut. Mar. – Plutarch, Life of Marius Plut. Rom. – Plutarch, Life of Romulus Plut. RQ – Plutarch, Roman Questions Poly. – Polybius, Histories Strab. Geo. – Strabo, The Geography Suet. Nero – Suetonius, Life of Nero Tac. Ann. – Tacitus, Annals Var. Lat. Lan. – Varro, On the Latin Language 4 Ritual, Narrative, and Trauma Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 6 I – Ritual, Religion, and the Experience of War – Historiography and Theory ....................... 15 §1.1 The study of Roman ritual ............................................................................................ 15 §1.2 War, trauma, and the ancient world .............................................................................. 20 §1.3 Narrative and trauma: a theoretical framework ............................................................ 25 §1.4 Methodology ................................................................................................................. 30 II – Rituals of Opening: The Transition Towards Battle.......................................................... 32 §2.1 Ritual in the Roman religious and military landscape .................................................. 34 §2.2 Ritual and the soldier – a preliminary analysis ............................................................. 38 §2.3 Purifying the army: the lustratio .................................................................................. 48 §2.4 Predicting victory: the auspicium ................................................................................. 58 §2.5 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 64 III – Rituals of Closure: The Transition From Battle ............................................................... 65 §3.1 Concluding battle: the devotio hostium ........................................................................ 65 §3.2 Performing victory and defeat: the passum sub iugum ................................................. 75 §3.3 Affirming victory: the triumphus ................................................................................. 83 §3.4 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 89 IV – Analysis ............................................................................................................................ 90 §4.1 Battle and the Roman ritual construct .......................................................................... 91 §4.2 Ritual as a narrativizing element .................................................................................. 96 Conclusion .............................................................................................................................. 103 Appendix ................................................................................................................................ 105 Appendix I – The lustratio ................................................................................................. 105 Appendix II – The auspicium ............................................................................................. 108 Appendix III – The devotio hostium ................................................................................... 109 Appendix IV – The passum sub iugum .............................................................................. 111 Appendix V – Images ......................................................................................................... 115 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................... 118 Primary sources .................................................................................................................. 118 Literature ............................................................................................................................ 119 5 Arjen J. van Lil Introduction ‘…our empire was won by those commanders who obeyed the dictates of religion.’ – Cicero (106-43 BCE), On the Nature of the Gods.1 To Cicero, the Roman conduct of war was a religious affair. The Romans owed their military success to their strict religious observance and ‘reverence for the gods’, he surmised. At all times, the consul at war was required to align military decision-making to religious decree, as dictated by custom, the priestly colleges, and the Senate. These dictates would ensure that wars were fought justly and in accordance with divine injunction. In this sense – and in fact, this sense alone – the Romans surpassed all other nations, Cicero modestly posits. Cicero composed his work On the Nature of the Gods in 45 BCE, the year in which Caesar and Pompey competed for power and the Republican status quo faltered. His reference to the gravity of religious observance was no mere historical anecdote, it was a maxim as well – a silent reminder to the military competitors of his time not to stray too far from the dictates of religion. To no surprise, we may see Cicero’s views reflected in the accounts of the ancient authors. In fact, Roman warfare and religion appear to have been closely intertwined – if ‘warfare’ and ‘religion’ can be considered separate categories at all, of course. In the narratives of Livy (64 BCE - 12 CE), for instance, we read how the fetiales, a special college of priests, officially declared the Roman wars by ritually throwing a bloodstained spear into enemy lands.2 Polybius (ca. 200-120 BCE) informs us about the sacramentum, an oath taken by soldiers not to abandon the standards and disobey command, adding a somewhat sacral dimension to the status of the soldier.3 Appian (95-165 CE) notes how the Romans performed the lustratio, an ‘act of purification’, before armies marched out or fleets sailed out.4 Cicero explains how the augurs were consulted before campaigns and battles, to witness the behaviour of birds in search 1 Cic. Nat. Gods 2.3.7. For the translations used for the primary sources in this paper, see the bibliography at the end. The list of abbreviations used for citing these works can be found at the beginning of this thesis. 2 Liv. 1.32.13-14: ‘It was customary for the Fetial to carry to the enemies' frontiers a blood-smeared spear tipped with iron or burnt at the end, and,