Table Of ContentSENSORIVM
Religions in the
Graeco-Roman World
Series Editors
David Frankfurter (Boston University)
Johannes Hahn (Universität Münster)
Frits G. Naerebout (University of Leiden)
Miguel John Versluys (University of Leiden)
volume 195
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/rgrw
SENSORI V M
The Senses in Roman Polytheism
Edited by
Antón Alvar Nuño
Jaime Alvar Ezquerra
Greg Woolf
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Nydia, the Blind Flower Girl of Pompeii. Randolph Rogers (1859). Picture by Zack Jarosz on
Pexels.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Alvar Nuño, Antón, editor. | Alvar Ezquerra, Jaime, editor. |
Woolf, Greg, editor.
Title: SENSORIVM : the senses in Roman polytheism / edited by Antón Alvar
Nuño, Jaime Alvar Ezquerra, Greg Woolf.
Other titles: Sensorium
Description: Leiden ; Boston : Brill, [2021] | Series: Religions in the
Graeco-Roman world, 0927-7633 ; volume 195 | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021008122 (print) | LCCN 2021008123 (ebook) |
ISBN 9789004459731 (hardback) | ISBN 9789004459748 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Senses and sensation—Religious aspects. | Rome—Religion.
| Ritual—Rome. | Cults—Rome.
Classification: LCC BL815.S46 S46 2021 (print) | LCC BL815.S46 (ebook) |
DDC 292.1/61521—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008122
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021008123
Typeface for the Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic scripts: “Brill”. See and download: brill.com/brill-typeface.
ISSN 0927-7633
ISBN 978-90-04-45973-1 (hardback)
ISBN 978-90-04-45974-8 (e-book)
Copyright 2021 by Antón Alvar Nuño, Jaime Alvar Ezquerra and Greg Woolf. Published by Koninklijke
Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Brill Nijhoff, Brill Hotei, Brill Schöningh, Brill Fink,
Brill mentis, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Böhlau Verlag and V&R Unipress..
Koninklijke Brill NV reserves the right to protect this publication against unauthorized use. Requests for
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This book is printed on acid-free paper and produced in a sustainable manner.
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Illustrations viii
Notes on Editors x
Notes on Contributors xi
Introduction 1
Antón Alvar Nuño, Jaime Alvar Ezquerra, and Greg Woolf
1 Faces of Death: Lucretius, Religio, and Vision at Rome 35
Martin Devecka
2 Lucretius and the Body-Environment Approach 52
Visa Helenius
3 Hirpi Sorani and Modern Fire-Walkers: Rejoicing through Pain in
Extreme Rituals 71
Yulia Ustinova
4 Empowered Tongues 90
Attilio Mastrocinque
5 Favete linguis and the Experience of the Divine: A Cognitively Grounded
Approach to Sensory Perception in Roman Religion 103
Maik Patzelt
6 The Triumph of the Senses: Sensory Awareness and the Divine in
Roman Public Celebrations 125
Mark Bradley
7 Sensorium, Sensescapes, Synaesthesia, Multisensoriality: A New Way of
Approaching Religious Experience in Antiquity? 141
Adeline Grand-Clément
8 Day and Night in the Agones of the Roman Isthmian Games 160
Rocío Gordillo Hervás
vi Contents
9 Multisensory Experiences in Mithraic Initiation 177
Rebeca Rubio
10 Imperial Mysteries and Religious Experience 192
Elena Muñiz Grijalvo
11 Pro consensu et concordia civium: Sensoriality, Imperial Cult, and
Social Control in Augustan Urban Orientations 207
David Espinosa-Espinosa, A. César González-García, and
Marco V. García-Quintela
12 Finding Religion in Reported Sensorial Experiences: A Case Study of
Propertius 4.6 236
Jörg Rüpke
13 Sensory Experiences in the Cybelic Cult: Sound Stimulation through
Musical Instruments 257
Rosa Sierra del Molino and Israel Campos Méndez
14 Isis’ Footprints: The Petrosomatoglyphs as Spatial Indicators of
Human-Divine Encounters 272
Valentino Gasparini
15 Assiduo sono and furiosa tibia in Ovid’s Fasti: Music and Religious
Identity in Narratives of Processions in the Roman World 366
Nicole Belayche
16 Total Sensory Experience in Isiac Cults: Mimesis, Alterity,
and Identity 389
Antón Alvar Nuño, Jaime Alvar Ezquerra, and Clelia Martínez Maza
Index of Literary Sources (Beatriz Pañeda Murcia) 427
Index of Epigraphic and Papyrological Sources
(Beatriz Pañeda Murcia) 438
General Index (Beatriz Pañeda Murcia) 443
Acknowledgements
The editors would like to express their gratitude to all the institutions and peo-
ple who have made this book possible.
The idea for this volume was first raised by Jaime Alvar during a discussion
of the research group “Historiography and History of Religions” at the Institute
of Historiography “Julio Caro Baroja” at the Carlos III University of Madrid.
Antón Alvar enthusiastically took the project on, despite his postdoctoral con-
tract at the Institute having already come to an end.
A happy coincidence provided additional inspiration for the work. While
the members of the Institute were beginning to make their arrangements for
the SENSORIVM Workshop, Prof. Greg Woolf was awarded a Reciprocal Chair
of Excellence from the Banco Santander-Carlos III University program. This
enabled Greg to spend three months in Madrid during the 2017–2018 academic
year, and Prof. Jaime Alvar to spend three months at the Institute of Classical
Studies at the University of London.
The Congress was held in November 2017 and formed part of the pro-
gramme of activities of the Chair of Excellence. The Project “Sanctuaries and
Experience”, directed by Prof. Woolf at the University of London and financed
through an Anneliese Maier Research Prize awarded by the Alexander von
Humboldt Stiftung, generously contributed to the financing of the Congress.
Other participants included the Vice-Rectorate of Research of uc3m; the
Institute of Historiography; the Research Project HAR2017-84789-C2-1-P, “Vías
de acceso a lo divino”, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation
and Universities; and the ARYS Association, co-organiser of the event.
Brill showed an early interest in publishing the results of the workshop and
made contact with the organisers. This opportunity provided an extraordinary
incentive in the process of completing this volume, as well as an additional
intellectual challenge.
The sessions of the workshop took place in high spirits and we were fortu-
nate to benefit from the presence of Prof. H. S. Versnel, whose contributions to
the debates were of great interest. An acknowledgement of his personal efforts
in sharing his expertise with us during those intense days cannot be omitted.
Of course, this book would not have been possible without the generous
participation of all the researchers who responded to our call. For various
reasons, not all the communications presented at the time have completed
the publication process. We nevertheless wish to thank all the participants for
their attendance and for having submitted such thought-provoking proposals.
We would also like to express our gratitude to the students who followed the
workshop with interest and to all the members of the Institute who cooperated
in its successful development.
Illustrations
11.1 Histogram showing the clustering of orientations for 64 towns built or
rebuilt in the time of Augustus 211
14.1 Industria. Plan of the sanctuary after the first excavations in 1811 [after Morra
di Lauriano 1843, pl. I] 281
14.2 Dion. a) Plan of the temple of Isis Lochia; b) Axonometry of the temple
[after Christodoulou 2011, 12, Fig. 2, and 17, Fig. 7] 283
14.3A-B Dion. The vestigia Cat. 21 and 22 with their bases as exhibited at the
Archaeological Museum of Dion [after Christodoulou 2011, 19, Figs. 10
and 12] 284–285
14.4A-B Baelo Claudia. a) Plan of the sanctuary of Isis; b) Axonometry of the pronaos
[after Dardaine et al. 2008, 6, Figs. 6 and 103, Fig. 50a] 288–289
14.5A-C Baelo Claudia. a) Frontal view of the temple; b) The area between the
staircase and the altar; c) The two vestigia [after Dardaine et al. 2008, 59,
Fig. 25a] 290–291
14.6 Italica. Aerial photography of the sanctuary of Isis [after Jiménez Sancho,
Rodríguez and Izquierdo 2013, 290, Fig. 9] 292
14.7A-C Italica. a) Location of the vestigia in front of the cella, later identified as
the pronaos of the temple; b) The pronaos of the temple after the first
excavations in 1989; c) The vestigia and their marble frame [after Corzo
Sánchez 1991, 126, Fig. 1; 128, Fig. 2; 134, Fig. 7] 294–295
16.1 Isiac ritual in an egyptianising atmosphere. Source: What Life Was Like When
Rome Ruled the World, Time-Life Books, 1997. Unknown author / Public
domain {{PD-anon-70-EU}} 401
16.2 Nilotic landscape (c. 70 CE), fresco, 45.7 × 38 cm, Getty Villa, Los Angeles.
Getty Villa / Public domain {{PD-anon-70-EU}} 402
16.3 Mosaic of the House of Neptune, Italica, with nilotic scene in the border.
The image shows various hunting activities and the escape of a pygmy who
climbs a palm tree while defecating in fear. 2nd century CE. Archaeological
site of Italica. © 2018 Junta de Andalucía http://www.museosdeandalucia.es/
web/conjuntoarqueologicodeitalica/elementos-muebles 403
16.4 Nilotic mosaic with men and women on river boats fighting animals, making
music, and having sex. Museo Nazionale Romano – Palazzo Massimo alle
Terme. Amphipolis / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by-sa/2.0) 404
16.5 Detail of the Nile mosaic at the National Archaeological Museum of
Palestrina. Photo: Camelia.boban / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/by-sa/3.0) 405
Illustrations ix
16.6 “Campana” relief with Roman Nilotic landscape. 1st Century CE. H. 48.3 cm;
W. 51.3 cm; Th. 4.1 cm. Gift of Edward Sampson, Class of 1914, for the Alden
Sampson Collection (y1962-143) Princeton University Art Museum. https://
artmuseum.princeton.edu/collections/objects/28899 406
16.7 “Campana” relief with Roman Nilotic landscape. Altes Museum Berlin. Photo:
Angoria. Altes Museum / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/
by/3.0) 407
Notes on Editors
Antón Alvar Nuño
is Senior Lecturer of Ancient History at the University of Málaga. He has
held postdoctoral Fellowships at the Universities of Franche-Comté, France,
and Carlos III University of Madrid, Spain. His research is focused on Roman
religion, with a special interest in Roman magic, on which he has published
two monographs, Envidia y fascinación. El mal de ojo en el Occidente romano,
Madrid, 2012, and Cadenas invisibles. Los usos de la magia entre los esclavos en
el Imperio romano, Besançon, 2017.
Jaime Alvar Ezquerra
is Professor of Ancient History at the Carlos III University of Madrid. In 2019
he was appointed Directeur d’Études invité at the École Pratique d’Hautes
Études. Previously, he has taught at the University of Franche-Comté
(Besançon) and has been visiting scholar at Oxford, Cambridge, London, Johns
Hopkins, Princeton among other universities. He is the founder and director
of the scientific journals ARYS and Revista de Historiografía. His research areas
include the Protohistory of the Iberian Peninsula (specially Tartessos), and
Roman Religion with a special interest in the cults of Mithras, the gens isiaca
and Mater Magna. He is corresponding member of the Real Academia de la
Historia, and Korrespondierendes Mitglied at the Deutsches Archäologisches
Institut.
Greg Woolf
is Professor of Classics and Director of the Institute of Classical Studies in
London, and is also Honorary Professor of Archaeology at University College
London. During 2018 he held a Chair of Excellence at Carlos III University of
Madrid, Spain. His latest book is The Life and Death of Ancient Cities. A Natural
History, New York, 2020.
