''Lustratio'' was an

ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

and

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

purification ritual. It included a procession and in some circumstances the

sacrifice Sacrifice is an act or offering made to a deity. A sacrifice can serve as propitiation, or a sacrifice can be an offering of praise and thanksgiving. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Gree ...

of a pig (''sus''), a ram (''ovis''), and a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

(''taurus'') (''

suovetaurilia The or was one of the most sacred and traditional rites of Roman religion: the sacrifice of a pig (), a sheep () and a bull () to the deity Mars to bless and purify land (). Ritual There were two kinds: * ("suckling suovetaurilia") of a ...

''). The name is the source of English " lustration" (a purification).

Purpose

The ''Lustratio'' was performed by a

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

or magistrate who led a procession with at least one sacrificial animal around the area intended to be purified. Following this, the animals would be sacrificed to the god

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. The animals which were sacrificed were usually either a pig, ram, or a

. One reason for a ''lustratio'' was to rid newborn children of any harmful spirits that may have been acquired at birth prior to the ''

dies lustricus In ancient Rome the ''dies lustricus'' ("day of Lustratio, lustration" or "purification day") was a traditional naming ceremony in which an infant was purified and given a ''praenomen'' (given name). This occurred on the eighth day for girls and t ...

''. The ceremony took place at the age of nine days for baby boys and eight days for baby girls. In the ceremony, the procession traced a magical boundary around the child to be purified. At the end of the ceremony, if the child was male, he was presented with a small charm, usually of gold, called a '' bulla'' and kept in a leather bag around the boy's neck. This ''bulla'' would be worn until the boy became a man and exchanged the child's purple-lined toga '' toga praetexta'' for the plain '' toga virilis'' of an adult. The ''lustratio'' ceremony culminated with the naming of the child, the name being added to official Roman registers, and the observation of a flight of birds in order to discern the child’s future. ''Lustratio'' ceremonies were also used to purify cities, objects or buildings, and on some occasions to purify an area where a crime had been committed. ''Lustratio'' ceremonies were also used to bless crops, farm animals, new colonies, and armies before going into battle or passing into review. In the latter case, troops were often ordered to the coastline, where half of the sacrifice would be thrown into the sea and the other half burnt on an altar.Murray p. 719 Instructions on the ''lustratio'' performed for the Roman town of Iguvium illustrate that the ceremony consisted of a procession of priests and sacrificial victims around the town's citadel, stopping at the three gates to the citadel, where the sacrifices took place. The gates were considered as the weak points which required strengthening.

Instances

One notable occasion was a ''lustratio'' held to purify

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

by Epimenides of Crete, after the Cylonian massacre. Another example of this ceremony involved was that of the army of Macedon. It was performed by a dog being cut in half, and the army assembling between the location of the two halves, which were flung in opposite directions. According to Zosimus, the pagan historian of late antiquity, after

Constantine the Great Constantine I (27 February 27222 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was a Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337 and the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. He played a Constantine the Great and Christianity, pivotal ro ...

had his son Crispus and his own wife Fausta killed, he approached priests of the old religion, and finding that they were unwilling to offer him ''lustratio'' for these deeds, went over to the Christian religion after theirs offered him

absolution Absolution is a theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Priest#Christianity, Christian priests and experienced by Penance#Christianity, Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, alth ...

.Zosimus p. 151

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * Evans, Arthur ''Anthropology and the Classics'', 1967 * Goldsworthy, Adrian ''Caesar'', 2006 * Heitland, William Emerton ''The Roman Republic'', 1909 * * * Murray, John ''A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities'', 1875 * * Zosimus, New History. London: Green and Chaplin (1814). Book 2. {{Refend

External links

Translation of the ''Historia Nova'' (published in 1814), book 1
Rituals Religious rituals Ancient Roman religion Ritual purification Animal sacrifice

Ancient roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...