''Lustratio'' was an

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

and

ancient Roman In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–50 ...

purification ritual. It included a

procession A procession is an organized body of people walking in a formal or ceremonial manner. History Processions have in all peoples and at all times been a natural form of public celebration, as forming an orderly and impressive ceremony. Religious ...

and in some circumstances the

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exis ...

of a pig (''sus''), a

ram Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

(''ovis''), and a

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

(''taurus'') ('' suovetaurilia'').

Purpose

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 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 the ninth d ...

''. 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 Bulla (Latin, 'bubble') may refer to: Science and medicine * Bulla (dermatology), a bulla * Bulla, a focal lung pneumatosis, an air pocket in the lung * Auditory bulla, a hollow bony structure on the skull enclosing the ear * Ethmoid bulla, pa ...

'' 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 The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historiography, ...

'' for the plain ''

toga virilis The toga (, ), a distinctive garment of ancient Rome, was a roughly semicircular cloth, between in length, draped over the shoulders and around the body. It was usually woven from white wool, and was worn over a tunic. In Roman historical tra ...

'' of an adult. The ''lustratio'' ceremony culminated with the

naming Naming is assigning a name to something. Naming may refer to: * Naming (parliamentary procedure), a procedure in certain parliamentary bodies * Naming ceremony, an event at which an infant is named * Product naming, the discipline of deciding wh ...

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

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

by Epimenides of Crete, after the Cylonian massacre.Murray p. 719 ''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. An example of this was the army of

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled ...

. ''Lustratio'' 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. 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. According to Zosimus, the pagan historian of late antiquity, after

Constantine the Great Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterran ...

had his son

Crispus Flavius Julius Crispus (; 300 – 326) was the eldest son of the Roman emperor Constantine I, as well as his junior colleague ( ''caesar'') from March 317 until his execution by his father in 326. The grandson of the ''augustus'' Constantius ...

and his own wife

Fausta Flavia Maxima Fausta ''Augusta'' (289–326 AD) was a Roman empress. She was the daughter of Maximian and second wife of Constantine the Great, who had her executed and excluded from all official accounts for unknown reasons. Historians Zosim ...

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 traditional theological term for the forgiveness imparted by ordained Christian priests and experienced by Christian penitents. It is a universal feature of the historic churches of Christendom, although the theology and the pr ...

.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
Religious rituals Ancient Roman religion Ritual purification Animal sacrifice

Purpose

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links