A Smaller Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities

by William Smith

RŬDĬĀRĬI. [[Gladiatores].]

RŬDIS. [[Gladiatores].]

S

SACCUS (σάκκος) signified in general any kind of sack or bag made of hair, cloth, or other materials. We have only to notice here its meaning as—(1) A head-dress. [[Coma].]—(2) A sieve for straining wine. [[Colum].]—(3) A purse for holding money. Hence the phrase in Plautus ire ad saccum, “to go a begging.”

SĂCELLUM is a diminutive of sacer, and signifies a small place consecrated to a god, containing an altar, and sometimes also a statue of the god to whom it was dedicated, but it was without a roof. It was therefore a sacred inclosure surrounded by a fence or wall, and thus answered to the Greek περίβολος.

SĂCERDOS, SĂCERDŌTĬUM. As all the different kinds of priests are treated of separately in this work, it is only necessary here to make some general remarks. In comparison with the civil magistrates, all priests at Rome were regarded as homines privati, though all of them, as priests, were sacerdotes publici, in as far as their office (sacerdotium) was connected with any worship recognised by the state. The appellation of sacerdos publicus was, however, given principally to the chief pontiff and the flamen dialis, who were at the same time the only priests who were members of the senate by virtue of their office. All priestly offices or sacerdotia were held for life, without responsibility to any civil magistrate. A priest was generally allowed to hold any other civil or military office besides his priestly dignity; some priests, however, formed an exception, for the duumviri, the rex sacrorum, and the flamen dialis were not allowed to hold any state office, and were also exempt from service in the armies. Their priestly character was, generally speaking, inseparable from their person as long as they lived: hence the augurs and fratres arvales retained their character even when sent into exile, or when they were taken prisoners. It also occurs that one and the same person held two or three priestly offices at a time. Thus we find the three dignities of pontifex maximus, augur, and decemvir sacrorum united in one individual. Bodily defects incapacitated a person at Rome, as among all ancient nations, from holding any priestly office. All priests were originally patricians, but from the year B.C. 367 the plebeians also began to take part in the sacerdotia [[Plebes]]; and those priestly offices which down to the latest times remained in the hands of the patricians alone, such as that of the rex sacrorum, the flamines, salii, and others, had no influence upon the affairs of the state. As regards the appointment of priests, the ancients unanimously state, that at first they were appointed by the kings, but after the sacerdotia were once instituted, each college of priests—for nearly all priests constituted certain corporations called collegia—had the right of filling up, by cooptatio, the vacancies which occurred. [[Pontifex].] Other priests, on the contrary, such as the vestal virgins and the flamines, were appointed (capiebantur) by the pontifex maximus, a rule which appears to have been observed down to the latest times; others again, such as the duumviri sacrorum, were elected by the people, or by the curiae, as the curiones. But in whatever manner they were appointed, all priests after their appointment required to be inaugurated by the pontiffs and the augurs, or by the latter alone. Those priests who formed colleges had originally, as we have already observed, the right of cooptatio; but in the course of time they were deprived of this right, or at least the cooptatio was reduced to a mere form, by several leges, called leges de sacerdotiis, such as the Lex Domitia, Cornelia, and Julia; their nature is described in the article [Pontifex], and what is there said in regard to the appointment of pontiffs applies equally to all the other colleges. All priests had some external distinction, as the apex, tutulus, or galerus, the toga praetexta, as well as honorary seats in the theatres, circuses, and amphitheatres. Most of the priestly colleges possessed landed property, and some priests had also a regular annual salary (stipendium), which was paid to them from the public treasury. This is expressly stated in regard to the vestal virgins, the augurs, and the curiones, and may therefore be supposed to have been the case with other priests also. The pontifex maximus, the rex sacrorum, and the vestal virgins had moreover a domus publica as their place of residence.

SACRA. This word, in its widest sense, expresses what we call divine worship. In ancient times, the state, as well as all its subdivisions, had their own peculiar forms of worship, whence at Rome we find sacra of the whole Roman people, of the curies, gentes, families, and even of private individuals. All these sacra, however, were divided into two great classes, the public and private sacra (sacra publica et privata), that is, they were performed either on behalf of the whole nation, and at the expense of the state, or on behalf of individuals, families, or gentes, which had also to defray their expenses. This division is ascribed to Numa. All sacra, publica as well as privata, were superintended and regulated by the pontiffs.

SACRĀMENTUM, the military oath, which was administered in the following manner:—Each tribunus militum assembled his legion, and picked out one of the men, to whom he put the oath, that he would obey the commands of his generals, and execute them punctually. The other men then came forward, one after another, and repeated the same oath, saying that they would do like the first.

SACRĀRĬUM was any place in which sacred things were deposited and kept, whether this place was a part of a temple or of a private house.

SACRIFĬCĬUM (ἱερεῖον), a sacrifice. Sacrifices or offerings formed the chief part of the worship of the ancients. They were partly signs of gratitude, partly a means of propitiating the gods, and partly also intended to induce the deity to bestow some favour upon the sacrificer, or upon those on whose behalf the sacrifice was offered. Sacrifices in a wider sense would also embrace the [Donaria]; in a narrower sense sacrificia were things offered to the gods, which merely afforded momentary gratification, and which were burnt upon their altars, or were believed to be consumed by the gods. All sacrifices may be divided into bloody sacrifices and unbloody sacrifices.—Bloody sacrifices. In the early times of Greece we find mention of human sacrifices, but with a few exceptions these had ceased in the historical ages. Owing to the influence of civilisation, in many cases animals were substituted for human beings; in others, a few drops of human blood were thought sufficient to propitiate the gods. The custom of sacrificing human life to the gods arose from the belief that the nobler the sacrifice and the dearer to its possessor, the more pleasing it would be to the gods. Hence the frequent instances in Grecian story of persons sacrificing their own children, or of persons devoting themselves to the gods of the lower world. That the Romans also believed human sacrifices to be pleasing to the gods, might be inferred from the story of Curtius and from the self-sacrifice of the Decii. The symbolic sacrifice of human figures made of rushes at the Lemuralia [[Lemuralia]] also shows that in the early history of Italy human sacrifices were not uncommon. For another proof of this practice, see [Ver Sacrum]. A second kind of bloody sacrifices were those of animals of various kinds, according to the nature and character of the divinity. The sacrifices of animals were the most common among the Greeks and Romans. The victim was called ἱερεῖον, and in Latin hostia or victima. In the early times it appears to have been the general custom to burn the whole victim (ὁλοκαυτεῖν) upon the altars of the gods, and the same was in some cases also observed in later times. But as early as the time of Homer it was the almost general practice to burn only the legs (μηροί, μηρία, μῆρα) enclosed in fat, and certain parts of the intestines, while the remaining parts of the victim were consumed by men at a festive meal. The gods delighted chiefly in the smoke arising from the burning victims, and the greater the number of victims, the more pleasing was the sacrifice. Hence it was not uncommon to offer a sacrifice of one hundred bulls (ἑκατόμβη) at once, though it must not be supposed that a hecatomb always signifies a sacrifice of a hundred bulls, for the name was used in a general way to designate any great sacrifice. Such great sacrifices were not less pleasing to men than to the gods, for in regard to the former they were in reality a donation of meat. Hence at Athens the partiality for such sacrifices rose to the highest degree. The animals which were sacrificed were mostly of the domestic kind, as bulls, cows, sheep, rams, lambs, goats, pigs, dogs, and horses; and each god had his favourite animals which he liked best as sacrifices. The head of the victim, before it was killed, was in most cases strewed with roasted barley meal (οὐλόχυτα or οὐλοχύται) mixed with salt (mola salsa). The persons who offered the sacrifice wore generally garlands round their heads, and sometimes also carried them in their hands, and before they touched anything belonging to the sacrifice they washed their hands in water. The victim itself was likewise adorned with garlands, and its horns were sometimes gilt. Before the animal was killed, a bunch of hair was cut from its forehead, and thrown into the fire as primitiae (κατάρχεσθαι). In the heroic ages the princes, as the high priests of their people, killed the victim; in later times this was done by the priests themselves. When the sacrifice was to be offered to the Olympic gods, the head of the animal was drawn heavenward; when to the gods of the lower world, to heroes, or to the dead, it was drawn downwards. While the flesh was burning upon the altar, wine and incense were thrown upon it, and prayers and music accompanied the solemnity. The most common animal sacrifices at Rome were the suovetaurilia or solitaurilia, consisting of a pig, a sheep, and an ox. They were performed in all cases of a lustration, and the victims were carried around the thing to be lustrated, whether it was a city, a people, or a piece of land. [[Lustratio].] The Greek trittya (τριττύα), which likewise consisted of an ox, a sheep, and a pig, was the same sacrifice as the Roman suovetaurilia. The customs observed before and during the sacrifice of an animal were on the whole the same as those observed in Greece. But the victim was in most cases not killed by the priests who conducted the sacrifice, but by a person called popa, who struck the animal with a hammer before the knife was used. The better parts of the intestines (exta) were strewed with barley meal, wine, and incense, and were burnt upon the altar. Those parts of the animal which were burnt were called prosecta, prosiciae, or ablegmina. When a sacrifice was offered to gods of rivers, or of the sea, these parts were not burnt, but thrown into the water. Respecting the use which the ancients made of sacrifices to learn the will of the gods, see [Haruspex] and [Divinatio].—Unbloody sacrifices. Among these we may first mention the libations (libationes, λοιβαί or σπονδαί). Bloody sacrifices were usually accompanied by libations, as wine was poured upon them. The wine was usually poured out in three separate streams. Libations always accompanied a sacrifice which was offered in concluding a treaty with a foreign nation, and that here they formed a prominent part of the solemnity, is clear from the fact that the treaty itself was called σπονδαί. But libations were also made independent of any other sacrifice, as in solemn prayers, and on many other occasions of public and private life, as before drinking at meals, and the like. Libations usually consisted of unmixed wine (ἔνσπονδος, merum), but sometimes also of milk, honey, and other fluids, either pure or diluted with water. The libations offered to the Furies were always without wine. Incense was likewise an offering which usually accompanied bloody sacrifices, but it was also burned as an offering for itself. A third class of unbloody sacrifices consisted of fruit and cakes. The former were mostly offered to the gods as primitiae or tithes of the harvest, and as a sign of gratitude. They were sometimes offered in their natural state, sometimes also adorned or prepared in various ways. Cakes were peculiar to the worship of certain deities, as to that of Apollo. They were either simple cakes of flour, sometimes also of wax, or they were made in the shape of some animal, and were then offered as symbolical sacrifices in the place of real animals, either because they could not easily be procured, or were too expensive for the sacrificer.