Experiencing curses: neurobehavioral traits of ritual and spatiality in the Roman Empire
Salvo, I
Date: 16 April 2020
Book chapter
Publisher
de Gruyter
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Love, wish for revenge, fear, hope: ancient cursing rituals managed to embrace a vast
spectrum of emotions. They were prompted by emotional experiences, they manipulated
feelings, and their result could have been a renewed emotional state. This paper intends to
look at how the archaeological and ritual settings contributed to shape ...
Love, wish for revenge, fear, hope: ancient cursing rituals managed to embrace a vast
spectrum of emotions. They were prompted by emotional experiences, they manipulated
feelings, and their result could have been a renewed emotional state. This paper intends to
look at how the archaeological and ritual settings contributed to shape the emotional and
bodily experience of individual participants. Active compounds such as frankincense could
have helped the uplifting of negative emotions, but lead exposure could have provoked health
damage. Sensory deprivation could have enhanced the sense of being in contact with the
divine or could have distorted perception. The case studies include a selection of documents
from the sanctuary of Demeter and Kore in Corinth (I-II CE), the sanctuary of Isis and Magna
Mater in Mainz (I-II CE), and that of Anna Perenna in Rome (II-V CE). From these texts and
their contexts, it is possible to attempt a sketch of the cognitive and embodied aspects of
cursing rituals as a multi-sensory experience
Classics, Ancient History, Religion and Theology
Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
Item views 0
Full item downloads 0