Animal Sacrifice and the Roman Emperor

AbstractThis chapter examines the role of animal sacrifice in fashioning the Roman emperor as the chief unifying feature of the empire. Because animal sacrifice allowed for maximum variety and flexibility, it was valuable for creating consensus around the emperor. The emperor could figure as the sacrificant, the one who offered the sacrifice, or the beneficiary, the one on whose behalf it was offered, or the recipient, the one to whom it was offered. Each role provided a different strategy for modeling the relationship between emperor and subjects. In imperial cult, the emperor was either beneficiary or recipient of the sacrifice. Sacrifices on his behalf represented him as a member of the human community but with a unique role in conveying the gods’ blessings. In contrast, offering sacrifices to the emperor located him above the community, as the one who provided the empire’s inhabitants with peace, stability, and prosperity. Images of the emperor as sacrificant on monumental reliefs and coins presented him as a member of a human community, mediating between that community and its gods and thus at the pinnacle of the empire’s sociopolitical hierarchy. These strategies constituted contrasting yet complementary ways of communicating and constructing the emperor’s superior power and status.