Lustratio
Ancient Greek and Roman purification ritual with procession and sacrifice.
Lustratio was an ancient Greek and Roman purification ritual involving a procession and, in some cases, the sacrifice of a pig, ram, and bull. The term is the source of the English word 'lustration,' meaning a purification. It was performed by a priest or magistrate to cleanse people, places, or objects.
Quick Facts
- Type
- Purification ritual
- Cultures
- Ancient Greek, Ancient Roman
- Sacrificial animals
- Pig (sus)
- ram (ovis)
- bull (taurus)
- Deity
- Mars
- Notable practitioner
- Epimenides of Crete
Facts from the source article.
Purpose
The lustratio was conducted by a priest or magistrate who led a procession with at least one sacrificial animal around the area to be purified, after which the animals were sacrificed to the god Mars. The animals used were typically a pig, ram, or bull. One purpose was to rid newborn children of harmful spirits acquired at birth before the dies lustricus, held on the ninth day for boys and the eighth day for girls. The procession traced a magical boundary around the child; if male, he received a gold charm called a bulla, kept in a leather bag around his neck until he exchanged the purple-lined toga praetexta for the plain toga virilis. The ceremony ended with the child's naming, addition to Roman registers, and observation of a flight of birds to discern the child's future. Lustratio also purified cities, objects, buildings, or areas where a crime had occurred, and blessed crops, farm animals, new colonies, and armies before battle or review. For armies, troops sometimes went to the coast, where half the sacrifice was thrown into the sea and the other half burnt on an altar. Instructions for the Roman town of Iguvium show a procession of priests and victims around the citadel, stopping at three gates for sacrifices, as gates were considered weak points needing strengthening.
Instances
A notable lustratio was held to purify Athens by Epimenides of Crete after the Cylonian massacre. Another example involved the army of Macedon, where a dog was cut in half and the army assembled between the two halves flung in opposite directions. According to Zosimus, after Constantine the Great killed his son Crispus and wife Fausta, pagan priests were unwilling to offer him lustratio, leading him to embrace Christianity for its absolution.
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