Paper short abstract:

In this paper, I analyze my experience of the slaughter of cattle at Islamic Kurban Bayram sacrifices to make suggestions concerning the sensory impact of ancient sacrifice within an urban space, using as a case study the rites of emperor worship carried out at the temple of Domitian in Ephesus.

Paper long abstract:

The urban landscape of late 1st century C.E. Ephesus in Asia Minor was dominated by a temple to the Roman emperor Domitian. Built high on an artificial platform, the visual impact of the building complex and the religious and political implications of its location and decoration have been much-discussed by archaeologists and art historians. However, no one has analyzed the impact of the blood sacrifices carried out on the altar in front of the temple - the sights, sounds and smells of the ritual slaughter and their sensory effects on the city's inhabitants. In antiquity, a temple building denoted the presence and prestige of a deity, but it was the aural and, especially, the olfactory aspects of the sacrificial act that were of greatest importance in expressing society's relationship to the god. A thorough understanding of the sensory elements of ancient sacrifice is vital if we are to fully appreciate the implications of sacrificial practice.

Ancient sources record as many as 144 bulls offered in a single day in the rites of Roman emperor worship; it is difficult for scholars to conceive of such a spectacle. I will analyze my experience of the slaughter of large numbers of bovines during the Islamic Kurban Bayram sacrifices in Istanbul to make suggestions concerning the sensory elements of sacrifice in imperial Ephesus. This is not a comparative religion project, but an auto-ethnographic attempt to understand the sensory impact of ancient sacrifice in a way that exceeds the limitations of traditional archaeological and literary research.