All the images we have seen so far are concentrated very closely on the events around the altar. Roman imagery is full of representations showing religious processions, too, and the long and lavish processions of some Roman religious rituals distinguish them from one another. Sometimes all the participants, the priests, acolytes, and sacrificial animals, walk through the city; the Roman triumph will be treated later. Conspicuously for both the ancient participant and the modern viewer of the monuments are the rituals with the sacrifice of three different animals (ram, boar, and bull). For this sacrifice two names (solitaurilia and suovetaurilia: Scholz 1973) and a lot of occasions are preserved in ancient written sources. During the rituals the procession played an exceptional role, because it did not only go from a point A to a point B like the triumph. Instead it orbited the object (a group of persons, a city) three times for lustration. This sequence is suited to defining an integrated topographical or sociological situation. Any space is clearly connected with a group of persons. This community was constituted by the procession and everybody resting outside is clearly marked as a non-member. A place which was lustrated during this Roman ritual is marked as a Roman place, too. At the same time the ritual produces an atmosphere of transparency because the hierarchical structure of a community becomes visible. The person who is acting in a special role during the ritual also has a big responsibility for the society (Baudy 1998: 105-6).
But to which deity is this ritual addressed? If there are a lot of monuments and sources that show Mars at an altar (e. g. the Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus), he is not only a deity for lustration. A deity could be the addressee in other specific situations, too. A frieze from Beaujeu in the Museum of Lyon (Ryberg 1955: 115 fig. 60 a-e) shows the inauguration of an altar for the goddess Ceres (Veyne 1959). The goddess herself is shown in the frieze between the ritual processions of sacrificial animals. However, is the presented ritual really an inauguration or its anniversary? A similar problem is offered by the case of the Ara Pacis in Rome (Ryberg 1955: 38 figs. 22-4). From the archaeological point of view it is not possible to decide whether the big frieze from the outside of the altar really shows the inauguration. This ambiguity may in fact be the solution to the problem: it is possible that the ancient Roman pictures are multi-functional. If both rituals - the one of the inauguration and the one on a fixed day once a year - are identical, the monument can record both, if there are no specific links to one or the other.
The most famous representations of suovetaurilia in Roman art are present on the column of Traian (Ryberg 1955: 109ff., 121ff. figs. 55-8; Fless 1995: pls. 3.1, 6.1, 22.1, 44.1). Three religious scenes (scenes 8, 53, 103) out of eight (the others are 80, 83-5, 86, 91, 98-9; Settis et al. 1988) show the common sacrifice of ram, boar, and bull. The composition of all three is identical. In the center the emperor in a toga and capite velato stands in front of the altar inside a camp. From the bird’s-eye view the procession during the walk around the camp is also visible. The ritual shown, lustratio exercitus, is the perfect pictorial formula to demonstrate the unity of the Roman military. For these reasons this scene is shown before every big military action (Baumer et al. 1991). Beside the perfect arms and the secure camp the protection of the deities was the most important thing that made military actions successful.
The most lavish procession in the Roman world is that of the triumph. The military triumph is not only an important historical incident; it is also part of a religious ritual to Iuppiter Capitolinus. If the state of preservation is not too bad, it is easy to identify the scenes of Roman triumph. One of the famous monuments from the early imperial period is the rest of the frieze of the temple of Apollo Sosianus in Rome (fig. 18.3 in chapter 18 below). Behind a group of ferculum-bearers (stretcher-bearers) the highly decorated animals walk in step. Nothing remains of other sequences of the ritual, like the libation or the killing of the animals. All official monuments of Roman triumph have this fact in common; only the procession is presented and there is no necessity for other scenes. All the actors of the ritual are shown in an optimal position during the procession. For the emperor, the triumphal chariot is the perfect place to show his role, position, and success. Before the campaign he had offered to the gods and let everybody know his promises in case of success. The procession is the perfect form to demonstrate his keeping of the vows. The participant in the real procession in Rome and the observer of the monument can see that all the bulls the emperor promised are ready for sacrifice. Thus anybody can testify to correct dealings with the deities. Of all the triumphal ritual only the procession is able to show unmistakably how important the emperor is and how impressive his success during his reign.
Not all sequences of religious rituals are shown in the archaeological monuments, and every time there are specific motives for their representation. Certainly, there were exceptions, like the relief showing the examination of entrails that is today in Paris (Ryberg 1955: 128-31 fig. 69 a-b). Of all the Roman priesthoods and their rituals, only a few are represented in archaeological monuments. And if some of them are shown as members of processions (as on the big friezes of the Ara Pacis) they do not perform their specific cults. They only represent and symbolize the large number of the Roman priesthoods and their cooperation in a moment - mostly a big event under the rule of the emperor - important for the Roman community.
World History
