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Re: Sacrificing to standards
I sent the following message to Orion last evening, but have not seen it
appear. Please forgive me if this presents a duplication.
David Suter
Saint Martin's College
Ian,
Here's what I came up with five years ago when I looked into the issue of
the cult of the standards and the date of the Habakkuk Pesher in
developing a critique of Eisenman's use of the reference to argue for a
late date for the pesher. The argument about the conservative character
of religious practice (in general) comes from Gosta Ahlstrom, one of my
professors, whom TLT and NPL normally think highly of (although I don't
know if they'd go along with this particular argument. The bottom line
is that it is not possible to prove that the cult of the standards
existed in republican times, but it is not possible to rule it out either.
The most important of the legionary standards was not the image of the
emperor but the <L>aquila</L> or eagle of the legion, which was given to
the various units under the reforms of Gaius Marius in 104 BCE. The
eagle was the <L>numen legionis</L>, had an altar dedicated to it, and
received sacrifices when the legion was victorious. Its loss in battle
was the equivalent of the death of the legion. While there is no direct
evidence that the cult of the standards antedates imperial times, it is
entirely within the realm of possibility that it does -- particularly since
the introduction of the <L>aquila</L> by Marius was one of several steps
designed to make the army a more effective and professional fighting
force. The fact that religious practice is generally conservative in
character likewise suggests the possibility of a republican date for the
cult. In any case, the detail cannot be used to rule out a date for the
Habakkuk Pesher as early as 63 BCE, the beginning of the Roman presence
in Israel.
For information on the cult of the standards, see Michael Grant, <B>The
Army of the Caesars</B> (New York: Scribners, 1974), p. 5; N.G.L. Hammond
and H. H. Scullard, eds., "Signa Militaria" and "Standards, Cult of," <B>The
Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd edition</B> (Oxford: Clarendon, 1970),
pp. 988 and 1011; H.M.D. Parker, <B>The Roman Legions</B> (New York:
Barnes and Noble, 1958), p. 36; and Lawrence Keppie, <B>The Making of the
Roman Army: From Republic to Empire</B> (Totowa, N.J.: Barnes and Noble,
1984), p. 67. Keppie points out that prior to the Marian reforms the
five symbols on the standards -- eagle, wolf, minotaur, horse, and boar --
were all "animal totems, reflecting the religious beliefs of an
agricultural society" (ibid.), another factor suggesting that the cult of
the standards has its roots in traditional Roman religion and is not an
innovation of the Empire.
Could the last comment in any way illuminate the "horses and beasts" in
the Habakkuk Pesher?
Hope this is helpful,
David
> > >
David W. Suter
Saint Martin's College
Lacey, WA 98503
dsuter@catadon.stmartin.edu