Sacrifices In Roman Religion

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The main goal of Roman religion was to organize how mortals interact with gods. There are various ways in which mortals could communicate with, or feel closer to, the Gods. Sacrifices were the most detailed ritual that was performed in the name of a God. There were also vows people took and prayers they said (Scheid ch. 6). Another way this was accomplished was through myths. Myths were stories about Gods that were used to explain a natural phenomenon or to show how Gods affected the lives of mortals. The story of Psyche and Cupid, as told in Apuleius’ The Golden Ass, described a mortal’s journey through the land of the Gods. This story brought mortals closer to the Gods in two ways. The first way was through Psyche herself and her direct …show more content…

The first was Cupid the God of love. The most obvious connection between Psyche and Cupid was their love for each other. Following the instructions from his mother, Venus, Cupid kidnapped Psyche and locked her away in an extravagant palace. It is in that palace that they fell in love and became husband and wife. But Cupid would not let Psyche see his face or know who he was. Cupid also forbade Psyche from seeing her family. He said that she should not listen to anything her sisters said (Apuleius *). These first few encounters connect God and mortal. They showed that, like mortals, Gods are not perfect. Cupid was adamant about not letting Psyche see her sisters but Psyche eventually wore him down and he agreed. This showed that Cupid had a weakness. He let Psyche sway him against his better judgment (Morwood 113). The next significant encounter between Psyche and a God was her surrender to Venus. Psyche was tortured and given a task to sort out a pile of seeds. I believe this to be a sacrifice. People of authority usually performed sacrifices but slaves did the manual labor that was involved. Psyche was performing manual labor while being enslaved by Venus. Plants were common objects brought to offerings which connected the seeds that Venus had Psyche sort through (Scheid ch. 6). This brought Psyche closer to the Gods because it showed her performing a common ritual in the presence of a God. It brought the

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