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By: Sacerdos

Sacerdos — Tue, 13 Sep 2005 19:40:00 +0000

The taurobolium shown in “Rome” was not particularly proper. The series showed Atia undergoing the rite under the gaze of a male priest in order to have a divination made about Octavianus, who was on his way to Gallia.To my knowledge, only castrated priests ever served the Magna Mater in the Republican period. The diviner in the series was thin and had a nice deep voice, and clearly not meant to be a eunuch. Likewise for the priests performing the sacrifice.According to Prudentius, the method by which the bull was killed in the taurobolium was a stab with a spear, not a cut with a sacrificial knife as was shown in the series.I am unaware of any instance in which the taurobolium was used for divination in the fashion displayed. After all, it was a rebirth rite. Instead, a bull might be sacrificed and its entrails read by a haruspex, the flight of birds might be observed by an augur, or the smoke of the fire in which the bull’s entrails were burned might be watched for omens. Of course, none of those methods is as lurid as the taurobolium, which is why HBO chose to use it.Finally, the first evidence we have of a taurobolium being performed in Italy comes from the 130s CE. That’s over 170 years after the events portrayed in “Rome”, well after the fall of the Republic. And that makes Atia’s use of the taurobolium an outright historical howler.

By: Roger Fraley

Roger Fraley — Sat, 03 Sep 2005 17:42:00 +0000

The Minoan society Athena is blathering on about was generally remembered, and was even depicted in the Odyssey as weak and decadent, and it vanished in one night when Thera blew up. Coolest thing it had going for it was bull vaulting and the great breast exposing dresses the women wore.Great posting about the HBO series Rome. I heard the Great Mother stuff but I thought I was seeing Mithraic worship. Thanks for clearing that up.

By: Chas S. Clifton

Chas S. Clifton — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 19:33:00 +0000

As I recall, the emperor Julian II (the last Pagan) went through the taurobolium twice. He was a curious mix of philosophical Neoplatonist and Pagan cultist, in the positive sense of the word "cult."

By: Athana

Athana — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 01:56:00 +0000

To me, Rome is almost as American as applie pie. The gods ruled, and the goddesses (and women along with them) had been whittled down to male-like nubbins. Like modern America, Rome stood for competition over cooperation, war over peace, conquest over diplomacy. But if one goes truly back into the past, another millenia and a half back beyond the Roman Empire, one comes to the last “pure” Goddess society, the ancient Minoan. In that society, there’s really no evidence of war or violence, none of conquest, “no ambition” (a phrase used ontinually about the Minoans), much less disparity between rich and poor, men and women, etc. And — and this I think is very important — very few (if any) father gods.