medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
I guess I still haven't been clear enough: in the questions quoted below, by "they"/"their" I mean crutches, braces, and similar aids, NOT body-part ex votos (which latter, to repeat, are well known from Greek and Roman antiquity).
The reason why I'm drawing the distinction between these different forms of ex voto is this: crutches and the like will have been given as symbols of gratitude for healing, that is, like other Christian ex votos, for a grace received (_Pro Gratia Recepta_). We know from inscriptions and from literary evidence that ancient Greek and Roman ex votos were often also given for the same reason. In fact, that what _ex voto_ signifies: "from a vow", i.e. in fulfilment of a promise to make a donation in return for a favor received. But objects called "body-part ex votos" are not certainly ex votos in this literal sense: one suspects that many of these may have been offered in supplication for a cure rather than in gratitude for having received one. And in that case we might be dealing with a form of sympathetic magic rather than with the symbolism evident in literal, after-the-grace body-part ex votos.
As the significance of body-part ex votos is thus ambiguous , it may be best _not_ to treat them as representing a mentality or a motivation identical to that inferrable for objects such as crutches or pictorial votive tablets that clear are ex votos in the literal sense.
Apropos of symbolism versus sympathy in a Christian context, it would be useful to know whether the many ex votos in the form of a sailing vessel that one finds in museums in European ports were given before departure on a sea voyage or instead upon one's safe return.
Best again,
John Dillon
On Sat, 31 Jul 2004 22:05:44 -0500
Jim Bugslag <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> But what evidence do we have that they were
>> also widely used in this fashion in Greek and Roman antiquity? And when and
>> where do we begin to hear of their use as ex votos medievally?
>
>Difficult questions, John. The problem with answering them is that what has been
>done falls into so many different -- and seemingly non-intersecting --
>specializations. I've only just begun to look for evidence of this nature from ancient
>religions. Here is a representative tantalizing snippet from Matthew Dillon, Pilgrims
>and Pilgrimage in Ancient Greece (London & New York, Routledge, 1997), p. 75:
>large numbers of terracotta body parts have been discovered at Corinth. As
>references, he cites [no first name given] van Straten, "Gifts for the Gods," in H.S.
>Versnel, ed., Faith, Hope and Worship. Aspects of Religious Mentality in the
>Ancient World (Leiden, 1981), pp. 65-15, esp. 149-501, and John Ferguson, Among
>the Gods: An Archaeological Exploration of Ancient Greek Religion (London, 1989),
>p. 101. I'm sure that a more systematic survey could easily (time permitting) be
>compiled.
>As for when they begin to crop up in the Middle Ages, there seems to be a general
>dearth of evidence for pilgrim badges, ex votos, etc. between the 7th or 8th
>centuries and the 11th or 12th century, and so far as I am aware, nobody has even
>hazarded guesses as to why this is the case. To my knowledge, there is little
>evidence for votive body parts, etc. before the 13th century.
>Cheers,
>Jim Bugslag
>
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