ADORA´TIO
ADORA´TIO (
προσκύνησις)
was paid to the gods in the following manner: The person prostrated himself
(
pronus,
Juv. 11.47) before the statue of the god whom he
wished to honour, then kissed his hand and waved it to the statue (cf. Apul.
Met. 4.28,
ad moventes oribus suis
dexteram, primore digito in erectum pollicem residente--adorationibus
venerabantur). While doing this he moved round his whole body,
usually from left to right, but sometimes (e. g. in Gaul,
Plin. Nat. 28.25; and in the temple of
Aesculapius at Rome;
Corp. Inscr. Gr. 5980) from right to
left, for which custom Plutarch (
Plut. Num.
14) gives some curious reasons; but the true reason is quite unknown.
Hence the
convertere se is used for
adorare in
Liv. 5.21 (cf.
Plaut.
Curc. 1.1, 69). It was also the practice to have the
head and ears covered, so that only the forepart of the face remained
[p. 1.29]uncovered (
Plin. Nat.
1. c.; Minucius Felix, 2; Lucret. 5.1197). The
adoratio differed from the
oratio or prayers, which were offered with the palms open and
upturned to heaven, the suppliant usually kneeling. (
Il. 7.177;
ὑπτιάσματα
χερῶν, Aesch.
Prom. 1005;
caelo supinas ferre manus,
Hor. Carm. 3.23.1.) Clasping of the hands
(
digitisinterse pectine iunctis,
Ov. Met. 9.299;
digitis
pectinatim inter se implexis,
Plin. Nat. 28.59) was a gesture only
resorted to by witches, as a means of hindering child-birth. The adoration
paid to the Roman emperors was borrowed from the Eastern mode of adoration,
and consisted in prostration on the ground, and kissing
|
Adoratio, from a vase in the British Museum.
|
the feet and knees, or even the dress (cf.
Ammian. 21.9,
adorari purpuram
principis) of the emperor (but this did not become the ordinary
etiquette of the court before the time of Diocletian). Instances, however,
of this servile adoration occur much earlier; thus Vitellius
“adored” Caius Caesar when returning from Syria:
capite velato circumvertensque se deinde procumbens
(
Suet. Vit. 2). This mode of prostration
is also called
adulatio (
Liv. 9.18,
4,
humi
jacentium adulationes; cf. 30.16, 5).
[
A.S.W]