Religious Ritual and Family Dynamics in Terence (original) (raw)

In contrast to the comedies of Menander and Plautus, in Terence sacrifice is wholly absent. Sacrifice was an important part of ancient Roman domestic life. Yet Terence neither stages nor mentions any ritual whatsoever. Terence deliberately and thematically erases sacrifice from his plays and, in doing so, highlights the instability of his plays' domestic relationships -- and perhaps those of his audience as well. Terence focuses intensively on the relationships of family members, who are, in Rome, always allied by the practice of domestic cult. To eliminate sacrifice -- an important element of domestic life -- shows that Terence sees the Roman family as formally dysfunctional.