Votive offering
Votive offerings have been described in historical Roman era and Greek sources, although similar acts continue into the present day—for example, in traditional Catholic culture and, arguably, in the modern-day practice of tossing coins into a wishing well or fountain.
In Europe, votive deposits are known from as early as the Neolithic, with polished axe hoards, reaching a peak in the late Bronze Age.
High status artifacts such as armor and weaponry (mostly shields, swords, spears and arrows), fertility and cult symbols, coins, various treasures and animal statuettes (often dogs, oxen and in later periods horses) were common offerings in antiquity.
The votive offerings were sacrificed and buried or more commonly cast into bodies of water or peat bogs, whence they could not possibly have been recovered.
The items have since been discovered in rivers, lakes and present or former wetlands by construction workers, peat diggers, metal-detectorists, members of the public and archaeologists.
The sites also contained large quantities of votive sculptures, although these were clearly intended to glorify each city in view of its rivals as well as to give thanks to the gods.
In Mesoamerica, votive deposits have been recovered from the Olmec site of El Manati (dated to 1600–1200 BC) and the Maya Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza (850–1550 AD).
Placing greater emphasis on inscriptions which seem to have been made by the individual making the offering, archaeologists can interpret that, of the early dedicators, there were very few in number and that most, if not all, were from the upper classes.
Usually found rolled up and deliberately deposited, there are five main reasons for dedicating a curse tablet:[5] 1 – Litigation, 2 – Competition, 3 – Trade, 4 – Erotic Ambition, 5 – Theft Of those in Britain the vast majority are of type 5.
The use of the curse-tablet in seeking restoration of stolen property is strong evidence of invoking divine power through a non-traditional religious ceremony, often involving some form of water-deposition.
The usual form of divine invocation was through prayer, sacrifice and altar dedication[6] so access to this information provides useful insights into Roman provincial culture.
However, many seabeds have been disturbed, rivers and streams have been stretched out or re-routed in the landscape, and many wetlands have been fully or partially drained or landfilled for various reasons in the last 100–200 years.
Oral tradition in Rabbinic Judaism also speaks of a huge golden grape vine artifact outside of the holy site of the Temple in Jerusalem before its destruction by the Romans.
Orthodox Christians continue to make votive offerings to this day, often in the form of tamata, metal plaques symbolizing the subject of their prayers.
Traditional special forms of votive offering ex votos include small silver models of the afflicted part of the body, inscribed stone tablets, folk art paintings of an incident of danger such as the votive paintings of Mexico and model ships donated by sailors who have survived a dangerous voyage.
Medieval examples include: Especially in the Latin world, there is a tradition of votive paintings, typically depicting a dangerous incident which the offeror survived.
Other examples may be large and grand paintings, such as Titian's Jacopo Pesaro being presented by Pope Alexander VI to Saint Peter, given in thanks for a naval victory.
[12] Historically, votive tablets can be found in Asian Buddhist lands, from Japan,[13] India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Malaysia.
