libatio

Libatio, in English often called a libation, is the ritual pouring of a liquid offering to gods, spirits, or ancestors. In ancient Roman religion it was a common element of both public rites and private household worship, and the Latin term denotes the act itself as well as the offering associated with it. The English word libation derives from the Latin libatio and the verb libare, meaning to pour out as an offering.

Typical liquids used in libations include wine, water, milk, honey, or oil, poured on an altar, on the ground before a deity’s image, or into sacred vessels. The pouring was often accompanied by invocations, prayers, or votive statements and could be performed by priests, magistrates, or heads of household, depending on the context.

Libations occurred in a wide range of settings: during sacrifices, at banquets, or as stand-alone rites to honor gods such as Jupiter, Neptune, or Minerva, as well as household deities like the Lares and Penates; in public festivals, funerary rites, or during treaty ceremonies. They served as a symbolic communication with the divine, expressing gratitude, supplication, or appeasement.

In scholarship, libatio is used to describe such ritual pouring within the broader study of Roman religion and ancient ritual practice. While the form and frequency differed across times and cults, the act remained a core method of establishing and maintaining a relationship between humans and the divine.