In the ancient Roman Empire, what was devotio?

In ancient Roman religion, the devotio was an extreme form of promise in which a Roman general vowed to sacrifice his own life in battle along with the enemy to underworld gods in exchange for a victory.

Its object was a human life, and the fulfillment of the vow (that is, the death of the person making the devotion) was prior to the fulfillment of the expected favors of the deity, also consisting of the annihilation of the enemy, whose death the one wished. did.

The most famous devotion in Roman history is probably that of the consul Publius Decius Mus, who was fighting a formidable coalition of Samnites and Gauls at Sentinum in 295 BC. He dedicated himself and rode towards his enemies, who killed him. The wrath of the gods was now upon the Gauls, who were utterly defeated, after which the Samnite resistance was also easily broken.

The ritual itself was simple. The pontifex maximus said the prayer, and the general who dedicated himself repeated it, leaning on a spear, and dressed in a toga. With the toga over his head ("Gabine fashion"), the commander rode to the enemy. If he survived, he was never to perform religious acts any more; if an ordinary soldier had dedicated himself to the Underworld and had survived, a statue with a height of seven feet had to be buried instead. One such statue has been excavated in the country of the ancient Vestini, at Capestrano in the Abruzzi.