New problems in Athenian religion: the ‘sacred law’ from Aixone (original) (raw)

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The paper examines the recently available sacred law from Aixone, revealing insights into Athenian religious practices. It discusses the roles and compensations of priests and priestesses as outlined in the law, shedding light on sacrificial procedures, particularly on the notion of 'skinned holocausts' in which only the skin is retained for the priest while the meat is offered to the deities. By comparing these findings with existing scholarship, it addresses challenges in understanding ancient worship rituals, contributing to the broader discourse on Athenian religion and cultic practices.

Holocaustic sacrifices in ancient Greek religion and the ritual relations to the Levant

Change, continuity, and connectivity. North-Eastern Mediterranean at the turn of the Bronze Age and in the early Iron Age (Philippiaka, 118), eds. L. Niesiolowski-Spano & M. Wecowski, Wiesbaden, 2018

North-Eastern Mediterranean at the turn of the Bronze Age and in the early Iron Age Edited by Łukasz Niesiołowski-Spanò and Marek Węcowski Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.dnb.de abrufbar.

Why does Zeus care about burnt thighbones from sheep? Defining the divine and structuring the world through animal sacrifice in ancient Greece

History of religions, 2019

Gunnel Ekroth, in “Why Does Zeus Care about Burnt Thighbones from sheep? Defining the Divine and Structuring the World Through Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greece,” sets the plate for this volume by reassessing the historical backdrop against which nascent Christian traditions related to animal sacrifice emerge. Animal sacrifice was the central ritual action of ancient Greek religion, as well as in most religions of the eastern Mediterranean in antiquity. Although modern scholars have studied this religious practice for more than 100 years, animal sacrifice has always posed something of a problem, as it is so fundamentally alien to western European Christian culture. In order to understand animal sacrifice in the ancient world, one needs to encounter it in its own historical setting. This means not only exploring its role in what moderns more narrowly construe as the religious sphere, but also in social and political orderings as well. Of central importance, to archaeologists of sacrifice like Ekroth, is the practical execution of the rituals. Ekroth introduces readers to a relatively new wealth of material evidence about animal sacrifice in the pre-Christian, Greek world. Ekroth’s critical contribution is to assess the results of recent research on the archaeology of sacrifice. Her main concern is with historical animal sacrifice as it was actually performed, primarily, in the thysia ritual, which occurred across ancient Greek sanctuaries between the 8th and 1st centuries BCE. At these events, mainly domesticated animals along with the fruit of agricultural labor and libations, after being dedicated to a deity, were sacrificed and shared – with butchered portions ostensibly going to gods like Zeus who preferred thighbones, while the rest of the animal, in particular the meat, was given to the human participants. Ekroth encounters in the material handling, treatment, and distribution of meat derived from ritualized animal sacrifice an ancient structuring of the world. Analysis of these sacrificial rituals provides us with windows to the cosmologies, hierarchies of social power, and group identities associated with those who participated.

To burn it all? The practice of holocausts and moirocausts in ancient Greek religion

From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence (ActaAth-4, 60), eds. J.-M. Carbon & G. Ekroth, Stockholm, 2024, 193-206. , 2024

This paper offers a review of holocaustic rituals in written and material sources arguing that this type of sacrifice was rare. It further addresses if the animal was burned whole or if the carcass was flayed, emptied of blood and intestines, and sectioned before being placed onto the fire. Since the evidence suggests that holocausts did not necessarily mean the burning of an intact animal, the relation between holocausts and moirocausts, sacrifices at which a larger part of the animal was burned, is also explored. Finally, the ancient evidence for holocausts is considered in the light of the results of the experimental cremation of a lamb and a pig performed at Uppsala in 2014. It is argued that a Greek holocaust may have aimed at burning the meat beyond human means of consumption rather than at a total annihilation of the carcass by fire, and that the long time it seems to have taken to perform a holocaust can be linked to the purpose of the ritual.

Sacrifice in the Ancient Mediterranean: Recent and Current Research

Currents in Biblical Research 13.3 (2015): 388-439, 2015

This essay provides a summary and critical assessment of scholarship on sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean over the last two decades. It focuses on Greek, Roman, Judean and Christian evidence from approximately the eighth century bce to the fifth century ce. Significant attention is paid to theoretical models, which have deeply affected the study of sacrifice. Archeological evidence for sacrifice is considered. The following areas of current scholarly debate are addressed and assessed: (1) the reach and role of religious experts; (2) sacrifice as communication and failed sacrifice; (3) the notion of spiritualization; (4) metaphorical and symbolic uses of sacrifice; and (5) sacrifice and identity. Sacrifice is theorized not as a static category or ontological thing, but a nexus of competitive ritualizations and/or discursive claims, the boundaries of which were actively contested by ancient practitioners and cultural producers.

Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice

2011

Thc context is a disclission of baptism in respollse to DOI1<ltist purists; interestingly, Augustine notes that, just as after Jesus' first coming the .mcmmelUlIl1I of circumcision was "set aside," so too will b,lptism be "set aside" after his sccond coming. .

Offerings Bloody and Unbloody: Considerations for Christian Sacrifice and Old Testament Theology

The language of sacrifice appears prominently in the New Testament and the liturgical theology of various early Christian writers. It has often been considered a “spiritualization” of the Israelite cult centered at the Temple in Jerusalem. As such it can be seen as an embarrassing holdover from primitive religion, or a moral progression in religious thought. The way that continuity with the Temple cult is applied to the death of Jesus and Christian eucharistic theology has proven ecumenically controversial, and this has in recent year revived interest in the way that the Old Testament cult informs Christian theology. In this paper I will consider how a Christian understanding of sacrifice might helpfully rely upon general contextual understandings of sacrificial rituals. By examining two prominent theologians’ work, I will demonstrate the limit of attempts to trace the language of sacrifice as it pertains to Jesus and Christian worship back to specific types of sacrifice. I will apply critiques from recent Old Testament studies that suggest no easy metaphorical readings for that cult. This will demonstrate that Christian theologians are on firmest ground when they use the Old Testament sacrificial system as a matrix of rituals that maintain Israel’s life with Yahweh. The atoning work of Jesus and the ongoing worship of Christians can be seen as reflecting some of the purposes of that system, but the analogies break down when a strictly defined theory of Old Testament sacrificed is advanced as the basis for them.

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