Greek and Roman Animal Sacrifice
Ancient Victims, Modern Observers

The first general critique of the interpretations of animal sacrifice established by Walter Burkert, the late J.-P. Vernant, and Marcel Detienne.

Christopher A. Faraone (Edited by), F. S. Naiden (Edited by)

9781108456524, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 26 April 2018

223 pages, 32 b/w illus. 1 table
23 x 15.3 x 1.4 cm, 0.35 kg

'F. S. Naiden's essay takes up the question of sacrificial commensality, and poses obvious practical questions: how much meat did an animal yield? How many people ate? How much did they get? He doesn't give definite answers to any of these questions, but employs a fascinating range of evidence … making use of the latest studies, Greek and Roman Animal Sacrifice provides a fine introduction to the state of the question.' Christopher S. Faraone, First Things

The interpretation of animal sacrifice, now considered the most important ancient Greek and Roman religious ritual, has long been dominated by the views of Walter Burkert, the late J.-P. Vernant, and Marcel Detienne. No penetrating and general critique of their views has appeared and, in particular, no critique of the application of these views to Roman religion. Nor has any critique dealt with the use of literary and visual sources by these writers. This book, a collection of essays by leading scholars, incorporates all these subjects and provides a theoretical background for the study of animal sacrifice in an ancient context.

Introduction Christopher A. Faraone and F. S. Naiden
Part I. Modern Historiography: 1. From Bergaigne to Meuli: how animal sacrifice became a hot topic Bruce Lincoln
2. One generation after Burkert and Girard: where are the great theories? Fritz Graf
Part II. Greek and Roman Practice: 3. Blessèd are the parasites F. S. Naiden
4. Roman sacrifice and the system of being John Scheid
Part III. Visual Representation: 5. Sacrificing stones: on some sculpture, mostly Athenian Richard Neer
6. Sacrifice in late Roman art Jas Elsner
Part IV. Literary Representation: 7. Animal sacrifice and comedy James Redfield
8. Animal sacrifice in Greek tragedy: ritual, metaphor, problematizations Albert Henrichs
Afterword Clifford Ando.

Subject Areas: Ancient religions & mythologies [HRKP], History of religion [HRAX], Religion & beliefs [HR], Classical history / classical civilisation [HBLA1], Ancient history: to c 500 CE [HBLA]