Animal Sacrifice in the Ancient Greek World

This volume brings together studies on Greek animal sacrifice by foremost experts in Greek language, literature and material culture. Readers will benefit from the synthesis of new evidence and approaches with a re-evaluation of twentieth-century theories on sacrifice. The chapters range across the whole of antiquity and go beyond the Greek world to consider possible influences in Hittite Anatolia and Egypt, while an introduction to the burgeoning science of osteo-archaeology is provided. The twentieth-century emphasis on sacrifice as part of the Classical Greek polis system is challenged through consideration of various ancient perspectives on sacrifice as distinct from specific political or even Greek contexts. Many previously unexplored topics are covered, particularly the type of animals sacrificed and the spectrum of sacrificial ritual, from libations to lasting memorials of the ritual in art.

Product details

• Authors: Sarah Hitch, Sarah (Corpus Christi College Hitch, Sarah Rutherford Hitch, Ian Rutherford
• Assisted by: Sarah Hitch (Editor), Sarah (Corpus Christi College Hitch (Editor), Hitch Sarah (Editor), Ian Rutherford (Editor), Ian (University of Reading) Rutherford (Editor), Rutherford Ian (Editor)
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 24.08.2017
• EAN: 9780521191036
• ISBN: 978-0-521-19103-6
• No. of pages: 348
• Dimensions: 158 mm x 235 mm x 20 mm
• Series: Print on Demand
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Antiquity; Non-fiction book; European History, HISTORY / Europe / General, Ancient Greece, HISTORY / Ancient / Greece, RELIGION / Ancient, Ancient Greek religion & mythology, Ancient History, Ancient history: to c 500 CE, Ancient Greek religion and mythology