Experts in Greek language, literature and material culture re-examine the role of animal sacrifice in Greek life across the Mediterranean.

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

A study of animal sacrifice within Greek paganism, Judaism, and Christianity between 100 BC and AD 200. After a vivid account of the realities of sacrifice in the Greek East and in the Jerusalem Temple, Maria-Zoe Petropoulou explores the attitudes of early Christians towards this practice, and the reasons why they ultimately rejected it.

Hierà kalá presents a collection, analysis and interpretation of the representations of animal sacrifice from ancient Greece. The Archaic and Classical material is dealt with comprehensively. Later evidence is adduced more selectively, for the sake of comparison. All aspects of Greek sacrifice that are (or appear to be) represented in the iconographical material are treated in depth; interpretations are based on a combined study of the archaeological, the epigraphical and the literary data. Full catalogues of vase paintings and votive reliefs with depictions of sacrifice are included. A generous selection of these are illustrated in more than 200 figures.

This volume deals with the depictions of animal sacrifice from ancient Greece, full catalogues of which are included. The relevant aspects of Greek sacrifice are studied on the basis of an analysis and interpretation of these representations, combined with the pertinent textual data.

"The prominence of heavily burnt thighbones and tail vertebrae in the altar assemblages from Isthmia and Kommos clearly identify them as the remains of thysiai, but the presence also of other parts of the victims suggest that we here encounter local variations of the execution of this ritual. The god's share placed in the altar fire was modified by the burning of a greater variety of bones from the victims. If we compare the deposits from Isthmia and Kommos with the burnt remains from the Aire sacrificielle at Eretria, for example, there is a stark contrast, as the burnt bones of that assemblage consisted to 93% of thighbones, kneecaps and the occasional tail vertebra"--Provided by publisher.

Includes selections translated from the Ancient Greek.

This volume assembles fourteen highly influential articles written by Michael H. Jameson over a period of nearly fifty years, edited and updated by the author himself. They represent both the scope and the signature style of Jameson's engagement with the subject of ancient Greek religion. The collection complements the original publications in two ways: firstly, it makes the articles more accessible; and secondly, the volume offers readers a unique opportunity to observe that over almost five decades of scholarship Jameson developed a distinctive method, a signature style, a particular perspective, a way of looking that could perhaps be fittingly called a 'Jamesonian approach' to the study of Greek religion. This approach, recognizable in each article individually, becomes unmistakable through the concentration of papers collected here. The particulars of the Jamesonian approach are insightfully discussed in the five introductory essays written for this volume by leading world authorities on polis religion.

Animal sacrifice has been critical to the study of ancient Mediterranean religions since the 18th century. Two leading views on sacrifice have dominated the subject: the psychological approach of Walter Burkert and the sociological one by Jean-Pierre Vernant and Marcel Detienne. These two perspectives have argued that the main feature of sacrifice is allaying feelings of guilt at the slaughter of sacrificial animals. Naiden redresses the omission of these salient features to show that animal sacrifice is an attempt to make contact with a divine being, and that it is so important for the worshippers that it becomes subject to regulations of unequaled extent and complexity.