Topic: 2. Sacrifice and religion: Comparisons, Antiquarians, Anthropology (16th-18th Century)
Religious sacrifices across various cultures and contexts sparked widespread interest in Early Modern Europe. As Christianity expanded into regions inhabited by "infidels" and "pagans", Europeans encountered a diverse array of sacrificial customs, ranging from the Sati rituals in India to the Aztec sacrifices in the Americas. This cross-cultural exposure captivated a wide audience, including theologians, philosophers, political thinkers, antiquarians, orientalists, missionaries, poets, artists, and even the general public. These encounters broadened the European understanding of sacrifice and led to a critical reassessment of classical and biblical sacrificial rites. This section includes:
- Sources: A selection of early modern printed materials, which include descriptions of the Americas, Asia, and Africa, alongside antiquarian and philological studies on religious sacrifice in classical antiquity and beyond. It also presents early modern works of ethnological observations and the first attempts to compare different sacrificial practices in various traditions and contexts, laying the groundwork for disciplines like the history of religions and anthropology.
- Iconographic Representations: A rich collection of images from the 16th to 18th centuries, illustrating a range of sacrificial rituals and practices as seen in different cultural and geographical contexts.
- Related Bibliography: An extensive bibliography spanning scholarly works from the 19th to 21st centuries, providing contemporary analyses and interpretations of these early studies and observations.
Transcultural Negotiation in Early Modern Era Art? The Pre-Columbian Blood Sacrifice Bowl at the Foot of the Stone Cross in Cuernavaca, Me
in: The Challenge of the Object. 33rd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art, pp. 211-215
Nürnberg: Verlag des Germanischen Nationalmuseums, 2013.
St. Sebastian in Iberoamerica: Transcultural Negotiation on Body Images and Concepts of Sacrifice in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries
in: Sacrifice and Conversion in the Early Modern Atlantic, pp. 273-298
Florence: Harvard University Press- Villa I Tatti , 2022.
Transcultural Negotiation in Early Modern Era Art?: the pre-Columbian Blood Sacrifice Bowl at the Foot of the Stone Cross in Cuernavaca, Mexico
in: The Challenge of the Object. Proceedings of the 33rd Congress of the International Committee of the History of Art , pp. 211-215
Nürnberg: Almuth Klein, 2013.
Imaginaciones transculturales del sacrificio en la pintura española del Siglo de Oro
in: Las artes y la arquitectura del poder. XIX. Congreso Nacional de Historia del Arte, pp. 2008-2015
Castellón de la Plana: Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I, 2013.
Pictorial Theories by Missionaries in Sixteenth-century New Spain: the Capacities of Hieroglyphs as Media in Transcultural Negotiation
in: Art in Translation, v. 8 (2016), issue 3: pp.283-313.
Anquetil-Duperron: L’Inde en France au XVIIIe siècle
Paris: Belles Lettres, 1983.
Camels and Arabian balîya and other forms of sacrifice: a review of archaeological and literary evidence
in: Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy, v. 20 (2009), issue 1: pp.81-93.
Ammon Herm (1652)
from: Athanasius Kircher, Oedipus Aegyptiacus, V. Mascardi, Roma,1652-1654
Obelisci aegyptiaci nuper inter Isaei Romani rudera effossi interpretatio hieroglyphica
Romae: Ex typographia Varesij, 1666.
The role of sacrifice in religion : models of sacrifices in Gikuyu religion
Nairobi: Faith Institute of Counselling, 2002.
Some Methodological Pitfalls in the Study of Greek Sacrifice (in Particular)
in: Le sacrifice dans l'Antiquité (Entretiens sur l'Antiquité classique de la fondation Hardt XXVII), pp. 41-80
Vandouvres - Genève: Fondation Hardt, 1981.
Sacrifice: Themes, Theories, and Controversies
in: Sacrifice: Themes, Theories, and Controversies, pp.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022 .
The Sacrifice of Lykaon
in: Anthropologie des mondes grecs anciens, v. 7 (1992), issue 1-2: pp.161-176.
Pure Violence: Sacrifice and Defilement in Ancient Israel
in: Harvard Theological Review, v. 94 (2001), issue 2: pp.133-155.
Licentious Cults and Bloody Victuals: Sacrifice, Reciprocity, and Violence in Traditional Chin
in: Asia Major 3rd series, v. 7 (1994), issue 1: pp.185-211.
Death in the Hands of Strangers: Aztec Human Sacrifice in the Western Imagination.
in: Altera Roma: Art and Empire from Mérida to Mexico, pp. 257-311
Los Angeles : The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, 2016.
Sterben für den Buddha, Sterben wie der Buddha: Zu Praxis und Begründung ritueller Suizide im ostasiatischen Buddhismus
in: Zeitschrift für Religionswissenschaft, v. 11 (2003), issue : pp.3-43.