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.
From sacrificing humans to self-sacrificing humans. A Longue-durée bio-cultural evolutionary perspective on human sacrifice
in: Human Sacrifice and Value. Revisiting the Limits of Sacred Violence from an Anthropological and Archaeological Perspective, pp. Chap. 16
London: Routledge, 2023.
Sapiṇḍikaraṇa: The Hindu Rite of Entry into Heaven
in: Religious Encounters with Death: Insights from the History and Anthropology of Religion, pp. 112-124
London: State University Press, 1997.
The Appellation of Iohn Knoxe from the Cruell and Most Iniust Sentence Pronounced Against Him by the False Bishoppes and Clergie of Scotland, With His Supplication and Exhortation to the Nobilitie, Estates, ad Comunaltie of the Same Realme
Gèneve: s.n., 1558.
Surā, the liquor and the Vedic sacrifice
New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 1999.
Crossing the Pomerium : the Boundaries of political, religious, and military Institutions from Caesar to Constantine
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020.
Latin Poetry about Simon of Trento
in: Acta Conventus Neo- Latini Budapestensis, pp. 397–406
Tempe, AZ: Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 2010.
Finding the Eucharist in Central Australia: Intichiuma Ceremonies and the Study of Ritual Sacrifice as a Sacrament of Communion
in: History of Religions, v. 58 (2019), issue 3: pp.277-318.
Das Ritual der Feuergründung (Agnyādheya)
Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1982.
The Alleged Ritual Murder of Simon of Trent (1475) and its Literary Repercussions: A Bibliographical Study
in: Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research, v. 59 (1993), issue : pp.103-135.
Missionaries, Monsters and the Demon Show. Diabolized Representations of American Indians. in Jesuit Libraries of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Upper Hungary
in: Exploring the Cultural History of Continental European Freak Shows and 'Enfreakment', pp. 38-73
Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2012.
The Renaissance Bible: Scholarship, Sacrifice, and Subjectivity
Berkeley: University of California Press, .
The Sacrifice of Iphigenia [1710-1720]
Musée de l'Histoire de France, Versailles
De diuinis Scripturis, quauis passim lingua, non legendis, simul et de sacrificio Missae, caeterisque officijs in Ecclesia Christi, hebraea tantum, graeca, aut latina lingua celebrandis, aduersus nostrae aetatis haereticos liber unus
Cologne: Calenius & Quentel, 1574.
Moeurs des sauvages amériquains comparées aux moeurs des premiers temps
Paris: Charles Estienne Hochereau, 1624.
Moeurs des sauvages amériquains comparées aux moeurs des premiers temps
Paris: Saugrain l'aîné, 1724.
Sacrificio e rito : background antropologico e teologico di una rimozione
in: Il sacrificio : evento e rito, pp. 53-67
Padova: Messaggero, 1998.
Ancient Ritual Sacrifice (1553)
from: Lafréry, Antoine. Speculum Romanae Magnificentiae [...], Roma, n. p., 1553, A 110
University of Chicago Library, Chicago
