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.
Abregé dv procés fait aux juifs de Mets. Avec trois arrests du parlement qui les declarent convaincus de plusieurs crimes, & particulierement Rahaël [Sic] Levi d’avoir enlevé sur le grand chemin de Mets à Boulay, un enfant chrestien âgé de trois ans: pour reparation de quoy il a esté brûlé vif le 17. janvier 1670
Paris: Frederic Leonard, 1670.
Religión, costumbres e historia de los antiguos mexicanos. Libro explicativo del llamado Códice Vaticano A
Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1996.
Sacrifice and Sacrificial Offerings (OT)
in: Anchor Bible Dictionary, pp. 870-886
Yale : Yale University Press, 1992.
0. General bibliography (19th-21th Century) 1. Sacrifice and Bible (16th-18th Century) 2. Sacrifice and religion: Comparisons, Antiquarians, Anthropology (16th-18th Century)
Human sacrifices at Huaca Pucllana in Lima, Peru
in: Human Sacrifice and Value. Revisiting the Limits of Sacred Violence from an Anthropological and Archaeological Perspective, pp. Chap. 10
: , .
Jüdische Reaktionen auf die mittelalterlichen Blutbeschuldigungen vom 13. bis zum 16. Jahrhundert
in: Die Legende vom Ritualmord: Zur Geschichte der Blutbeschuldigungen gegen Juden, pp. 133-136
Berlin: Metropol, 1993.
Crudelis judaeorum perfidia amabili christianae fidei constantia ab hebraeo adolescente Simone Abeles superata, pro theatro exhibita ab infima grammatices classe, Collegii Academici Societatis Jesu, Olomucii anno M.DCC.XXXVI
Prague: Collegii Academici Societatis Jesu, Olomucii anno M.DCC.XXXVI, 1736.
Prior to taking up their abode in the hut, oblations have to be made to the presiding deities. Lakṣmaṇa hunts deer on the right, and returns to the hut to cook it; Rāma offers part of it as a sacrifice. The two brothers then eat, while Sītā waves a scarf over the food to keep the flies off, and she then retires to the hut to eat her own meal. The three begin their lives in exile in the peace of Citrakūṭa (ca 1653)
from: Ramayana, [ms Add. 15296(1), fol. 71]
British Library, London [from Udaipur]
15th c. depiction of Jewish ritual slaughter of animals for consumption (15th)
from: Jacob b. Asher, Arba'ah Turim (Hebrew: אַרְבָּעָה טוּרִים)
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Cod. Ross. 555. fol. 127v
A Gentoo Woman Burning herself (1768)
from: Cavendish Drake, E. A, Universal Collection of Authentic and Entertaining Voyages and Travels, London, J. Cooke, 1768
A Gentoo Woman Burning Herself (1770)
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/00routesdata/1800_1899/hinduism/sati/sati.html
A jewish Sacrifice (P. Cunaeus, La république des Hébreux) (1705)
from: Title page of: P. Cunaeus, La république des Hébreux. Où il est traité au long & à fond de la Sacrificature Mosaïque, des divers Sacrifices de l' Ancienne Loi, & des Cérémonies avec lesquelles lis étoient offerts, Amsterdam, Mortier, 1705
A Man Burnt Alive during a Sacrifice (1572)
from: Codex Cozcatzin, c. 26r
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris
A Man Sacrificed on an Aztec Pyramid [1501 - 1525]
from: Codex Borbonicus
Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale, Paris
a man sacrificing a fowl to one of the best known charms among the Akan, the nkabere charm. (18th-20th)
from: Ghana (The Kyekyere Nkabere charm (lit. to tie or bind the nkabere) was a common rite carried out throughout the Asante region during the pre-colonial and early colonial era).
British Museum, London
A mountain city with multistoried hill architecture. Outside the gates on the right is a Saivite shrine with a lingum covered by floral offerings to which a goat is led, probably for sacrifice. (17th)
from: Unidentified Hindu chronicle of a King
Metropolitan Museum, New York
A scene of Sati ritual Souryabha. Femme duchadja Jasingha se brulant. On represente icy la maniere en laquelle se brusla une femme de Radja Jasing appellée en la langue Indienne - Souryabha, qui veut dire lumiere du soleil, elle se brusla sans faire paroistre acucune crainte du feu ni de la mort. (1678-1686)
from: Nicolo Manucci, Histoire de l'Inde depuis Tamerlank jusquà Orangzeb [ms Libro Rosso, fol. 50v]
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris