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.
Sacrifice to Minerva (16th Century)
from: [Pliny the Elder], Gaius Plinius Secundus. Naturalis Historia, n. p., n. p., 16c., book XXXVI, n. p.
Public Library, New York
Sacrifice des premiers nez chez les Floridiens, expliqué à la pag. 181. / Sacrifice de la dépoūille d'un cerf, à la Floride / Caraïbe offrant la Cassave et l'Ovicou, a un poteau érigé en titre ou symbole de la Divinité (Sacrifice of the firstborn by the Floridians. 2. Sacrifice of the stag in Florida. 3. A Carib offers cassava bread at a post symbolizing the deities) (1724)
from: Plate 7 in Lafitau, Moeurs des sauvages amériquains comparées aux moeurs des premiers temps, Paris, 1724
De kinderen in't dal Topeth, aan den Molech ter verbrandinge overgegeven (1701)
from: Petrus Cunaeus, Willem Goeree (transl.), De Republyk Der Hebreen, of Gemeenebest der Joden, in drie boeken, Amsterdam, 1701, p. 32
De Loting over de Twee Bokken op den Verfoendag (1701)
from: Petrus Cunaeus, Willem Goeree (transl.), De Republyk Der Hebreen, of Gemeenebest der Joden, in drie boeken, Amsterdam, 1701, p. 433
Histoires tragiques de nostre temps. Dans lesquelles se voyent plusieurs belles maximes d'Estat, et quantité d'exemples fort memorables, de constance, de courage, de generosité, de regrets, et reprentances
Paris: Claude Collet, 1635.
Temple Worship [1471]
from: Mishneh Torah, Opening panel to Sefer Avodah (Italy or Spain)
New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The great duty of frequenting the Christian sacrifice, and the nature of the preparation required With suitable devotions. Partly collected from the antient liturgies. To which are perfixed instructions for confirmation
Cork: n. p., 1723.
Historia Brittonum
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985 [828].
Ob es war vn[d] glaublich sey, daß die Juden der Christen kinder heymlich erwürgen, vnd jr blut gebrauchen : ein treffenliche schrifft, auff eines yeden vrteyl gestelt
[Nürnberg] : [Petreius], ca 1530.
A Sacrifice to Cupid [1500]
Galleria Estense, Modena
Sacrifice to Mercury (1502 - 1507)
Cathedral, Biblioteca Piccolomini, Siena
First Christian Martyrs 1 (1585)
from: Cavalieri, Giovanni Battista. Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi fide certamina ... in ecclesia S. Stephani Rotundi, Romae Nicolai Circiniani pictoris manu visuntur depicta [...], Romae, ex officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585, p. 21
First Christian Martyrs 10 (1585)
from: Cavalieri, Giovanni Battista. Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi fide certamina ... in ecclesia S. Stephani Rotundi, Romae Nicolai Circiniani pictoris manu visuntur depicta [...], Romae, ex officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585, p. 16
First Christian Martyrs 11 (1585)
from: Cavalieri, Giovanni Battista. Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi fide certamina ... in ecclesia S. Stephani Rotundi, Romae Nicolai Circiniani pictoris manu visuntur depicta [...], Romae, ex officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585, p. 18
First Christian Martyrs 12 (1585)
from: Cavalieri, Giovanni Battista. Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi fide certamina ... in ecclesia S. Stephani Rotundi, Romae Nicolai Circiniani pictoris manu visuntur depicta [...], Romae, ex officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585, p. 24
First Christian Martyrs 13 (1585)
from: Cavalieri, Giovanni Battista. Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi fide certamina ... in ecclesia S. Stephani Rotundi, Romae Nicolai Circiniani pictoris manu visuntur depicta [...], Romae, ex officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585, p. 27
First Christian Martyrs 14 (1585)
from: Cavalieri, Giovanni Battista. Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi fide certamina ... in ecclesia S. Stephani Rotundi, Romae Nicolai Circiniani pictoris manu visuntur depicta [...], Romae, ex officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585, p. 29
First Christian Martyrs 15 (1585)
from: Cavalieri, Giovanni Battista. Ecclesiae militantis triumphi sive Deo amabilium martyrum gloriosa pro Christi fide certamina ... in ecclesia S. Stephani Rotundi, Romae Nicolai Circiniani pictoris manu visuntur depicta [...], Romae, ex officina Bartholomaei Grassi, 1585, p. 30