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.
Some remarks on the ritual significance of the bull in pre-Islamic South Arabia
in: Arabian and Islamic studies: articles presented to R.B. Serjeant, pp. 196-213
Harlow: Longman, 1983.
The Forbidden Animals in Leviticus
in: Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, v. (1993), issue 59: pp.3-23.
1. Sacrifice and Bible (16th-18th Century) 2. Sacrifice and religion: Comparisons, Antiquarians, Anthropology (16th-18th Century)
Atonement in Leviticus
in: Jewish Studies Quarterly , v. 1 (1993-1994), issue 2: pp.109-130.
Of Camels, Crocodiles and Human Sacrifice. The North Carolina MS of Solinus' De situ orbis terrarum and Readings of Classical Geography in the Renaissance
in: International Journal of the Classical Tradition, v. 18 (2011), issue 2: pp.167-200.
Technique et sacrifice dans la metallurgie africaine
Paris: Universite Paris, Departement d'economie appliquée, 1994.
The Sacrificial Rtual in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa
Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981.
The Legend of Miaoshan
London: Ithaca Press, 1978.
in: Divine Consumption : Sacrifice, Alliance building, and making Ancestors in West Africa, pp.
Los Angeles: The Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press, 2022.
L’Aśvamedha: Description du sacrifice solennel du cheval dans le culte védique d'aprés les textes du Yajurveda blanc (Vājasaneyisaṃhitā, Śatapathabrāhmaṇa, Kātyāyanaśrautasûtra)
Louvain - Paris: Paul Geuthner - Istas Imprimeur, 1927.
The Animal Sacrifice in the Taittiriya-Brahmana : the Part of the Hotar and the Part of the Maitravaruna in the Animal Sacrifice : the Sixth Prapathaka of the Taittiriya-Brahmana, with Translation
Philadelphia: American Philosophical society, 1962.
Les origines cananeennes du sacrifice israelite
Paris: Editions Ernest Lerou, 1921.
La fleur letale : economie du sacrifice azteque
Paris: Éditions du Seuil, 1979.
Sacrifice in Modernity : Community, Ritual, Identity
in: Sacrifice in Modernity : Community, Ritual, Identity : from Nationalism and Nonviolence to Health Care and Harry Potter, pp. 3-14
Leiden: Brill, 2017.
THE ORIGINS OF THE RITUAL MURDER ACCUSATION AND BLOOD LIBEL
in: Tradition: A Journal of Orthodox Jewish Thought, v. 15 (1976), issue 4: pp.83-90.
The Savage in Judaism: An Anthropology of Israelite Religion and Ancient Judaism
Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1990.
Opferritus und Voropfer der Griechen und Römer
Kristiania: J. Dybwad, 1915.
I riti del costruire
Milano: Jaca book, 1990.