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.
Funerary dramas and ritual killing in the Slavic World Written sources and archaeological realities
in: Human Sacrifice and Value. Revisiting the Limits of Sacred Violence from an Anthropological and Archaeological Perspective, pp. Chap. 8
: , .
Il sacrificio fra antropologia e Bibbia
in: E il Verbo si è fatto pane : l'Eucaristia tra Antico e Nuovo Testamento, pp. 15-25
Assisi: Cittadella, 2009.
The space of idolatry: reformation, incarnation and the ethnographic image
in: Res, v. 41 (2002), issue --: pp.72–91.
La Dokimasia des victimes. Notes sur une iscription d'Entella
in: Annali Della Scuola Normale Superiore Di Pisa. Classe Di Lettere e Filosofia, v. 14 (1984), issue 3: pp.845–848.
Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight
in: The Interpretation of Culture: Selected Essays, pp. 412-445
New York: Basic Books, 1973.
Muhammad and the Formation of Sacrifice
Frankfurt: Peter Lang, 2014.
Sierra Leone Muslims and sacrificial rituals
in: Sierra Leone Bulletin of Religion, v. 2 (1960), issue : pp.27-32.
Soteriology and the end of animal sacrifice
Eugene, Oregon: Wipf & Stock, 2018.
La fenomenologia della sati nella Scommessa di Prometeo
in: Le mythe repensé dans l’œuvre de Giacomo Leopard, pp. 327-337http://books.openedition.org/pup/11256
Aix-en-Provence: Presses universitaires de Provence, 2016.
Blood Ritual in the Hebrew Bible: Meaning and Power
Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
Jewish Sacrifice : its Nature and Function (according to Philo)
in: Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice, pp. 94-105
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
Machiavelli e gli antiquari
in: L’Europa divisa e i nuovi mondi. Per Adriano Prosperi, pp. 3-8
Pisa: Edizioni della Normale, 2011.
Violence and the Sacred
Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981.
Le Kurban Bayramı à Istanbul. Le sacrifice entre commercialisation et humanitarisation
in: Un Moyen-Orient ordinaire: entre consommations et mobilités, pp. 206-232
: , .
Iphigénie de la Grèce antique à l'Europe des Lumières
Paris: Presses universitaires de France, 1985.
Human sacrifice and head-hunting in North Eastern India
Gauhati, India: Lawyer's Book Stall, 1977.
Le sacrifice dans les traditions turques
in: Sacrifices en Islam: Espaces et temps d'un rituel, pp. 265-285 [open access]
Paris: CNRS, .