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.
Bonds of Flesh and Blood : Porphyry, Animal Sacrifice, and Empire
in: Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice, pp. 214-231
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
A Gagauz folk adaption of the Karamanlidika poem Abraham’s sacrifice: a comparative linguistic approach
in: Cultural encounters in the Turkish-speaking communities of the late Ottoman Empir, pp. 257-277
Istanbul: Isis, 2014.
Nature et fonction du sacrifice chez les BèRi du Tchad et du Soudan
in: Systèmes de Pensée en Afrique Noire, v. 4 (1979), issue : pp.139-166.
Sins of Our Fathers: A Short History of Religious Child Sacrifice
in: Zeitschrift Für Religions- Und Geistesgeschichte, v. 51 (1999), issue 1: pp.30-47.
Lightning, Sacrifice, and Possession in the Traditional Religions of the Caucasus.
in: Anthropos, v. 99 (2004), issue 1: pp.143-159.
The Killing that is not Killing: Men, Cattle, and the Origins of Non-violence (ahiṃsā) in the Vedic Sacrifice
in: Indo-Iranian Journal, v. (1996), issue 39: pp.223-244.
Le sacrifice mithriaque: innovations de sens et de modalités
in: Le sacrifice dans l'Antiquité (Entretiens sur l'Antiquité classique de la fondation Hardt XXVII), pp. 343-358
Vandouvres - Genève: Fondation Hardt, 1981.
E-pi-gra-fi-e : sacrificio e memoria
Cittadella: Biblos, 2016.
Metus Gallicus: The Celts and Roman Human Sacrifice
in: The Ancient History Bulletin, v. 11 (1997), issue 1: pp.1-11.
The Christian Rejection of Animal Sacrifice
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
0. General bibliography (19th-21th Century) 2. Sacrifice and religion: Comparisons, Antiquarians, Anthropology (16th-18th Century)
Sacrifice in the Ancient Mediterranean. Recent and Current Research
in: Currents in Biblical Research, v. 13 (2015), issue 3: pp.388-439.
Contesting the Meaning of Animal Sacrifice
in: Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice, pp. 57-74
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
The Path of Power: Impurity, Kingship, and Sacrifice in Assamese Tantra
in: Journal of the American Academy of Religion , v. 69 (2001), issue : pp.777-816.
Inka llama offerings from Tambo Viejo, Acari Valley, Peru
in: Antiquity, v. 94 (2020), issue 378: pp.1-18.
Kingship and Sacrifice. Ritual and Society in Ancient Hawaii
Chicago: Chicago Univ. of Chicago Press, 1985.
Wild Victims: Hunting as Sacrifice and Sacrifice as Hunting in Huaulu
in: History of Religions, v. 34 (1994), issue 2: pp.101-131.
Those Who Have Seen Blood. The Memory of Sacrifice in Huaulu Initiation
in: For the Sake of our Future. Sacrificing in Eastern Indonesia, pp. 282-302
Leiden: ACSW, 1996.