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.
The Rig Veda
London: Penguin, 1981.
Galerie agreable du monde
Leiden: Pierre vander Aa, 1729.
R. Mosis Majemonidae De sacrificiis liber: Accesserunt Abarbanelis Exordium commentariorum in Leviticum : quo omnis omnium sacrificiorum ratio breviter ac dilucidè disputatur.
London: Flesher, 1683.
Rerum a Societate Iesu in Oriente gestarum, a cura di Giovanni Pietro Maffei, in aedibus Decii Lachaei
Naples: apud Horatium Salvianum, 1573.
2. Sacrifice and religion: Comparisons, Antiquarians, Anthropology (16th-18th Century) 7. Sacrifices of self: Martirology and Catholic global missions (16th-18th Century)
De natura novi orbis libri duo, et de promulgatione Evangelii, apud barbaros, sive de procuranda Indorum Salute libri sex
Salamanca: Guillelmum Foquel, 1589.
Annotations upon the five bookes of Moses, the booke of the Psalmes, and the Song of Songs, or, Canticles Wherein the Hebrevv vvords and sentences, are compared with, and explained by the ancient Greeke and Chaldee versions, and other records and monuments of the Hebrewes: but chiefly by conference with the holy Scriptures, Moses his words, lawes and ordinances, the sacrifices, and other legall ceremonies heretofore commanded by God to the Church of Israel, are explained. With an advertisement touching some objections made against the sinceritie of the Hebrew text, and allegation of the Rabbines in these annotations. As also tables directing unto such principall things as are observed in the annotations upon each severall booke
London: M. Flesher ; J. Haviland ; John Bellamie, 1627.
Capitulo 14: De sus Sacrificios, donde comoy por que causas los hacian
in: “Historia de las islas e indios de Bisayas, parte mayor i más principal de las islas Filipinas: dividida en dos partes, la primera natural, del sitio, fertilidad i calidad de estas islas i sus moradores, etc. La 2ª eclesiástica i sobrenatural, de su fee i aumentos en ella con el magisterio i enseñanza de los P.P. de la Compañía de Jesús (ms)”
: Ms, 1668.
Varias antigüedades de España, África y otras provincias. Por el doctor Bernardo Aldrete [...]
Antwerp: Geeraerd Wolschaten ; Hendrik Aertssens, 1614.
Musaeum Metallicum
Bologna: , 1648.
Historia de las cosas de Ethiopia. En la qual se cuenta muy copiosamente, el estado y potencia del Emperador della, (que es el que muchos han pensado ser el preste Juan) con otras infinitas particularidades assi de la religion de aquella gente, como de sus cerimonias; segun que de todo ello fue testigo de vista Francisco Alvarez, Capellán del Rey Don Manuel de Portugal. Agora nuevamente traduzido de portugues a castellano por el padre Fray Thomás de Padilla
Zaragoza: Augustín Millán, 1551.
Martirio di S. Simone di Trento nel quale si tratta de la gran crudeltà che vsarono gli empi ebrei in martirizarlo. et come è stato posto nel cattalogo de’ santi, & la solenne processione fatta nella sua prima festa, con molti miracoli fatti da esso santo
Trento: Battista Gelmini, 1593.
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.
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.
Borgia Codex
: , [1476] - [1500].