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.
Commentarii a Philippo Beroaldo conditi in Asinum Aureum Lucii Apulei
Bologna: Benedicto Hectoris, 1500.
Deorum sacrificiorumque gentilium descriptio
Coloniae: Conradum Butgenium, 1606.
Corónica de los moros de España. Dividida en ocho libros. Por el Padre Presentado Fray Jayme Bleda, Predicador general de la Orden de Predicadores, Calificador de la Inquisicion de Valencia [...]
Valencia: Felipe Mey ; [a costa de] Pablo Clates, 1618.
Hierozoicon Sive bipertitum opus De Animalibus Sacrae Scripturae : Pars Prior Agit Libris quatuor De Animalibus in genere. Et De Quadrupedibus Viviparis Et Oviparis. Pars Posterior Agit Libris sex De Avibus, Serpentibus, Insectis, Aquaticis, Et Fabulosis Animalibus. Cum Indice septuplici
London: Thomas Roycroft , 1663.
Mores, leges et ritus omnium gentium
Paris: La Porte, 1538.
L'armatura de' forti ovvero memorie spettanti agli infedeli ebrei che siano o turchi
Rome: Paolo Giunchi, 1794.
The Anatomy of Melancholy What It Is. With All the Kindes, Causes, Symptomes, Prognostickes, and Severall Cures of It. In Three Maine Partitions With Their Severall Sections, Members, and Subsections. Philosophically, Medicinally, Historically, Opened and Cut Up. By Democritus Iunior. With a Satyricall Preface, Conducing to the Following Discourse
Oxford: John Lichfield - James Short, 1621.
Synagoga judaica, hoc est schola judaeorum, in qua nativitas, institutio, religio, vita, mors sepulturaque ipsorum, e libris eorundem, a M. Johanne Buxdorfio, descripta est. addita est mox per eundem judaei cum christiano disputatio de messia nostro. quae utraque germanica nunc latine reddita sunt, opera
Hanau: Hæredum Guilielmi Antoni, 1614.
Initia Sacrificiorum
Halæ: Institutus Judaicus et Muhammedaicus, 1738.
Ad Divum Petrum apostolorum principem triumphantem. Atheismus triumphatus, seu reduction ad religionem per scientiarum veritates. Fr. Thomae Campanellae, stylensis, ordinis praedicatorum. Contra antichristianismus achitophellisticum
Paris: Tyssanum Dubray, 1636.
Le imagini con la spositione de i Dei de gli antichi
Venice: Giordano Ziletti, 1556.
The originall of idolatries: or, The birth of heresies: a true, sincere, and exact description of all such sacred signes, sacrifices, and sacraments as haue been instituted and ordained of God since Adam
London: George Purslowe ; Miles Flesher, 1624.
Sermón para convertir Moros, hombres que tienen la ley de Mahoma. Dedicado a nuestro santisimo Padre y Señor Innocencio Duodezimo, Summo Pontifice, Successor de San Pedro y Vicario de Christo Señor nuestro, Dios y hombre verdadero, por el maestro Fray Francisco de Castelví, del Orden de Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Redempcion de Cautivos
Madrid: Diego Martínez Abad, 1689.