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.
De sanctorum martyrum cruciatibus. Antonii Gallonii [...] liber [...] nunc primum in Germania [...] editus
Cologne: Joannes Gymnicus, 1602.
Trattato de gli instrumenti di martirio, e delle varie maniere di martoriare usate da’ gentili contro christiani, descritte et intagliate in rame. Opera di Antonio Gallonio Romano sacerdote della congregatione dell’oratorio. Con la tavola nel fine di tutte le cose piu notabili […]
Rome: Ascanio e Girolamo Donangeli, 1591.
De Turcarum ritu et caeremoniis
Antwerp: Gregorium Bontium [Goris de Bonte], 1544.
Victimae Humanae, complexa Modos, Ceremonias et Tempora quibus olim Homines Diis suis immolabant et humanum sanguinem libabant
Groningen: Dominicus Lens, 1675.
De deis gentium varia & multiplex historia
Basel: Oporinus, 1548.
Des Herrn Racine Trauerspiel Iphigenia, vor einigen Jahren ins deutsche übersetzt, Nunmehro aber mit einer Vorrede und einem Auszuge aus der griechischen Ipigenia des Euripides ans Licht gestellet
Leipzig: Bernhard Christoph Breitopf, 1734.
Les Anciennes Liturgies, ou, La Maniere Dont On A Dit la sainte Messe dans chaque siècle : dans les Eglises d'Orient & dans celles d'Occident : Avec la recherche de toutes les Pratiques, Prières & Ceremonies qui s'observent dans le saint Sacrifice
Paris: Jean de Nully, 1697.
Defensio fidei catholicae de satisfactione Christi adversus Faustum Socinum Senensem: scripta ab Hugone Grotio
Leiden: Ioannes Patius, 1617.
El Primer Nueva Corónica i Buen Gobierno. Conpuesto por Don Phelipe Guaman Poma de Aiala, Señor i Príncipe Su Santidad Sacra Católica Real Magestad F. G. P. D. Aiala, Préncipe, el Reino de las Indias. Quinientas y noventa y siete oxas
n. p. [Peru]: n. p. [Manuscript conserved at the Royal Library of Denmark, Copenhagen], 1615-1616.
Des Coutumes qui font vivre suivi de Sefer ha-Minhagim de Shimon Guenzburg [1593]
Paris: Éditions de l’éclat, 2021 [1593].
De deis gentium varia & multiplex Historia, Libris sive Syntagmatibus xvii comprehensa
Basel: Johann Oporinus, 1584.
Interesting historical events, relative to the provinces of Bengal, and the empire of Indostan
London: Becket & De Hondt, 1765-1771.
Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion
London: Penguin, 2004 [1779].