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.
Lettres persanes, n. 17
Amsterdam: , 1721.
La Chrónica general de España que continuaba Ambrosio de Morales, natural de Córdoba, cronista del Rey Catholico nuestro señor Don Philipe segundo deste nombre, y cathedrático de Rhetorica en la Universidad de Alcalá de Henares, prossiguiendo adelante de los cinco libros, que el maestro Florian de Ocampo [...] dexo escritos [...]
Alcalá de Henares - Cordoba: Juan Iñiguez de Lequerica, 1574.
Los cinco libros postreros de la Corónica general de España (Vol. IV)
Cordoba: Gabriel Ramos Bejarano, 1586.
Niño gigante. Prodigiosa vida, singular martirio, preciosa muerte, repetidas y estupendas maravillas del Martir Grande de Capadocia, San Mamante ò Mamés
Zaragoza: Herederos de Diego Dormer, 1694.
Via della fede mostrata a’gli ebrei da Giulio Morosini Venetiano
Rome: Stamparia della Sacra Congregazione de Propaganda Fide, 1683.
Via della fede mostrata a’gli ebrei da Giulio Morosini Venetiano. Diuisa in tre parti. Nella prima si pruoua, che non deuono osseruare la legge mosaica. Nella seconda si mostrano tutte le cerimonie. Nella terza si palesa, che nemmeno osseruano i precetti del decalogo
Rome: Stamparia della Sacra Congregazione de Propaganda Fide, 1683.
Las quatro partes enteras de la Cronica de España que manda componer el Serenissimo rey don Alonso llamado el Sabio. Donde se contienen los acontecimientos y hazañas mayores y mas señaladas que sucedieron en España. Desde su primera poblacion hasta casi los tiempos del dicho señor rey.
Zamora : Spinosa, 1541.
Tableau général de l'Empire othoman. 3 vols: vol. 2
Paris: Firmin Didot, 1787-1820.
Les metamorphoses d’Ovide, en latin et françois, divisées en XV libres. Avec de nouvelles explications historiques, morales et politques sur toutes le fables, chacune selon son sujet. Henrichies de figures et nouvellement traduites par Pierre Du-Ryer de l’Academie Françoise
Paris: Antoin de Sommaville, 1660.
Los quinze libros de los metamorphoseos de el excellente poeta latino Ovidio. Traduzidos en verso suelto y octava rima por Antonio Perez, con sus alegorias al fin de cada libro. Dirigidos al illustrissimo señor dõ Gaspar de Zuñiga, y Azeuedo, Conde de Monterrey, señor de la casa de Vìezma i Ulloa
Salamanca: Iuan Perier, 1580.
Les metamorphoses d’Ovide. Traduites en prose françoise, et de nouveau soigneusement reveuës, corrigees en infinis endroits, et enriches de figures à chacune fable. Avec XV discours contenans l’explication morale et historique. De plus outre le jugement de Paris, augmentees de la Metamorphosedes abeilles, traduite de Virgile de quelques Epistres d’Ovide, et autres divers traitez
Paris: n.p., 1619.
De Sacrificiis libri duo; quorum altero explicantur omnia Judaeorum, nonnulla Gentium Profanarum Sacrificia altero Sacrificium Christi. Utroque Ecclesiae Catholicae his de rebus Sententia contra Faustum Socinum, ejusque sectatores defenditur
London: Richard Chiswell, 1677.
Two Dissertations on Sacrifices
London: Burton and Briggs; Gale and Fenner Hatchard, [1817].