Human sacrifice in ancient Greece / Dennis D. Hughes.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hughes, Dennis D., 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human sacrifice--Greece.

Human sacrifice.

Greece--Religion.

Greece.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (317 p.)

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 1991.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Numerous ancient texts describe human sacrifices and other forms of ritual killing: in 480 BC Themistocles sacrifices three Persian captives to Dionysus; human scapegoats called pharmakoi are expelled yearly from Greek cities, and according to some authors they are killed; Locrin girls are hunted down and slain by the Trojans; on Mt Lykaion children are sacrificed and consumed by the worshippers; and many other texts report human sacrifices performed regularly in the cult of the gods or during emergencies such as war and plague. Archaeologists have frequently proposed human sacrifice as an exp

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Dedication; Contents; Preface; Abbreviations; 1 Sacrifice and ritual killing: terminology and types; 2 Archaeological evidence; 3 Funerary ritual killing in Greek literature and history; 4 Human sacrifice in Greek myth, cult, and history; 5 The pharmakos and related rites; 6 Strangers in a strange land: the Locrian maiden tribute; 7 Conclusion; Appendix A Cut marks and mass burials; Appendix B Pylos tablet Tn 316; Notes; Bibliography; Index locorum; Subject index

Notes:

Revision of the author's thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1986.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-134-96638-5

1-134-96639-3

1-280-33113-5

0-203-03283-7

0-203-32665-2

9780203032831

OCLC:

52338584