Animal Sacrifice (Anthropology)

Cats, like other living things, have always provided visual imagery and metaphors related to religious beliefs, as well as materiel for religious practices. Drawing principally from ancient Egypt and Mesoamerica but also Paleolithic Europe, the ancient Near East, and ancient China, this 4,500-word encyclopedia article explores the symbolism and use of large and small wild feline species, as well as domestic cats, in religious contexts. The primary focus is the use of the animals rather than images of them. A bibliography of 30 authored and edited works on the subject is included. (PDF is flyer for the encyclopedia.)

As zooarchaeologists move away from the purely economic towards ‘social zooarchaeological’ interpretations, the consideration of articulated/associated faunal remains has become more common-place. This paper presents results from a research project which investigated the nature of these associated bone groups (ABGs). The majority of current work on these deposits has utilised Iron Age material, with ABGs becoming synonymous with certain Iron Age sites, particularly Danebury. This paper moves beyond the Iron Age and discusses their presence on sites from the Neolithic to the Medieval period. It utilises the results of a survey of published sources from southern England and Yorkshire and shows that ABGs are commonly recovered from other periods. Their composition is shown to differ between time periods and regions. Finally in light of the data presented it questions how we should view these deposits.

The Hebrew Bible contains a variety of traditions concerning which meat cuts from animal sacrifices comprised the "priestly portion. " The variant textual traditions invite questions related to the historical situations that gave rise to these traditions and fostered their incorporation in the present form of the Pentateuch. This article identifies these traditions and explores questions of priority and provenance, first, from text-critical and source-critical perspectives, and, second, by considering the traditions in light of textual, iconographic, and zooarchaeo-logical data from the broader ancient Near Eastern world. Text-critical and source-critical approaches highlight the complexity of the issue and affirm two dominant systems: one assigning the hindlimb to the priests and another the forelimb, presumably from the right side of the animal in both cases. Ancient Near Eastern texts, iconography, and archaeology suggest that the origins of both traditions stretch deep into the Late Bronze and Iron Ages, the forelimb tradition perhaps the earlier of the two and rooted in southern regions, and the hindlimb tradition rooted in northern regions. A point of coalescence is identified geographically in the southern Levant and chronologically in the Iron Age II, con-comitant with the rise of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In this light, any assumption that Priestly cultic literature is a unified, postexilic, Jerusalem-centered corpus may need to be reexamined. An important aspect of the Israelite sacrificial system, as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the provision of the "priestly portion. " As in other societies in which sacrifice was a fundamental aspect of the cult, this allowance-a portion of the meat, grain, or other offered substance-served to maintain the sacrificial JBL 138, no. 2 (2019): 263-284 doi: http://dx.

In this paper I analyse the role of animal sacrifice in the Roman persecution of Christians. I first survey its role in Roman trials of Christians, arguing that up to the mid-third century CE it had no distinctive significance for either side. The turning point was Decius' decree requiring all inhabitants of the empire to participate in an animal sacrifice, which endowed it with a distinctive prominence. I then trace the development of Christian rejection of sacrifice, and lastly argue that Decius' decree resulted in an increasing insistence that animal sacrifice was fundamentally incompatible with Christian identity.

Аннотация. Статья посвящена понятию «айналайын», которое рассма-тривается изнутри жертвенного комплекса тюркского мифопоэзиса. Важное для кыргызской и казахской культур понятие «айналайын» описывается как семантический пучок и этнометафизический концепт. Его деконструкция но-сит двойной характер: философ ский и антропологический. В «айналайын» различимы несколько ключевых, включенных друг в друга смысловых эле-ментов: жертвенность, вращение, превращение, преодоление субъект-объ-ектной границы, символический обмен, «энергетика непрерывности». Особое внимание уделяется шаманству как истоку мифопоэзиса, в связи с чем анали-зируется присутствие понятия «айналайын» в заклинательных и ритуальных стихах-шаманских песнях и зикрах, сложившихся на стыке центральноазиат-ского шаманизма и суфизма.

Previous studies on the subject coincide in giving priority to one type of document, epigraphy, iconography, and a few lines of Strabo, or in proposing a comparison between Indo-European traditions on the species of sacrificed victims. The present work follows a different approach, from a history of religions perspective and the recourse to comparative elements aimed at constructing a view from within the logic of each type of source. The goal is to explain the operative chain of the Galician Lusitanian divinatory sacrifice by combining the different documents to obtain a coherent and historically realistic image of the rite. Also, the difficulties of the task and particularly those related to the archaeology of the sacrifice, a subject still pending to be fully understood, are indicated.

The construction of the Greek polis is a very complex process that coincides with the definition of the civic body according to symbolic systems that regulate the relations between state, individuals and social groups. The Greek world, through rituals and religious practices such as sacrifice, has tried to focus the civil society schema in crystallized forms developed by searching for the best constitution to ensure stability and
continuity to the polis. This yearning for a stable and non-corruptible system is visible not only in political society but also in the physical form of the polis, the asty. This article aims to support this vision through the
analysis of a number of aspects, such as the construction and foundation procedures of the Hippodamean city, the land division, the practice of sacrifice and the role of mageiroi in the division and distribution of sacrificial meat, investigated through the integrated reading of literary, archaeological and iconographic sources.

This book offers a new interpretation of ancient Greek sacrifice in early Greek myth and poetry. Through close readings of the Theogony, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the Homeric Hymn to Hermes and the Odyssey in conjunction with recent anthropological theory, it demonstrates how sacrifice narratives in early Greek hexameter poetry are intimately connected to a mythic-poetic discourse referred to as the “politics of the belly.” This mythic-poetic discourse presents sacrifice as a site of symbolic conflict between the male stomach and female womb for both mortals and immortals. Ultimately, the book argues that the ritual of sacrifice operates as a cultural mechanism for the perpetuation of patriarchal ideology not just in early Greek hexameter poetry, but throughout Greek cultural history.

This paper aims to understand how the Qur’an prescribes relations between humans and animals. I discuss the Qur’anic epistemologies of morality and bring them into conversation with esoteric claims of hypernomian versus baseline morality. Various Sufi scholars consider morality to be tiered, with taqlīd serving as a baseline. This paper will argue why treatment of animals beyond what is required might be considered hypernomian and not antinomian. I seek to negate the association of hypernomian moral decisions such as vegetarianism with sacrilege by arguing why they are an extension of, and not in defiance to, shari’a morality. I reference similar delineations of that which is permitted versus that which is preferred, such as in the case of qisas and remittance. This paper will also necessarily deliberate on the meaning (or meanings) of taqwā, and how it relates to human ethical formation. 
On the level of the problematic, this paper will engage with interpretations of Genesis and the role of man as khilafa of the world, as well as the epistemological and circumstantial significances of sacrifice, personhood, dominion, property and custodianship.

Based on osteological evidence from Greek
sanctuaries, this article explores the notion that all
meat eaten by the ancient Greeks came from sacrificed
animals. Cattle, sheep, goats and pigs made up
the bulk of the meat eaten but wild animals, dogs and
horses were also consumed, though rarely sacrificed
at the altar. Most meat eaten at ritual meals seems
to have been boiled, a cooking method eliminating
distinctions in origin and status between the animals
and transforming all their meat into sacred meat.
Different degrees of sacred meat can be distinguished
and all animals killed and eaten in sanctuaries are
not to be considered as sacrificial victims.

Аннотация: В статье предпринята попытка ответа на вопрос, какую роль в развитии иудейских
богословских представлений играл текст § 170 «Письма Аристея», содержащий учение о жертвоприношениях. Данное сочинение представляет собой грекоязычный псевдэпиграф, написанный, по мнению исследователей, в II в. до Р. Х. в Египте неким иудеем, получившим эллинистическое образование. В нем рассказывается об обстоятельствах перевода на греческий язык
текста Пятикнижия 72 толковниками при дворе египетского монарха Птолемея II Филадельфа.
В статье показывается, что в § 170 «Письма Аристея», который якобы передает учение первосвященника Елеазара, была предпринята, насколько это известно, первая в иудейской истории
попытка дать философское обоснование практики жертвоприношения. В научной литературе, посвященной как «Письму Аристея», так и истории древнеиудейского ритуала, этот факт
не нашел своего отражения. В статье показывается, что автор «Письма Аристея» принимает
постулат о том, что нравственность и состояние души важнее соблюдения обрядов жертвоприношения, который был обоснован в пророческой древнеизраильской литературе, но использует
его не для критики, а для апологии института жертвоприношения. По его мнению, институт
имеет своей целью преподать этическое наставление всем вовлеченным в ритуальный процесс.
Жертва играет роль символа, «знака», посредством которого дается этическое наставление.

Rytuał jest zjawiskiem charakterystycznym zarówno dla ludzi, jak i zwierząt. Ten fakt stanowi dodatkowe utrudnienie przy próbie jego interpretacji. Mnogość zjawisk uniemożliwia precyzyjne określenie problemu i przede wszystkim zaznaczenie jasnych granic oddzielających rytuały między sobą. Praca skupia się wyłącznie na rytuale wedyjskim, który swoją najbardziej znaną formę rozwoju osiągnął w starożytnych Indiach, choć jego genezy należy prawdopodobnie doszukiwać się jeszcze w czasach wędrówki Ariów na ziemie indyjskie. Wedyjski rytuał z konia (aśvamedha) posłużył jako przykład dla teorii indologa J. C. Heestermana, iż klasyczny rytuał indyjski u swoich korzeni wyglądał zupełnie inaczej niż to jest zarysowane w tekstach wedyjskich. Omówiona zostanie reforma rytualna czasów wedyjskich, właściwy rytuał z ofiarą z konia oraz możliwa pierwotna forma rytuału sprzed skodyfikowania go przez rytualistów.

Some Hindus are killing animals in larger numbers, more regularly, and in more spectacular fashions than they have ever done before. In contradiction of the ethnographic record asserting the diminishing significance of ritual killing since the nineteenth century, sacrifices to tutelary deities that had long been abandoned are being reactivated or enacted for the first time. However, such a counter-intuitive surge in the popularity of sacrifices is occurring at a time when the very deities to whom they are dedicated are apparently losing their
potency. This seeming paradox, this article proposes, is an implication of both the entrenchment of electoral democracy and the material transformations accompanying economic liberalization in rural Tamil Nadu. In an electoral democracy, the political significance of tutelary deities—and consequently their charisma—has diminished. Their productive valence however, as exemplified in ritual sacrifices, has become ever more resonant in India’s post-liberalization milieu, with its heightened sense of opportunity but also competitiveness and
uncertainty.

One of Robert Parker’s conclusions in this volume may at first seem a despairingly negative one: “A convincing unifying account of Greek pollution remains elusive, and my inclination remains to think that one cannot be found, since pollution is an immensely flexible metaphor that could be applied in many different spheres”. We can readily agree that a ‘unified theory’ of Greek pollution is impossible; indeed, it would surely be reductive and therefore undesirable. As the contributions to this volume and other ongoing investigations—arriving at a quick pace—persist in demonstrating, there is more profit in continuing to explore the ‘flexible metaphors’ of purity and impurity. From institutional law to traditional norm, from rhetorical slander to substantive crime, from ethical conception to ritual practice, from inner— mental—to outer—corporeal—expressions, the different declensions of purity and impurity reach beyond definitional uncertainties, unveiling some of the richness, diversity, and complexity of ancient realities.

Sacrifice et violence Du fait de la critique et du rejet du sacrifice animal par les chrétiens de l'Antiquité, les notions d'idolâtrie et de paganisme sont attachées au terme. Et du fait que la crucifixion ait été rapidement interprétée comme rachat des fautes des mortels pour devenir le sacrifice ultime, la violence humaine fut mise en adéquation avec ce même terme. Or, le sacrifice animal dans l'islam n'est aucunement connoté de cette sorte, le mouton égorgé est la simple offrande qui permet de partager un repas sacramentel entre dévots. Le sacrifice de pèlerinage des musulmans et, même, celui des Samaritains encore aujourd'hui lors de la fête de Pâque ne sont guère différents de celui que Jésus partagea avec ses disciples. On le voit, c'est le christianisme, de par son interprétation sacrificielle de la mort de Jésus et de par le refus de sacrifier quand des empereurs romains voulurent les contraindre, qui fit du sacrifice une catégorie religieuse problématique. Ce type de rite était central pour tous les Juifs, qu'ils fussent pharisiens et esséniens, central aussi pour les premiers chrétiens qui se rendaient au temple de Jérusalem dès qu'ils le pouvaient-c'est le cas de Paul-, rien de violent n'y était attaché. Quant à l'idolâtrie, elle ne concernait pas le rite lui-même au départ mais le destinataire du sacrifice. Et cette notion est déjà présente dans le judaïsme puisque le monothéisme biblique comporte une dimension monolâtrique intransigeante : seul le sacrifice à Dieu convient. Elle fut « christianisée » en considérant tout sacrifice en soi comme un acte condamnable puisqu'il ne pouvait être offert qu'à une divinité inexistante, Dieu n'en réclamant plus. Et tout sacrifice animal se révélait en outre un acte violent puisque la mort de Jésus, certes sur un mode métaphorique, était comprise comme étant celle de l'agneau de Dieu. C'est ainsi que la théorie de René Girard peut être comprise comme celle d'un penseur chrétien, au sens culturel du terme, puisque, même s'il ne vint que tardivement à l'interprétation des textes bibliques dans le déroulement de son hypothèse, sa conception du sacrifice relevait directement de la conception chrétienne : toute mise à mort ritualisée d'un homme est un sacrifice et tout sacrifice animal est un substitut innocent. Naturellement, l'interprétation anthropologique prenait le relais de l'interprétation théologique : le sacrifice ne rachetait pas les fautes des hommes mais il permettait la canalisation par le rituel de la violence humaine. Il ne s'agit absolument pas d'affirmer que la théorie se trouve invalidée du fait de son ancrage culturel et religieux mais seulement de souligner d'où elle part. Malgré l'aspect convivial et pacifique du dernier repas sacrificiel de Jésus avec ses disciples, on ne peut faire l'économie d'un questionnement de la violence du sacrifice car celui-ci est bien souvent sanglant. Mais ce questionnement doit se faire dans une grande sérénité de pensée. Le sacrifice humain est par essence violent. En revanche, le sacrifice animal peut être considéré comme la simple offrande et mise à mort d'un être jugé inférieur en vue d'un repas. C'est-à-dire que la violence de l'acte d'immolation quand il s'agit d'un animal peut être soit atténuée,

James Watts uses rhetorical analysis for this detailed exposition of Leviticus 1-10. In dialogue with a wide variety of contemporary scholarship on Leviticus, this commentary also engages the history of the book’s interpretation and the history of Jewish and Christian ritual practices. Leviticus’s rhetoric aimed to persuade ancient Israelites to make offerings to God. It legitimized the monopoly of Aaronide priests over Israel’s offerings and over determining correct ritual practice. The priests in turn established the Torah containing Leviticus as the authoritative text of Israel’s religion. Rhetorical analysis of Leviticus thus leads to new insights into the role of priests in raising the Pentateuch to the status of scripture and in shaping the biblical canon. It also calls attention to the role of ritual rhetoric in the polities of later Jewish and Christian groups, despite the fact that neither religion makes animal offerings as Leviticus 1-10 mandates.

Eid-ul-Adha is one of the main issues that divide the Muslims all over the globe. There are those who celebrate it according to the local moon sighting and then there are those who celebrate it on the day the pilgrims perform the sacrifice. Last year (1435 AH) Muslims in India celebrated Eid-al-Adha on four different days, October 4, 5, 6, 7, 2014.  The issue at hand is if Eid-ul-Adha is independent of Hajj or is linked with it. This paper makes a case for celebrating it with the pilgrims.

RESUMO O capítulo 16 de Levítico é o único texto bíblico onde se pode encontrar a palavra hebraica ‫ֵל‬ ‫ָאז‬ ‫ֲז‬ ‫.ע‬ Este termo é a chave para a compreensão do ritual do dia da expiação, onde um bode era oferecido como sacrifício " para Deus " e outro era levado ao deserto, " para Azazel ". A palavra ‫ֵל‬ ‫ָאז‬ ‫ֲז‬ ‫ע‬ foi interpretada de diversas formas, dentre as quais se destacam cinco: 1) Segundo a tradição talmúdica, seria o nome de um local, significando " duro e áspero " , referindo-se a alguma região montanhosa do deserto; 2) A partir da literatura judaica intertestamentária, também se pode pensar que se trata do nome de um demônio, ou mesmo do próprio Satanás; 3) As primeiras traduções do texto hebraico, a exemplo da Septuaginta, da Vulgata e mesmo da tradução de Símaco, indicam se tratar do próprio bode em sua função, enquanto " bode emissário " , por ser enviado ao deserto; 4) De acordo com os estudos etimológicos presentes em léxicos importantes (Genesius e BDB), a palavra seria uma abstração, tendo o sentido de " remoção total " ; 5) Segundo Aron Pinker, o tão debatido termo seria um epíteto para o próprio Deus de Israel. Cada interpretação possui seu próprio fundamento, assim como seus pontos fracos, conforme será demonstrado neste artigo. Palavras-chave: Bode expiatório. Levítico. Sacrifício. Demônio.

This study explores the multifaceted Maya Deluge Myth, from its pre-Columbian origins to current fantasies about a great world-destroying flood at the 13 Baktun period ending of the Maya Long Count on 21 (or 23) December 2012. No such flood is prophesied in any Maya records for this date, and the famous scene on Dresden Codex page 74 is discussed in its context as a symbolic depiction of the annual world-renewing downpours at the onset of the rainy season in springtime in the Maya world. The presiding gods of warfare and blood sacrifice were the agents of fertility and the regeneration of nature, and not the agents for the destruction of the Maya in a world-ending deluge. The misinterpretation of Dresden page 74 has propagated, unchallenged, for over a century of Maya scholarship and found its way into “new age,” fringe, and popular culture. This research helps to set the record straight along with providing a history of the meme.

An increasing number of Iron Age Celtic sites in France and Luxemburg have been identified and interpreted as sanctuaries. Many of these sites have produced faunal deposits of varying quantity and quality that have been associated with Celtic rituals of sacrifice and feasting. Most of these faunal remains were found in internal and external enclosure ditches, but also in pits, shafts, and floors within the enclosures, and, in one case, in a shellmidden within a settlement site.

The faunal assemblages of one Hallstatt site and 20 La Tène sites, which have been interpreted as sanctuaries, were analyzed by synthesizing theoretical frameworks, specifically costly signaling, conspicuous consumption, and competitive display. The analyses carried out in this study involved the comparison of the relative abundance of domesticated species represented at the study sites to the expected abundance of those taxa based on settlement data. An analysis was also conducted based on the ubiquity of domesticated species consumed in feasting contexts at the sites. The evidence for wild species at these sites was included in order to approach the topic of Celtic animal exploitation in ritual contexts more systematically in relation to ethnohistoric evidence of Celtic symbolic meanings.

The following conclusions were drawn from this research: 1) approaching prehistoric ritual animal use through economic, costly signaling, and symbolic models can be productive; 2) the advantages to studying the remains of both domesticates and wild fauna exploited in ritual contexts from a regional perspective are considerable; and 3) there are advantages and limitations in combining faunal and ethnohistorical data in studies of prehistoric symbolic systems.

Gunnel Ekroth, in “Why Does Zeus Care about Burnt Thighbones from sheep?  Defining the Divine and Structuring the World Through Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greece,” sets the plate for this volume by reassessing the historical backdrop against which nascent Christian traditions related to animal sacrifice emerge.  Animal sacrifice was the central ritual action of ancient Greek religion, as well as in most religions of the eastern Mediterranean in antiquity.  Although modern scholars have studied this religious practice for more than 100 years, animal sacrifice has always posed something of a problem, as it is so fundamentally alien to western European Christian culture. In order to understand animal sacrifice in the ancient world, one needs to encounter it in its own historical setting.  This means not only exploring its role in what moderns more narrowly construe as the religious sphere, but also in social and political orderings as well. Of central importance, to archaeologists of sacrifice like Ekroth, is the practical execution of the rituals.

Ekroth introduces readers to a relatively new wealth of material evidence about animal sacrifice in the pre-Christian, Greek world.  Ekroth’s critical contribution is to assess the results of recent research on the archaeology of sacrifice.  Her main concern is with historical animal sacrifice as it was actually performed, primarily, in the thysia ritual, which occurred across ancient Greek sanctuaries between the 8th and 1st centuries BCE.  At these events, mainly domesticated animals along with the fruit of agricultural labor and libations, after being dedicated to a deity, were sacrificed and shared – with butchered portions ostensibly going to gods like Zeus who preferred thighbones, while the rest of the animal, in particular the meat, was given to the human participants.  Ekroth encounters in the material handling, treatment, and distribution of meat derived from ritualized animal sacrifice an ancient structuring of the world.  Analysis of these sacrificial rituals provides us with windows to the cosmologies, hierarchies of social power, and group identities associated with those who participated.

The anthropology of Muslim food practices is a burgeoning field that promises to shift the focus away from the dominant concern with rules, conformity, and piety. Food offers an embodied and material location through which to explore the way in which religion, economy, technology, ethics, and everyday life intersect. Studying food brings into view an aspect of Muslim religious and social life that is often commented on in popular media but rarely in scholarly debate. Halal consumption, a practice rooted in intra-Muslim trade and trust, is now a global consumer market. The halal certification industry has emerged to both produce and respond to the new discursive and material context of global trade, consumption, and increasingly scientific eating habits. The new terrain of molecular halal presents opportunities and challenges for Muslim consumption. Beyond halal, food is a substance thought to produce and transmit divine grace (barakat). All-night Ramadan markets and the annual festival of sacrifice are events that draw worldwide attention. Novel phenomena include ever increasing spectacles of feasting and consumption during Ramadan and the emergence of welfare intermediaries that cater to the distribution of sacrificial animals and meat across the globe. In each instance, one obtains an insight into how a discursive and material set of practices that link religion and food are inhabited and transformed in different economic, social, and political contexts. Further research calls for further investigation of these crucial global arenas of Muslim everyday life.

"This book will be invaluable to those researching animal bone deposits. Its data sets will be a starting point for many future studies. I would also recommend Morris’s readable and lucid explanations of taphonomy and butchery to non-archaeozoologists seeking to understand the reports set before them."
The Archaeological Journal 2012

"Morris’ book represents an excellent aid to approach this type of archaeology [animal burials] within a new theoretical framework and should be on your bookshelf"
Environmental Archaeology 2012 17:2

In recent years, zooarchaeology has started to move beyond the purely economic towards social interpretations. In particular, these ‘social’ interpretations have often concentrated upon complete or partial animal burials rather than upon the disarticulated and fragmented faunal remains more commonly recovered from archaeological sites. This book presents a study of these associated bone groups from the Neolithic to late Medieval periods of southern England and Yorkshire. Not only does it present data on over 2000 deposits, it also discusses their interpretation, arguing that most are based on generalised period-based assumptions. It is proposed that a biographical approach to these types of deposit allows the investigation of the specific above ground actions behind their creation, moving away from generalisations towards individual interpretations. The study shows the value of not only utilising specialist data, but integrating such knowledge with other archaeological evidence and theoretical approaches.

The book is divided into three main sections. The first two chapters discuss the history of associated bone groups in the archaeological record and how they are created by human and natural actions. The second section consists of detailed chapters (three to nine) discussing the evidence from each region by archaeological period. The third section discusses trends in the data and the problems with how they are interpreted. It outlines and tests the use of a biographical approach and discusses the implications of these findings for wider research.

According to the rules that govern Roman religion, a white sacrificial animal is offered to a celestial or earth god, while infernal divinities receive a black one. Moreover, each deity is pleased by the immolation of an animal belonging to the same sex: male animals to gods, female ones to goddesses. What happens when those rules are not followed? We examine the regular and -mainly- the irregular cases and see why those particular divinities do nοt follow the general rule that the animal’s nature should be conform to the god’s one. We propose a new theory, based on the notion that they are reminisces from the era when the deities were asexual. We reinforce this interpretation by providing examples of sex perturbations in Roman religion (androgynous, bisexual and biform divinities, which are often related to human procreation and nature’s fertility). A minor examination concernσ the other sacrificial rule’s rare deviations, such as offerings of opposite colored or even red animals.

This study questions the traditional view of sacrifices in hero-cults during the Archaic to the early Hellenistic periods. The analysis of the epigraphical and literary evidence for sacrifices to heroes in these periods shows, contrary to the traditional notion, that the main ritual in hero-cults was a thysia sacrifice at which the worshippers consumed the meat from the animal victim. A particular handling of the animal's blood or a holocaust, rituals previously taken to be typical for heroes, can rarely be documented and must be considered as marginal features in hero-cults. The terms eschara, escharon, bothros, enagizein, enagisma, enagismos and enagisterion, believed to be characteristic for hero-cults, are seldom used in hero-contexts before the Roman period and occur mainly in the Byzantine lexicographers and in the scholia. Since the main kind of sacrifice in hero-cults was a thysia, a ritual intimately connected with the social structure of society, the heroes must have fulfilled the same role as the gods within the Greek religious system. The fact that the heroes were dead seems to have been of little significance for the sacrificial rituals and it is questionable whether the rituals of hero-cults are to be considered as originating in the cult of the dead.