Gunnel Ekroth is professor of Classical archaeology and ancient history at the Department of archaeology and ancient history, Uppsala university. Address: Department of archaeology and ancient history Box 626 SE-75126 Uppsala Sweden
From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological, and zooarchaeological evidence, 2024
Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined
themselves, their relation... more Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200). The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions, representations on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries. Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum of ancient evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is a prerequisite for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek animal sacrifice. Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
Round trip to Hades explores how the theme of visiting the Underworld and returning alive has bee... more Round trip to Hades explores how the theme of visiting the Underworld and returning alive has been treated, transmitted and transformed in the ancient Greek and Byzantine traditions. The journey was usually a descent (katabasis) into a dark and dull place, where forgetfulness and punishment reigned, but since ‘everyone’ was there, it was also a place that offered opportunities to meet people and socialize. Famous Classical round trips to Hades include those undertaken by Odysseus and Aeneas, but this pagan topic also caught the interest of Christian writers. The contributions of the present volume allow the reader to follow the passage from pagan to Christian representations of Hades – a passage that may seem surprisingly effortless.
This study questions the traditional view of sacrifices in hero-cults during the Archaic to the e... more 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.
The importance of the zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practices in ancient Gree... more The importance of the zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practices in ancient Greece is gradually becoming widely recognized. Animal bones provide a kind of evidence for Greek cult practice which is constantly growing, and can complement and elucidate the information provided by texts, inscriptions and images. This volume brings together sixteen contributions exploring ritual practices and animal bones from different chronological and geographical perspectives, foremost ancient Greece in the historical period, but also in the Bronze Age and as early as the Neolithic period, as well as Anatolia, France and Scandinavia, providing new empirical evidence from a number of major sanctuaries and cult places. On a methodological level, the complexity of identifying ritual activity from the zooarchaeological evidence is a recurrent theme, as is the prominence of local variation visible in the bone material, suggesting that the written sources and iconography may offer simplified or idealized versions of the rituals actually performed. Although zooarchaeology needs to and should be integrated with other kinds of sources, the independent study of the bones in an unbiased manner is of utmost importance, as the bones can provide a different “reality” than that encountered in our other sources.
From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological, and zooarchaeological evidence (ActaAth-4, 60), eds. J.-M. Carbon & G. Ekroth, Stockholm, 9-20, 2024
Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined
themselves, their relatio... more Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined
themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their
society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present
volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal
sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200).
The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning
of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive
study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions, representations
on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries.
Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum of ancient
evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is a prerequisite
for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek animal sacrifice.
Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical,
archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice
explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including
tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the
handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions
address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing
important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence (ActaAth-4, 60), eds. J.-M. Carbon & G. Ekroth, Stockholm, 2024, 193-206. , 2024
This paper offers a review of holocaustic rituals in written and material
sources arguing that th... more This paper offers a review of holocaustic rituals in written and material sources arguing that this type of sacrifice was rare. It further addresses if the animal was burned whole or if the carcass was flayed, emptied of blood and intestines, and sectioned before being placed onto the fire. Since the evidence suggests that holocausts did not necessarily mean the burning of an intact animal, the relation between holocausts and moirocausts, sacrifices at which a larger part of the animal was burned, is also explored. Finally, the ancient evidence for holocausts is considered in the light of the results of the experimental cremation of a lamb and a pig performed at Uppsala in 2014. It is argued that a Greek holocaust may have aimed at burning the meat beyond human means of consumption rather than at a total annihilation of the carcass by fire, and that the long time it seems to have taken to perform a holocaust can be linked to the purpose of the ritual.
The stuff of the gods. The material aspects of religion in ancient Greece (ActaAth 4-59), eds. M. Haysom, M. Mili & J. Wallensten, Stockholm, 69-82., 2024
Greek gods had their allotted spaces where worship took place, designated
temenos, “that which ha... more Greek gods had their allotted spaces where worship took place, designated temenos, “that which has been cut off ”, but even if such a plot was the property of the deity and circumscribed by particular rules, it was not exclusively frequented by the divine owner. Mortal visitors may have used a temenos just as intensively as a god did, but in a different manner, and humans were also the caretakers and administrators of the god’s property. This paper explores the temenos concept from the point of view of sanctuaries as set apart from gods but mainly used by men, and how immortal and mortal practices and manifestations were to be accommodated within this space. Two points will be addressed, the marking of boundaries for temene, and notions of purity and pollution when humans visited sanctuaries to worship the gods. It will be argued that a physical demarcation of the temenos was not a divine prerequisite and that the construction of a wall was a human responsibility depending on local cultic conditions. The caretaking of a temenos as divine property required particular rules at sacrifices, since human needs and desires were not always appropriate to the gods. Of particular interest are the handling of animals, the cooking and food consumption after sacrifices, the management of human waste as well as the impact of humans staying in temene.
Aspects of Ancient Greek Cult II. Sacred architecture, sacred space, sacred objects: An international colloquium in honour of Erik Hansen (=Acta Archaeologica 93.1), eds. J.Tae Jensen & G. Hinge, 2022
Greek altars have received ample attention in scholarship as to their appearance, construction an... more Greek altars have received ample attention in scholarship as to their appearance, construction and location within a sanctuary, as well as their importance as the central feature for the rituals allowing communication with the gods. The immediate surroundings of altars have not been considered to the same degree. This paper will explore the context of Greek altars and some of the features located here, for example, rings for fastening animals, stone lined pits and remains of previous sacrifices. Of particular interest is the use of the top of the altar for ritual purposes in relation to the space surrounding the altar. A study of the wider contexts of altars, as to their use and the material remains found here, may provide a better understanding of the complex ritual reality of the ancient Greeks.
Around the hearth. Ritual and commensal practices in the Mediterranean Iron Age from the Aegean World to the Iberian peninsula, eds. J. Lamaze & M. Bastide, 2021
Ancient Greek sacrifice can be viewed as an outdoor activity, centred on the burning on the altar... more Ancient Greek sacrifice can be viewed as an outdoor activity, centred on the burning on the altar of fat and bones from the sacrificial victim to create a rich, fragrant smoke, which the gods profited from by inhaling. Cakes and incense put in fire produced further pleasant smells. These actions call for the ritual taking place in the open, usually in front of the temple where most altars are located. However, altars and hearths are also found inside temples. The aim of this paper is to explore the indoor presence and use of such sacrificial installations, looking at archaeological and written evidence. What kinds of offerings were sacrificed inside temples and to what degree were they burnt? Installations for fire inside religious buildings have been the focus of discussion among scholars, in particular whether hearths in temples are to be seen as a legacy from the Early Iron Age or even Bronze Age, or as a practice corresponding to certain ritual needs in the historic period. Indoor hearths are also important for the interpretation of some early Greek buildings such as temples, hestiatoria or prytaneia. The practical implications of such installations are less well understood.
Qu'est-ce que faire école ? Regards sur « l'école de Paris » (Cahiers mondes anciens 13), 2020
The denomination “school” in academic contexts carries with it a certain ambiguity. It can evoke ... more The denomination “school” in academic contexts carries with it a certain ambiguity. It can evoke a stimulating and innovative environment with a positive synergy between its members, but also a self-sufficient and almost complacent academic setting mainly concerned with preserving its own worldview. From this starting point, my contribution will reflect on the impact of the École de Paris within the field of Anglophone research on Greek religion and especially on animal sacrifice. Focus lies on how has the concept of a “Paris school” been handled within the study of Greek religion and what position it occupies among scholars working in this field. Four overlapping positions can be distinguished: (1) naming and using the Paris school as a theoretical approach, (2) critiques, which is also a form of interaction, (3) naming and referring in passing without an in depth engagement, and (4) studies on Greek sacrifice which do not use the term or comment on the Paris school.
Gunnel Ekroth, in “Why Does Zeus Care about Burnt Thighbones from sheep? Defining the Divine and... more 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.
Round trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean tradition. Visits to the Underworld from antiquity to Byzantium (Cultural interactions in the Mediterranean, 2), eds. G. Ekroth & I. Nilsson, Leiden 2018, 37-56., 2018
Change, continuity, and connectivity. North-Eastern Mediterranean at the turn of the Bronze Age and in the early Iron Age (Philippiaka, 118), eds. L. Niesiolowski-Spano & M. Wecowski, Wiesbaden, 2018
The resilience of heritage. Cultivating a future of the past. Essays in honour of professor Paul J.J. Sinclair, eds. A. Ekblom, Ch. Isendahl & K.-J. Lindholm, Uppsala, 2018
From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological, and zooarchaeological evidence, 2024
Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined
themselves, their relation... more Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200). The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions, representations on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries. Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum of ancient evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is a prerequisite for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek animal sacrifice. Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
Round trip to Hades explores how the theme of visiting the Underworld and returning alive has bee... more Round trip to Hades explores how the theme of visiting the Underworld and returning alive has been treated, transmitted and transformed in the ancient Greek and Byzantine traditions. The journey was usually a descent (katabasis) into a dark and dull place, where forgetfulness and punishment reigned, but since ‘everyone’ was there, it was also a place that offered opportunities to meet people and socialize. Famous Classical round trips to Hades include those undertaken by Odysseus and Aeneas, but this pagan topic also caught the interest of Christian writers. The contributions of the present volume allow the reader to follow the passage from pagan to Christian representations of Hades – a passage that may seem surprisingly effortless.
This study questions the traditional view of sacrifices in hero-cults during the Archaic to the e... more 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.
The importance of the zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practices in ancient Gree... more The importance of the zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practices in ancient Greece is gradually becoming widely recognized. Animal bones provide a kind of evidence for Greek cult practice which is constantly growing, and can complement and elucidate the information provided by texts, inscriptions and images. This volume brings together sixteen contributions exploring ritual practices and animal bones from different chronological and geographical perspectives, foremost ancient Greece in the historical period, but also in the Bronze Age and as early as the Neolithic period, as well as Anatolia, France and Scandinavia, providing new empirical evidence from a number of major sanctuaries and cult places. On a methodological level, the complexity of identifying ritual activity from the zooarchaeological evidence is a recurrent theme, as is the prominence of local variation visible in the bone material, suggesting that the written sources and iconography may offer simplified or idealized versions of the rituals actually performed. Although zooarchaeology needs to and should be integrated with other kinds of sources, the independent study of the bones in an unbiased manner is of utmost importance, as the bones can provide a different “reality” than that encountered in our other sources.
From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological, and zooarchaeological evidence (ActaAth-4, 60), eds. J.-M. Carbon & G. Ekroth, Stockholm, 9-20, 2024
Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined
themselves, their relatio... more Animal sacrifice fundamentally informed how the ancient Greeks defined
themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their
society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present
volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal
sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200).
The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning
of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive
study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions, representations
on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries.
Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum of ancient
evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is a prerequisite
for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek animal sacrifice.
Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical,
archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice
explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including
tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the
handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions
address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing
important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
From snout to tail. Exploring the Greek sacrificial animal from the literary, epigraphical, iconographical, archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence (ActaAth-4, 60), eds. J.-M. Carbon & G. Ekroth, Stockholm, 2024, 193-206. , 2024
This paper offers a review of holocaustic rituals in written and material
sources arguing that th... more This paper offers a review of holocaustic rituals in written and material sources arguing that this type of sacrifice was rare. It further addresses if the animal was burned whole or if the carcass was flayed, emptied of blood and intestines, and sectioned before being placed onto the fire. Since the evidence suggests that holocausts did not necessarily mean the burning of an intact animal, the relation between holocausts and moirocausts, sacrifices at which a larger part of the animal was burned, is also explored. Finally, the ancient evidence for holocausts is considered in the light of the results of the experimental cremation of a lamb and a pig performed at Uppsala in 2014. It is argued that a Greek holocaust may have aimed at burning the meat beyond human means of consumption rather than at a total annihilation of the carcass by fire, and that the long time it seems to have taken to perform a holocaust can be linked to the purpose of the ritual.
The stuff of the gods. The material aspects of religion in ancient Greece (ActaAth 4-59), eds. M. Haysom, M. Mili & J. Wallensten, Stockholm, 69-82., 2024
Greek gods had their allotted spaces where worship took place, designated
temenos, “that which ha... more Greek gods had their allotted spaces where worship took place, designated temenos, “that which has been cut off ”, but even if such a plot was the property of the deity and circumscribed by particular rules, it was not exclusively frequented by the divine owner. Mortal visitors may have used a temenos just as intensively as a god did, but in a different manner, and humans were also the caretakers and administrators of the god’s property. This paper explores the temenos concept from the point of view of sanctuaries as set apart from gods but mainly used by men, and how immortal and mortal practices and manifestations were to be accommodated within this space. Two points will be addressed, the marking of boundaries for temene, and notions of purity and pollution when humans visited sanctuaries to worship the gods. It will be argued that a physical demarcation of the temenos was not a divine prerequisite and that the construction of a wall was a human responsibility depending on local cultic conditions. The caretaking of a temenos as divine property required particular rules at sacrifices, since human needs and desires were not always appropriate to the gods. Of particular interest are the handling of animals, the cooking and food consumption after sacrifices, the management of human waste as well as the impact of humans staying in temene.
Aspects of Ancient Greek Cult II. Sacred architecture, sacred space, sacred objects: An international colloquium in honour of Erik Hansen (=Acta Archaeologica 93.1), eds. J.Tae Jensen & G. Hinge, 2022
Greek altars have received ample attention in scholarship as to their appearance, construction an... more Greek altars have received ample attention in scholarship as to their appearance, construction and location within a sanctuary, as well as their importance as the central feature for the rituals allowing communication with the gods. The immediate surroundings of altars have not been considered to the same degree. This paper will explore the context of Greek altars and some of the features located here, for example, rings for fastening animals, stone lined pits and remains of previous sacrifices. Of particular interest is the use of the top of the altar for ritual purposes in relation to the space surrounding the altar. A study of the wider contexts of altars, as to their use and the material remains found here, may provide a better understanding of the complex ritual reality of the ancient Greeks.
Around the hearth. Ritual and commensal practices in the Mediterranean Iron Age from the Aegean World to the Iberian peninsula, eds. J. Lamaze & M. Bastide, 2021
Ancient Greek sacrifice can be viewed as an outdoor activity, centred on the burning on the altar... more Ancient Greek sacrifice can be viewed as an outdoor activity, centred on the burning on the altar of fat and bones from the sacrificial victim to create a rich, fragrant smoke, which the gods profited from by inhaling. Cakes and incense put in fire produced further pleasant smells. These actions call for the ritual taking place in the open, usually in front of the temple where most altars are located. However, altars and hearths are also found inside temples. The aim of this paper is to explore the indoor presence and use of such sacrificial installations, looking at archaeological and written evidence. What kinds of offerings were sacrificed inside temples and to what degree were they burnt? Installations for fire inside religious buildings have been the focus of discussion among scholars, in particular whether hearths in temples are to be seen as a legacy from the Early Iron Age or even Bronze Age, or as a practice corresponding to certain ritual needs in the historic period. Indoor hearths are also important for the interpretation of some early Greek buildings such as temples, hestiatoria or prytaneia. The practical implications of such installations are less well understood.
Qu'est-ce que faire école ? Regards sur « l'école de Paris » (Cahiers mondes anciens 13), 2020
The denomination “school” in academic contexts carries with it a certain ambiguity. It can evoke ... more The denomination “school” in academic contexts carries with it a certain ambiguity. It can evoke a stimulating and innovative environment with a positive synergy between its members, but also a self-sufficient and almost complacent academic setting mainly concerned with preserving its own worldview. From this starting point, my contribution will reflect on the impact of the École de Paris within the field of Anglophone research on Greek religion and especially on animal sacrifice. Focus lies on how has the concept of a “Paris school” been handled within the study of Greek religion and what position it occupies among scholars working in this field. Four overlapping positions can be distinguished: (1) naming and using the Paris school as a theoretical approach, (2) critiques, which is also a form of interaction, (3) naming and referring in passing without an in depth engagement, and (4) studies on Greek sacrifice which do not use the term or comment on the Paris school.
Gunnel Ekroth, in “Why Does Zeus Care about Burnt Thighbones from sheep? Defining the Divine and... more 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.
Round trip to Hades in the Eastern Mediterranean tradition. Visits to the Underworld from antiquity to Byzantium (Cultural interactions in the Mediterranean, 2), eds. G. Ekroth & I. Nilsson, Leiden 2018, 37-56., 2018
Change, continuity, and connectivity. North-Eastern Mediterranean at the turn of the Bronze Age and in the early Iron Age (Philippiaka, 118), eds. L. Niesiolowski-Spano & M. Wecowski, Wiesbaden, 2018
The resilience of heritage. Cultivating a future of the past. Essays in honour of professor Paul J.J. Sinclair, eds. A. Ekblom, Ch. Isendahl & K.-J. Lindholm, Uppsala, 2018
The Eucharist - Its Origins and Context. Sacred Meal, Communal Meal, Table Fellowship in Late Antiquity, Early Judaism and Early Christianity, eds. D. Hellholm & D. Sänger. , 2017
Opuscula. Annual of the Swedish Institutes at Athens and Rome, 7, Dec 2014
The castration of most male animals seems to have been the rule in ancient Greece when rearing ca... more The castration of most male animals seems to have been the rule in ancient Greece when rearing cattle, sheep, goats, and pigs; only very few adult males are needed for breeding purposes and flocks of bulls, rams, billy-goats and boars are difficult to keep, since they are too aggressive. Castrated males yield more and fattier meat, and, in the case of sheep, more wool. Still, sacred laws and sacrificial calendars stipulate the sacrifice of uncastrated victims, and vase-paintings frequently represent bulls, rams and billy-goats in ritual contexts. This paper will discuss the role of uncastrated male animals in Greek cult in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods, both from a religious and an agricultural perspective. Of particular interest are the relations between the practical, economic reality and the theological perception of sacrifice. These issues will be explored using epigraphical, literary, iconographical and zooarchaeological evidence.
Bones, behaviour and belief. The zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practice in ancient Greece and beyond (ActaAth-4°, 55), eds. G. Ekroth & J. Wallensten, Stockholm 2013, 15-30., 2013
Animal bones comprise the only category of evidence for Greek cult which is constantly significan... more Animal bones comprise the only category of evidence for Greek cult which is constantly significantly increasing. The use of ever more sophisticated excavation methods demonstrates the importance of zooarchaeologicalmaterial for the study of Greek religion and how such material can throw light on texts, inscriptions and images, as the animal bones constitute remains of actual ritual actions and not mere descriptions or representations of these actions. This paper outlines some areas where the zooarchaeological evidence may be of particular pertinence, for example, in elucidating the complex and idiosyncratic religious terminology of shares of sacrificial victims mentioned in sacred laws and sacrificial calendars, or in providing a context for a better understanding of the representations of animal parts on Attic vases. The role of meat within ancient Greek society, the choice of sacrificial victims and the handling of “non-sacrificable” animals such as game, dogs and equids within Greek cult can also be clarified by comparisons with the animal remains.
Bones, behaviour and belief. The zooarchaeological evidence as a source for ritual practice in ancient Greece and beyond (ActaAth-4° no. 55), eds. G. Ekroth & J. Wallensten, Stockholm 2013, 9-13. , 2013
Animal sacrifice was the most important ritual within ancient Greek religion (ca 1000 BC to 200 A... more Animal sacrifice was the most important ritual within ancient Greek religion (ca 1000 BC to 200 AD). Through animal sacrifice men communicated with the gods to ask for help, show their gratitude or honour the divine party, but the ritual did also lay down the differences between gods and men. Depending on how the animal was divided and who received what, and whether the meat, blood and innards were kept raw, cooked or burnt, it was established who was immortal and mortal, respectively. The division and handling of the animal also marked differences in status between humans, individuals as well as groups, linked to what part of the animal one received. Each body part had its own meaning and function within the ritual, but in what way and why remains to be investigated in more detail.
The conference From snout to tail brings together 20 internationally well-known scholars with profound knowledge of the ancient source material and ancient Greek religion to explore the handling of the different parts of the animal, from snout to tail. The aim is a better understanding of the use and meaning of the animal’s body within sacrificial ritual through a thorough interpretation of the complex Greek sacrificial terminology, representations of ritual preserved on pottery and reliefs and animal bones found in Greek sanctuaries. The results will provide new insights as to how animal sacrifice worked as a means to communicate with the gods and establish the world order. The understanding of animal sacrifice in Greek antiquity is central for the understanding ancient individuals, their society and relation to the divine.
The main methodological aim is to integrate all kinds of extant ancient sources: texts, inscriptions, images, archaeological material and preserved animal bones. It is only through such an approach that that we may grasp the complex ritual reality. From a methodological perspective, this empirical width is innovative and creative, as scholars tend to stick to their own fields. A zooarchaeologist rarely knows ancient Greek while a philologist rarely has competence in the interpretation of images or identification of animal bones. Therefore, the conference wants to highlight and develop the importance of a work mode that makes use of the ancient evidence as fully as possible through cross-disciplinary dialogue, but also to stimulate and establish collaboration between scholars across disciplines.
In the Homeric epics, the process of animal sacrifice is often epitomised as an act of burning th... more In the Homeric epics, the process of animal sacrifice is often epitomised as an act of burning the thighbones for the gods and sharing the splanchna (offal) between the human participants in the ritual. This indicates the special position which ritual practice assigned to the internal organs of animals. It is further confirmed by Plutarch who reports that even Pythagoreans, notorious for their vegetarianism, would take their share of the splanchna. Even though from the point of view of twentieth century scholarship, which consisted in explaining religious phenomena by their social function and/or origins, the act of collective consumption of splanchna seemed to fit perfectly virtually all theoretical frameworks and to confirm their validity, its details in fact remain obscure. Even the full list of organs belonging to the category of splanchna is far from obvious, and the exact procedure for their roasting, division and consumption, however frequently mentioned in texts and depicted on vases, is nowhere described in detail. In my contribution, I would like to reassess some of the sources in order to ask (and possibly partially answer) the question of how much may actually be said about splanchna. JAN-MATHIEU CARBON (Saxo Institute, Copenhagen): Little ribs and triple ribs, sides and other bits… The paper will look at two occasionally neglected kinds of priestly portions in the textual evidence: the ribs and the " side of hip " from the hind leg. In the case of the ribs, an elucidation of the typical portion granted to officials will be proposed: this was a sagittal cut that consisted of the meat overlying and including the first three ribs counting down from the clavicle (usually called tripleuron). A less frequent, alternative portion (perhaps cut in a similar fashion) seems to have been the so-called " little rib(cage) " , which ought properly to designate meat around the last rib—the " false " or " floating rib " — which remained unattached to the sternum. These two portions thus belong to the opposite ends of the ribcage, one near the foreleg; the other, close to the abdomen. What was the significance of giving them? Moving from essentially philological work, some deeper questions will accordingly be raised. In the first case, it must be observed that the " triple-rib " was immediately adjacent to the shoulder of the foreleg, which often formed a part of the divine or priestly portion extracted from the animal. In
Uploads
Books by Gunnel Ekroth
themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their
society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present
volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal
sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200).
The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning
of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive
study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions,
representations on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries.
Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum
of ancient evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is
a prerequisite for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek
animal sacrifice.
Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical,
archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice
explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including
tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the
handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions
address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing
important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
Papers by Gunnel Ekroth
themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their
society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present
volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal
sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200).
The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning
of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive
study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions, representations
on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries.
Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum of ancient
evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is a prerequisite
for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek animal sacrifice.
Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical,
archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice
explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including
tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the
handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions
address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing
important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
sources arguing that this type of sacrifice was rare. It further addresses
if the animal was burned whole or if the carcass was flayed, emptied of
blood and intestines, and sectioned before being placed onto the fire.
Since the evidence suggests that holocausts did not necessarily mean the
burning of an intact animal, the relation between holocausts and moirocausts,
sacrifices at which a larger part of the animal was burned, is also
explored. Finally, the ancient evidence for holocausts is considered in the
light of the results of the experimental cremation of a lamb and a pig
performed at Uppsala in 2014. It is argued that a Greek holocaust may
have aimed at burning the meat beyond human means of consumption
rather than at a total annihilation of the carcass by fire, and that the long
time it seems to have taken to perform a holocaust can be linked to the
purpose of the ritual.
temenos, “that which has been cut off ”, but even if such a plot was
the property of the deity and circumscribed by particular rules, it was not
exclusively frequented by the divine owner. Mortal visitors may have used
a temenos just as intensively as a god did, but in a different manner, and
humans were also the caretakers and administrators of the god’s property.
This paper explores the temenos concept from the point of view of sanctuaries
as set apart from gods but mainly used by men, and how immortal
and mortal practices and manifestations were to be accommodated within
this space. Two points will be addressed, the marking of boundaries for
temene, and notions of purity and pollution when humans visited sanctuaries
to worship the gods. It will be argued that a physical demarcation
of the temenos was not a divine prerequisite and that the construction of
a wall was a human responsibility depending on local cultic conditions.
The caretaking of a temenos as divine property required particular rules at
sacrifices, since human needs and desires were not always appropriate to
the gods. Of particular interest are the handling of animals, the cooking
and food consumption after sacrifices, the management of human waste
as well as the impact of humans staying in temene.
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.
themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their
society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present
volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal
sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200).
The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning
of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive
study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions,
representations on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries.
Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum
of ancient evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is
a prerequisite for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek
animal sacrifice.
Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical,
archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice
explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including
tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the
handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions
address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing
important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
themselves, their relation to the divine, and the structure of their
society. Adopting an explicitly cross-disciplinary perspective, the present
volume explores the practical execution and complex meaning of animal
sacrifice within ancient Greek religion (c. 1000 BC–AD 200).
The objective is twofold. First, to clarify in detail the use and meaning
of body parts of the animal within sacrificial ritual. This involves a comprehensive
study of ancient Greek terminology in texts and inscriptions, representations
on pottery and reliefs, and animal bones found in sanctuaries.
Second, to encourage the use and integration of the full spectrum of ancient
evidence in the exploration of Greek sacrificial rituals, which is a prerequisite
for understanding the complex use and meaning of Greek animal sacrifice.
Twelve contributions by experts on the literary, epigraphical, iconographical,
archaeological and zooarchaeological evidence for Greek animal sacrifice
explore the treatment of legs, including feet and hoofs, tails, horns; heads, including
tongues, brains, ears and snouts; internal organs; blood; as well as the
handling of the entire body by burning it whole. Three further contributions
address Hittite, Israelite and Etruscan animal sacrifice respectively, providing
important contextualization for Greek ritual practices.
sources arguing that this type of sacrifice was rare. It further addresses
if the animal was burned whole or if the carcass was flayed, emptied of
blood and intestines, and sectioned before being placed onto the fire.
Since the evidence suggests that holocausts did not necessarily mean the
burning of an intact animal, the relation between holocausts and moirocausts,
sacrifices at which a larger part of the animal was burned, is also
explored. Finally, the ancient evidence for holocausts is considered in the
light of the results of the experimental cremation of a lamb and a pig
performed at Uppsala in 2014. It is argued that a Greek holocaust may
have aimed at burning the meat beyond human means of consumption
rather than at a total annihilation of the carcass by fire, and that the long
time it seems to have taken to perform a holocaust can be linked to the
purpose of the ritual.
temenos, “that which has been cut off ”, but even if such a plot was
the property of the deity and circumscribed by particular rules, it was not
exclusively frequented by the divine owner. Mortal visitors may have used
a temenos just as intensively as a god did, but in a different manner, and
humans were also the caretakers and administrators of the god’s property.
This paper explores the temenos concept from the point of view of sanctuaries
as set apart from gods but mainly used by men, and how immortal
and mortal practices and manifestations were to be accommodated within
this space. Two points will be addressed, the marking of boundaries for
temene, and notions of purity and pollution when humans visited sanctuaries
to worship the gods. It will be argued that a physical demarcation
of the temenos was not a divine prerequisite and that the construction of
a wall was a human responsibility depending on local cultic conditions.
The caretaking of a temenos as divine property required particular rules at
sacrifices, since human needs and desires were not always appropriate to
the gods. Of particular interest are the handling of animals, the cooking
and food consumption after sacrifices, the management of human waste
as well as the impact of humans staying in temene.
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 conference From snout to tail brings together 20 internationally well-known scholars with profound knowledge of the ancient source material and ancient Greek religion to explore the handling of the different parts of the animal, from snout to tail. The aim is a better understanding of the use and meaning of the animal’s body within sacrificial ritual through a thorough interpretation of the complex Greek sacrificial terminology, representations of ritual preserved on pottery and reliefs and animal bones found in Greek sanctuaries. The results will provide new insights as to how animal sacrifice worked as a means to communicate with the gods and establish the world order. The understanding of animal sacrifice in Greek antiquity is central for the understanding ancient individuals, their society and relation to the divine.
The main methodological aim is to integrate all kinds of extant ancient sources: texts, inscriptions, images, archaeological material and preserved animal bones. It is only through such an approach that that we may grasp the complex ritual reality. From a methodological perspective, this empirical width is innovative and creative, as scholars tend to stick to their own fields. A zooarchaeologist rarely knows ancient Greek while a philologist rarely has competence in the interpretation of images or identification of animal bones. Therefore, the conference wants to highlight and develop the importance of a work mode that makes use of the ancient evidence as fully as possible through cross-disciplinary dialogue, but also to stimulate and establish collaboration between scholars across disciplines.