Homo Necans The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Sacrificial Ritual and Myth [Paperback]

Blood sacrifice, the ritual slaughter of animals, has been basic to religion through history, so that it survives in spiritualized form even in Christianity. How did this violent phenomenon achieve the status of the sacred? This question is examined in Walter Burkert's famous study.

Translator's Preface
Preface to the English Edition
List of Illustrations
Introduction

I. Sacrifice, Hunting, and Funerary Rituals
II. Werewolves around the Tripod Kettle
III. Dissolution and New Year's Festival
IV. Anthesteria
V. Eleusis

Abbreviations and Bibliography
Index

A milestone, not only in the field of classics but in the wider field of the history of religion. . . . It will find a place alongside the works of Jane Ellen Harrison, Sir James George Frazer, Claude Levi-Strauss, and van Gennep. Wendy Flaherty, Divinity School, University of Chicago

This book is a professional classic, an absolute must for any serious student of Greek religion. Albert Henrichs, Harvard University