{"id":5677,"date":"2013-06-22T16:09:57","date_gmt":"2013-06-22T22:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5677"},"modified":"2013-06-22T16:39:07","modified_gmt":"2013-06-22T22:39:07","slug":"5677","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5677","title":{"rendered":"When Gods Sacrifice to Themselves"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost all traditional Pagan cultures have one religious practice in common that contemporary Pagans for the most part avoid: Sacrifice, which means literally “to make sacred.”<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, in fact, at a Pagan camp-out one of the elders was discoursing on the uselessness of sacrifice. If g\/God were a carpenter working in his shop, sacrifice would be like bringing a hammer with the handle cut off and saying, “Here, I offer this to you.” Everyone thought that was profound.<\/p>\n

In the entry on sacrifice in the HarperCollins Dictionary of Religion<\/em><\/a> (edited by Jonathan Z. Smith, but individual entries are not signed), we read that “Naive and academic explanations of sacrifice abound. Sacrifice has been characterized as a gift (an offering)” [1]<\/a>, a means of communication between the profane and the sacred, an attempt to establish reciprocity between the human and the divine realms (most often expressed by the formula, “I give in order to get”), an expiation, a substitution, and a reenactment of primordial events.”<\/p>\n

Theophrastus, a philosospher and student of Aristotle, wrote, “there are three reasons one ought to sacrifice to the gods: either on account of honor or on account of gratitude or an account of a want of things. . . . . We honor the gods either because we seek to deflect evils or to acquire goods for ourselves, or because we first have been treated well or simply to do great honor to their good character” [2]<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Libation of Artemis and Apollo at the omphalos. Master of Shuvalov (?), ca. 440 BC. Pushkin Museum. ? Wikipedia user Shakko 2009<\/p><\/div>\n

This is an “insider” perspective, what Smith’s dictionary would characterize as a “naive” explanation.\u00a0 So we think that we know what sacrifice means both in religion and in other areas of life: a killing (to Christians, Jesus’ bloody death was\u00a0 the one big, final,\u00a0 expiating sacrifice of human history), a giving up of pleasures (“She sacrificed her childhood to become a ballerina.”) or of life itself\u00a0 in service to society (“Military members who gave ultimate sacrifice remembered at WWII Museum”).<\/p>\n

Then I see this headline at the Tropaion<\/em> blog: “Gods Sacrificing: Iconography and Divine Ritual Praxis.<\/a>” It’s a\u00a0 review of\u00a0 Religion of the Gods; Ritual, Paradox, and Reflexivity<\/i><\/a> :<\/p>\n

The book examines the numerous iconographic depictions of Gods and Goddesses performing a libation or acting towards performing a sacrifice. One example is the attached picture: a libation of both Artemis and Apollo at the omphalos<\/i>. In this red-figure lekythos<\/i>, the poured liquid is visible from the Apollo\u2019s phiale<\/i>. It is logical that looking closely at those pictorial evidences makes you wonder and immediately questions arise. One of the questions is the following: what these depictions mean?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The review is worth reading, for it addresses the question, if sacrifice is addressed to a “higher” Other, than who is higher than the gods?<\/p>\n

There are always surprises in the old Paganism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/a>1. If “sacrifice” and “offering” can be used simultaneously, what about “libation,” as illustrated on the vase painting? Some would say so; others want life in their sacrifice.<\/p>\n

<\/a>2. Quoted in Jan N. Brenner, “Greek Normative Animal Sacrifice,” in A Companion to Greek Religion<\/em>, ed. Daniel Ogden (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2007), 139.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost all traditional Pagan cultures have one religious practice in common that contemporary Pagans for the most part avoid: Sacrifice, which means literally “to make sacred.” Earlier this month, in fact, at a Pagan camp-out one of the elders was discoursing on the uselessness of sacrifice. If g\/God were a carpenter working in his shop, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[33,5,52],"class_list":["post-5677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-greece","tag-paganism","tag-sacrifice"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6xQTg-5677","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":6893,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6893","url_meta":{"origin":5677,"position":0},"title":"Animal Sacrifice and ‘Hard’ Polytheism","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 2, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"There was some discussion last week at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting as to whether the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group should sponsor or co-sponsor a session devoted to issues surrounding animal sacrifice. Some voices in the Pagan world suggest that you are not really a \"hard\" polytheist (truly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Hinduism\"","block_context":{"text":"Hinduism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=hinduism"},"img":{"alt_text":"imrs.php","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/imrs.php_-300x204.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13830,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13830","url_meta":{"origin":5677,"position":1},"title":"Animal Sacrifice: Are They Doing It Wrong?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 17, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A possible animal sacrifice location in the Howard Beach area. J.C. Rice (New York Post) The New York Post had two articles recently on apparent animal sacrifice in the Jamaica Bay area of Long Island (politically in both Brooklyn and Queens). \"Animal Sacrifices on the Rise in Queens with Chickens,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"African religion\"","block_context":{"text":"African religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=african-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3913,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3913","url_meta":{"origin":5677,"position":2},"title":"One Week Left for AAR Paper Proposals","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"The deadline for proposals for the 2012 American Academy of Religion annual meeting is Tuesday, March 13. Here are the suggested topics for the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group: For a possible cosponsored session with the Indigenous Religious Traditions Group, we invite papers on the intersection of contemporary indigenous traditions and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10248,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10248","url_meta":{"origin":5677,"position":3},"title":"Siberian Shamans Hold Camel Sacrifice \u2014\u00a0It’s Traditional, They Say","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Watch this powerful video, which is also embedded in this article in the Moscow Times online: \"Siberian Shamans Revive Ancient Camel-Burning Rite \u2018to Help Russia.\u2019\"\u00a0 The location is given merely as \"the Irkutsk region\" but elsewhere there are references to Tuva, a Central Asian republic that is part of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animals\"","block_context":{"text":"animals","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1307,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1307","url_meta":{"origin":5677,"position":4},"title":"Air Force Academy "Turns Back Time"","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Back on January 27th, I mentioned that the US Air Force Academy, located near Colorado Springs, had created a ritual space for followers of Pagan religions.Jason Pitzl-Waters has been keeping up on various reactions, including some form of magic performed by (presumably) evangelical Christians, who think that putting two large\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14050,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=14050","url_meta":{"origin":5677,"position":5},"title":"Will Christians Fulfill a Pagan Emperor’s Plan?","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 15, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Julian \"The Philosopher,\" Rome's last Pagan emperor (mid-360s), would get chuckle out of this. (Although to me he comes across as super-serious, he must have found some things funny. I hope.) While he was force-fed Christian theology by bishops, growing up in a royal Christian household, he later studied ancient\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Christianity\"","block_context":{"text":"Christianity","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=christianity"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Julian_antioch-mint-bull.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5677"}],"version-history":[{"count":28,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5704,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5677\/revisions\/5704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}