Animal Sacrifice in the Roman Empire (31 BCE-395 CE)

For over a thousand years, the practice of animal sacrifice held a central place in ancient Graeco-Roman culture as a means of both demonstrating piety to the gods and structuring social relationships. As Christianity took root in Rome in the third century CE, the cultural role of this practice changed dramatically. In Animal Sacrifice in the Roman Empire (31 BCE-395 CE), J. B. Rives explores the shifting socio-economic, political, and cultural significance of animal sacrifice in this crucial period of change.

Drawing on literary, epigraphic, archaeological, art historical, philosophical, and scriptural evidence, this volume provides a comprehensive and detailed study of the central role of animal sacrifice in the ancient Mediterranean world and traces the changes in its social function and cultural significance during the period when that world became Christianized. By focusing on the evolution of this specific cultural practice, Rives illustrates the larger phenomenon of the religious and cultural transformation taking place in the Graeco-Roman world in the third and fourth centuries CE, providing a unique perspective which will appeal to scholars across religious and classical studies.

Animal Sacrifice in the Roman Empire takes its place as the most important study yet of animal sacrifice, its practices and politics, through the centuries and vicissitudes of the Roman empire. The book provides lucid and theoretically-informed explanations of sacrifice in the cultural lives of Greek and Roman cities as well as the best interpretation yet of the Edict of the emperor Decius, which many Christians took as deliberate persecution. The book should be required reading for any course in Roman history, the rise of Christianity, or the world of ancient Judaism.

Table of Contents: