Sacrifice and Libation in Ancient Greece: Ritual Practice, Cultural Metaphors, and Modern Theory

• Applicant: Professorin Dr. Susanne Gödde
• Subject Area: Greek and Latin Philology ; Religious Studies and Jewish Studies
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 442224256

The envisaged project will investigate the semantic and metaphorical potential of sacrifice and libation in Ancient Greece. The project takes as its basis a critical re-reading and reassessment of the main theories and approaches to sacrifice from the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century (William Robertson Smith, James George Frazer, Sigmund Freud, Marcel Mauss, René Girard). These theories had a significant impact on the leading scholarship on sacrifice of the late 20th century, most notably that of Walter Burkert and Jean-Pierre Vernant, whose interpretative models continue to dominate discussion on modern and ancient sacrifice. The results of our re-evaluation and contextualisation of the most important strands of this theoretical tradition will provide a solid and critical methodological background when, in the next phase of the project, our focus shifts to the ancient sources themselves. A reconstruction of historical sacrificial practice and libation based on the close analysis of literary, philosophical, and epigraphical sources will lay the necessary foundation for examining the larger implications of sacrificial ritual, including libation, for cultural and social theory. One of the central questions will be to what extent sacrifice and libation are informed by economic logic, and whether the main feature of this logic is reciprocity, compensation, substitution, atonement, exchange, trade, deception, or conspicuous expenditure. We will also examine the political and religious significance of sacrifice and libation for social cohesion: what role do these rituals play in building a community, sealing a contract, and safeguarding or saving a community by purification or the exclusion of one of its members? Of equal importance, especially with regard to blood sacrifice (i.e. animal and mythical human sacrifice), are concepts of violence and ethical notions in the discourse on sacrifice, including the relationship between sacrifice and murder, sacrifice and guilt and/or punishment, the criticism of violence, and the role of violence in foundation myths. Here, as with all other aspects, attention will be paid to the gap between historical practice and literary and artistic transformation. The goal of the project is to evaluate systematically the different forms of sacrifice and libation and their impact on the discourse and rhetoric of diverse media.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants