Roman Sacrifice, Inside and Out

What is it about?

Scholars generally assume that the modern idea of sacrifice as the ritual killing of an animal applies to the ancient Roman context. This study argues, however, that the apparent continuity is illusory in some important ways and that we have lost sight of some fine distinctions that the Romans made among the rituals they performed. The Romans had several rituals that look, to modern observers, to be forms of sacrifice but which the Romans, in fact, distinguish from sacrifice.

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Why is it important?

This study recovers some of the nuance and finer distinctions of the Romans' religious vocabulary. It also helps to highlight the extent to which scholars have interpreted the ancient sources about Roman sacrifice to fit modern (rather than the Romans’) intellectual categories.