BMCR 2009.05.60: Dilley on Petropolou, Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion, Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200. Oxford Classical Monographs

Maria-Zoe Petropolou, Animal Sacrifice in Ancient Greek Religion,
Judaism, and Christianity, 100 BC to AD 200.  Oxford Classical
Monographs.  Oxford:  Oxford University Press, 2008.  Pp. xii, 336.
ISBN 978-0-19-921854-7.  $120.00.

Reviewed by Paul Dilley, Kansas State University ([email protected])
Word count:  1337 words
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This important book is a survey and analysis of animal sacrifice in
Greek polytheism, Judaism, and Christianity, from 100 BC to AD 200, in
the eastern Mediterranean.  It is part of a recent resurgence of
studies on sacrifice in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and its
relationship to Judaism and Christianity.[[1]]  The author is motivated
by "the fact that Christianity is known as a religion with no altars
for slaughter, in combination with the historical fact that early
Christians came from religious environments where animal sacrifice was
practiced" (p. v).  Despite this ultimate goal of understanding
Christian sacrifice, the work is most useful as a series of individual
studies.   Petropoulou bases her research almost entirely upon textual
sources, both literary and epigraphic; given the geographical area of
study, most of these are in Greek, although she also considers the
Mishnah in English translation.  Rather than assuming a decline in
Greek animal sacrifice in the Roman period, a frequent assertion made
popular especially by the influential scholar M.P. Nilsson, Petropolou
demonstrates its continued significance during the first two centuries
of the development of Christianity.  In this context, she then explores
Hellenistic Jewish, early Rabbinic, and early Christian attitudes to
animal sacrifice.

In Chapter One, "Approaching the Issue of Sacrifice," Petropoulou
briefly discusses the work of various theorists of sacrifice, including
E. B. Tylor, W. Robertson Smith, James George Frazer, and Marcel Mauss,
and classicists, including Karl Meuli, Walter Burkert, Rene/ Girard,
and the "Vernant School."  She also reviews several studies of Jewish
sacrifice, by Mary Douglas, Francis Schmidt, and Jonathan Klawans.
This group represents a fairly broad cross section of approaches to
ancient ritual, with a few conspicuous absences, for instance recent
work based on Pierre Bourdieu's practice theory.[[2]]  Petropoulou
critiques these different approaches, despite the highly simplified
form in which she has presented them, and somewhat abruptly concludes
with her own understanding of sacrifice: "a composite of beliefs,
gestures, objects, and materials, which are defined by both vertical
and horizontal lines, as these have been described above: that is,
vertical is the line linking offerer and recipient, and horizontal is
the one linking the offerer with objective reality" (p. 28).  Although
no sustained argument for this approach is offered, it proves to be a
useful heuristic device, which is used occasionally in later chapters.

Chapter Two, "Greek Animal Sacrifice in the Period 100 BC-AD 200,"
forms the heart of the book and is its most significant contribution.
Contrary to the widespread view that animal sacrifice declined in this
period, Petropoulou argues that it remained an integral part of Greek
religion through the second century CE.  She makes good use of a number
of authors, but especially Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheca Historica, the
Moralia of Plutarch, and Pausanias' Description of Greece.  Petropoulou
argues that although these authors often refer to the remote past in
their discussion of various rituals, including animal sacrifice, they
assume continuity with the present.  She also establishes convincingly
that some of the passages in Pausanius closely reflect the language of
the so-called "sacred laws," that is, inscriptions which regulate
cultic practice, which continued to be produced into the second
century.  This is an important connection, although Petropolou does not
discuss the difficulties in defining "sacred laws," which have been the
subject of recent studies.[[3]]  Citing Dionysius of Halicarnassus, she
concludes that Greek religion was fundamentally conservative, and even
points to several areas in which "animal sacrifice was an act required
of the Greek pagan, or felt as necessary by him/her" (p. 102).  This
chapter is followed immediately by Appendix 1 and Appendix 2, the Greek
text of relevant passages by Plutarch.

Chapter Three, "From Greek Religion to Judaism: A Bridge," is a brief
comparison between Greek and Jewish sacrifice.  Petropoulou suggests
that while our evidence for Greek religion concerns mostly the
"horizontal" line, for Judaism it is possible to describe not only the
"horizontal" but also the "vertical" in some detail, that is, "the
wishes and intentions of the offerer" (p. 122).

Chapter Four, "Jewish Animal Sacrifice in the Period 100 BC-AD 200,"
begins with a discussion of Jewish animal sacrifice from a historical
perspective, both before and after the destruction of the Temple; and
then gives a synchronic perspective on the Jewish sacrificial system.
For the former, Petropolou's primary source is Josephus; for the
latter, she uses Philo and the Mishnah, primarily Kodashim.  She argues
that Jewish sacrifice did not decline in the Second Temple period,
until its end in 70 CE, a view shared by a number of other scholars.
According to Petropoulou, animal sacrifice remained important for
Diaspora Judaism, at least as represented by Philo.  She quickly
dismisses the overly "allegorical" interpretations of his oeuvre,
citing a passage (De migratione Abrahami 89-93) in which Philo
explicitly advocates following the law, in contrast those who oppose
literal adherence to it, instead emphasizing its symbolism.  After a
survey of the Mishnah, Petropolou concludes that "a common aspect
between the horizontal lines of Greek religion and Judaism, which has
arisen from this study, is the insistence on the definition of ritual
details" (p. 206).

Chapter Five, "A Bridge Linking Greek Religion and Judaism to
Christianity," is a transition to Petropoulou's discussion of Christian
animal sacrifice.  According to Petropoulou, early Christians included
"Greek pagans, Jerusalem Jews, Diaspora Jews, and Jewish sympathizers"
(p. 218), all of whom would have had various preconceptions about
animal sacrifice.  She speculates as to the possible shift in attitudes
about sacrifice among pagan converts to Christianity, as well as
gentile God-fearers, in the first century.

In Chapter Six, "Christians and Animal Sacrifice in the Period up to AD
200," surveys early Christian attitudes toward sacrifice.  Petropoulou
argues that, although there is no explicit evidence, some Jewish
Christians may have continued to participate in Temple sacrifice before
70 CE, and that "to some Christians, the problem of participation in
pagan feasts had not yet been solved" (p. 240).  While these
conclusions about the place of sacrifice in the New Testament will not
surprise specialists, her overview of the apologists (including
Tertullian, with Pliny the only Latin author she discusses) is an
important contribution.  She argues that a widespread argument against
sacrifice had been developed by the second century and deployed against
proponents of sacrifice, both pagans and Jews, despite the fact that
Jews did not conduct animal sacrifice after the destruction of the
Temple.  In fact, one interesting rhetorical ploy of Christian authors
in this period is to elide the differences between pagan and Jewish
sacrifice, labeling the latter "idolatry".  The apologists' primary
critique of sacrifice was simply that it was unnecessary for an
omnipotent God.  The theological rather than practical nature of this
critique is of great interest.

In Chapter Seven, "Conclusions," Petropoulou offers some reflections on
the question of why Christians seem to have largely abandoned animal
sacrifice by the second century CE, while noting the difficulty in
answering this question, given that most of the evidence is from the
second century, rather than the first.  She applies her heuristic tool
for analyzing ritual to this major development within early
Christianity: "Any change in the vertical line, that is, in the
relationship of the worshipper to the recipient of sacrifice, results
in radical changes in the horizontal line, that is, in new cultic
codes" (p. 285).  Petropolou then turns, somewhat unexpectedly, to the
ambiguous notion of "experience," a vertical phenomenon in the form of
contact with Jesus, "which, in turn, led to an exceptional change in
cultural semiotics, namely the tendency to abolish ancestral customs."
This underdeveloped appeal to "experience" (and by implication
"conversion"), whether it is to be understood psychologically or in
terms of "cultural semiotics," distracts from the force of the
arguments in the first six chapters.

Despite this somewhat problematic conclusion, Petropoulou's book is an
important contribution to the study of late Hellenistic and early Roman
religion, most notably for its demonstration of the continued
importance of animal sacrifice in the early imperial period, and its
elucidation of early Christian responses to this phenomenon,
particularly in the second century.

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Notes:


1.    See, for instance, Francesca Prescendi, Decrire et comprendre le
sacrifice. Les
re/flexions des Romains sur leur propre religion a\ partir de la
litte/rature antiquaire, Stuttgart 2007; George Heyman,The Power of
Sacrifice: Roman and Christian Discourses in Conflict,  Washington,
D.C. 2007.

2.    For such an approach, see Stanley Stowers, "Greeks Who Sacrifice
and Those Who Do Not: Toward an Anthropology of Greek Religion," in L.
Michael White and O. Larry Yarbrough (eds.),The Social World of the
First Christians: Essays in Honor of Wayne A. Meeks, Philadelphia 1995,
293-333.  Another important overlooked work is Nancy Jay, Throughout
Your Generations Forever: Sacrifice, Religion, and Paternity, Chicago
1992.

3.    See, for instance, Eran Lupu, Greek Sacred Law. A Collection of
New Documents, Leiden 2005.