The Graeco-Roman blood sacrifice After the procession was ended the consuls and the priests whose function it was presently sacrificed oxen; and the manner of performing the sacrifices was the same as with us. For after washing their hands they purified the victims with clear water and sprinkled corn on their heads | 6 ANIMAL SACRIFICE TRADITIONS AND NEW INVENTIONS The Graeco-Roman blood sacrifice After the procession was ended the consuls and the priests whose function it was presently sacrificed oxen and the manner of performing the sacrifices was the same as with us. For after washing their hands they purified the victims with clear water and sprinkled corn on their heads after which they prayed and then gave orders to their assistants to sacrifice them. Some of these assistants while the victim was still standing struck it on the temple with a club and others received it upon the sacrificial knives as it fell. After this they flayed it and cut it up taking off a piece from each of the entrails and also from every limb as a first-offering which they sprinkled with grits of spelt and carried in baskets to the officiating priests. These placed them on the altars and making a fire under them poured wine over them while they were burning. Dionysius of Halicarnassus Roman Antiquities Animal sacrifice killing one or more animals and offering them to the gods was the central observance of ancient Mediterranean religion a key symbol of paganism the pivotal point of the rituals and a regular feature of Roman life. Greek and Roman alimentary sacrifices were similar to each other in both structure and content. The learned Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus who wrote his Roman Antiquities at the time of Augustus explicitly stresses the similarities between these rituals although differences did exist. These differences had more to do with nuances and shades of shared meaning than with basic dissimilarities and besides during the Augustan age and the early Roman Empire differences were often downplayed as part of the development of an imperial In the first centuries ce animal sacrifices flourished and in comparison with earlier times sometimes on a grandiose scale indeed. New varieties of sacrifice were invented and alternative interpretations were made. .
