Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Arts and Humanities Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 9 of 9

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

The Presence And Absence Of Animal Sacrifice In Jesus Films, James W. Barker, Daniel C. Ullucci Apr 2022

The Presence And Absence Of Animal Sacrifice In Jesus Films, James W. Barker, Daniel C. Ullucci

Journal of Religion & Film

This article illuminates an overlooked polemic embedded in many Jesus films. Filmmakers show little comprehension of the architecture of the Jerusalem temple. When the temple does appear, animal sacrifice is either eradicated entirely or grossly misrepresented. Since contemporary audiences are increasingly unfamiliar with animal sacrifice and butchery in general, ancient Jewish rituals can be interpreted as unscrupulous and barbaric. Also, the temple and priesthood are often expressly depicted as greedy and corrupt. A related motif anachronistically attributes the Christian rejection of animal sacrifice to Jesus himself. Some of these mischaracterizations arise from gaps, ambiguities, and ideologies within the written Gospels. …


Competition Without Groups: Maintaining A Flat Methodology, Daniel Ullucci Nov 2019

Competition Without Groups: Maintaining A Flat Methodology, Daniel Ullucci

Journal of Religious Competition in Antiquity

This essay suggests ways to refine the concept of “competition” as a scholarly lens for analyzing religion in the ancient Mediterranean. It applies Bruno Latour’s critique of “the social” as an explanatory agent to the much used but rarely clarified concept “social competition.” Conceptualizing ancient data as competition can, and at times has, encouraged the projection of distinct groups and “sides” for which we have little to no empirical evidence. Keeping analysis “flat,” in Latour’s terms, can prevent this and push analysis of competition more secure, and potentially more useful directions. Pliny’s Epistle 10.96 to Trajan on Christians is analyzed …


The Athenian Calendar Of Sacrifices: A New Fragment From The Athenian Agora, Laura Gawlinski Jan 2016

The Athenian Calendar Of Sacrifices: A New Fragment From The Athenian Agora, Laura Gawlinski

Laura Gawlinski

Presented here is the editio princeps of a new fragment of the late-5th-century b.c. Athenian calendar of sacrifices. The fragment, Agora 17577, was discovered during excavations conducted in the Athenian Agora by the American School of Classical Studies. Inscribed on both faces (Face A: 403-399 b.c., Face B: 410-404 b.c.), it is associated with, but does not join, the group of fragments of Athenian legal inscriptions often referred to as the Law Code of Nikomachos. The text provides important additional evidence for the form of the calendar and the manner of its publication, and casts new light on broader issues …


Homeric Reciprocities, Erwin F. Cook Jan 2016

Homeric Reciprocities, Erwin F. Cook

Classical Studies Faculty Research

A modified version of Marshall Sahlins’s model of reciprocity, which maps the modes of reciprocity across kinship distance, helps elucidate reciprocity in Homer. With important qualifications, Homeric reciprocity can also elucidate the social realities of Archaic Greece. There are three primary modes of Homeric reciprocity: general, or altruistic giving, balanced exchange, and negative taking. The model for general reciprocity is family relationships, and it characterizes a ruler’s relationship with the community, where it masks the reality that the upward flow of chiefly tribute exceeds the downward flow of the ruler’s largesse. Balanced reciprocity is practiced between peers within the same …


Homeric Reciprocities, Erwin F. Cook Mar 2015

Homeric Reciprocities, Erwin F. Cook

Erwin F. Cook

A modified version of Marshall Sahlins’s model of reciprocity, which maps the modes of reciprocity across kinship distance, helps elucidate reciprocity in Homer. With important qualifications, Homeric reciprocity can also elucidate the social realities of Archaic Greece. There are three primary modes of Homeric reciprocity: general, or altruistic giving, balanced exchange, and negative taking. The model for general reciprocity is family relationships, and it characterizes a ruler’s relationship with the community, where it masks the reality that the upward flow of chiefly tribute exceeds the downward flow of the ruler’s largesse. Balanced reciprocity is practiced between peers within the same …


A Religious Revolution? How Socrates' Theology Undermined The Practice Of Sacrifice, Anna Lannstrom Dec 2010

A Religious Revolution? How Socrates' Theology Undermined The Practice Of Sacrifice, Anna Lannstrom

The Society for Ancient Greek Philosophy Newsletter

Mark McPherran and Gregory Vlastos argue that Socrates’ theology threatened Athenian sacrificial practices because it rejected the do ut des principle (aka the principle of reciprocity). I argue that their arguments are flawed because they assume that the Athenians understood sacrifice as something like a commercial transaction. Drawing upon scholarship in anthropology and religious studies, I argue that we need to revise that understanding of sacrifice and that, once we do, McPherran’s and Vlastos’ arguments no longer show that Socrates would have been a significant threat to the practice of sacrifice. Finally, I argue that McPherran’s Socrates does undermine sacrifice, …


Unusual Burials And Necrophobia: An Insight Into The Burial Archaeology Of Fear, Anastasia Tsaliki Dec 2007

Unusual Burials And Necrophobia: An Insight Into The Burial Archaeology Of Fear, Anastasia Tsaliki

Dr Anastasia Tsaliki, PhD

No abstract provided.


The Athenian Calendar Of Sacrifices: A New Fragment From The Athenian Agora, Laura Gawlinski Jan 2007

The Athenian Calendar Of Sacrifices: A New Fragment From The Athenian Agora, Laura Gawlinski

Classical Studies: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Presented here is the editio princeps of a new fragment of the late-5th-century b.c. Athenian calendar of sacrifices. The fragment, Agora 17577, was discovered during excavations conducted in the Athenian Agora by the American School of Classical Studies. Inscribed on both faces (Face A: 403-399 b.c., Face B: 410-404 b.c.), it is associated with, but does not join, the group of fragments of Athenian legal inscriptions often referred to as the Law Code of Nikomachos. The text provides important additional evidence for the form of the calendar and the manner of its publication, and casts new light on broader issues …


The Birth Of Sacrifice: Iconographic Metaphors For Spiritual Rebirth In Master Matthias' Isenheim Altarpiece, Katherine Lena Anderson Dec 2006

The Birth Of Sacrifice: Iconographic Metaphors For Spiritual Rebirth In Master Matthias' Isenheim Altarpiece, Katherine Lena Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

While little is known concerning the events surrounding the commission of the Isenheim Altarpiece or of the artist known to us as Master Matthias Grünewald, much can be ascertained about the message of the Altarpiece through careful study of the socio-historical-religious context from which the work was commissioned and iconographic analysis of the images portrayed by Master Matthias. This thesis explores iconographic metaphors for birth and sacrifice, metaphors which work to create a theological dialogue about Christian redemption within the nine painted panels and the underlying sculpture that makes up the Isenheim Altarpiece. First, we will address the panels in …