The Greeks sacrificed animals for almost every major
event in their lives. The sacrifices were meant to calm the gods,
and make them happy with man. On this page I've mentioned some
specific sacrifices along with some of their purposes. They are
as follows:
The sacrifice of a pig was
a very popular ritual in Ancient Greece. The pig was used to purify
otherwise "unclean" situations, to make them appropriate
for the god the people would be worshipping. Before every popular
assembly in Athens the place that they would be meeting was purified
by the sacrifice of a pig, which was carried around it. The pig
was also used to purify those persons accused of having committed
murder.
Dogs were also used to cleanse
one of murder. At one point, the Macedonian Army sacrificed a
dog to wash clean from the sin of having committed murder. In
this case, they tore apart the dog and and made the soldiers
march between the bleeding parts.
Very few times did the Greeks
ever use humans in their sacrifices. However, one such case was
during an Apollo festival, in an early period. At this festival a human being, usually
a criminal, was carried around the town, after which he was killed,
his body burned upon branches of trees without fruit, and the
ashes thrown into the sea.
When a south-west wind threatened
to destroy vineyards, a rooster was cut in two, and two men carried
the pieces. One man walked in one direction, the other man walked
the opposite way. Both walked in a circular manner so that they met up
again half-way around the circle. Where these two
men met, the parts were buried in the ground. The idea was that
a magic circle was drawn. This circle was believed to keep out
all evil-even the wind!
Roosters were used for farms in other ways too. Another
popular way was to have a maiden walk around the farm in a circle
with the rooster in her hand. This was believed to ward off weeds
and insects.
These sacrifices were a very necessary thing to the
Greeks. They did not see sacrifice as "giving" something
to the gods as we might see in some jungle-movies. Rather, they
saw these sacrifices as purification rites that were necessary
to rid the town and country of evils that were detested by the
gods. Very often, after something had been purified, the last
step was to throw the sacrifice into the sea. This was so unless
it was commanded by the gods that the sacrifice stay on its holy
ground.