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 southwest 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 halfway 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.