There are numerous indications in legends which show that the Greeks were not originally unacquainted with the custom of human sacrifices; but these are no longer heard of in the historic period, and wherever they had formerly existed their place was taken by symbolic actions, or the sacrifice of animals instead of human beings. The commonest victims were animals, and the choice of the particular victim depended on the god to whom the sacrifice was offered. Here, as in the case of the bloodless sacrifices, some gods rejected gifts which were well-pleasing to others, and special animals were offered to particular gods. It is not always easy to trace the origin of this choice, though in some cases it can be done; thus, for instance, goats were offered to Dionysus because they destroyed the vineyards, and swine to Demeter because they injured the corn-fields. Oxen and sheep were the commonest victims next to goats and swine, and very often several animals were offered in a common sacrifice. Horses were offered to Poseidon and Helios, dogs to Hecate, asses to Apollo, etc. Birds, too, were sacrificed; for instance, geese, doves, fowls, and, in particular, cocks to Aesculapius. Game and fish were very seldom employed for the purpose, probably because they were not much used for food in ancient times; for in most cases the standard of eating decided which animals should be used, though there were exceptions, too, among the classes already named.
It was originally the custom to burn the whole animal, with skin and hair, but though this extravagant mode of sacrificing was sometimes in use in later times, it became common to burn only the thigh bones and certain flesh parts of the animal, and to use the rest for a festive banquet. In consequence the number of victims was often calculated according to the number of persons invited to the banquet; in other cases it depended on the importance of the occasion, or the fortune of the sacrificers, and even in historical times it was not unusual for whole communities or very rich private citizens to offer a hecatomb (a sacrifice of a hundred oxen), or even several, on which occasions the sacrifice only supplied the opportunity for entertaining the people on a magnificent scale. As a rule, the animals sacrificed must be sound and healthy in every respect; but at Sparta, which was often reproached with excessive economy in sacrifices, diseased cattle were sometimes used. There were several other necessary conditions to be observed; thus, the animals must never have been in the service of man; the ox that drew the plough might not be sacrificed. The sex of the victim generally corresponded to that of the deity to whom it was offered. Even the colour was of importance; white animals were usually offered to the gods of light, black to the infernal gods. There do not seem to have been any fixed regulations with regard to age, except that the animals must have attained a certain maturity.
The ceremony observed at sacrifices was much the same throughout the whole of antiquity, and remained such as it is described by Homer. The victim which had been dedicated to the god, was adorned with wreaths and fillets, and led to the altar by servants or attendants; Homer speaks of gilding the horns of bulls, and this was customary afterwards. If possible, they tried to induce the animal to go forward of its own free will, since violent struggling was regarded as an unpropitious omen, and sometimes led to the rejection of the victim. It was even customary to require the animal to give a sort of consent, by nodding its head; this consent of the victim was, of course, produced by artificial means, such as pouring water into the ears, etc. Hereupon all the participants in the solemn action were prepared by sprinkling with holy water, which was sanctified by dipping into it a firebrand taken from the altar, and they were exhorted to keep unbroken silence. The actual sacrifice then began by strewing roasted barleycorns, as the oldest food of their ancestors, on the animal, and in token of dedication they cut a bundle of hairs from its forehead and threw it into the fire, which was already burning on the altar. In heroic ages, the princes, as high priests, themselves killed the animals; afterwards this duty was undertaken by priests or attendants. They gave the animal a blow on its forehead with a club or axe, and then cut its throat with a sacrificial knife, and sprinkled the altar with the blood; in so doing they usually bent the head backwards; or, if sacrificing to the infernal gods, or the shades of the departed, they pressed it down to the ground. When the victim fell, the women who stood round uttered a low cry, and in the ages after Homer it was very usual to accompany the whole ceremony by the sound of the flute. Experienced attendants then flayed the animals and cut up the bodies, whereupon the parts destined for the gods, especially the thigh bones surrounded with fat, were burnt in the flames of the altar with incense and sacrificial cakes, and at the same time libations were poured out; the flesh was held in the fire by means of long forks. This is very often represented on ancient works of art. In the vase painting in Fig. [147] we see an altar on which wood appears to be regularly piled up; parts of the sacrifice are recognised in the flames. An attendant wearing a short garment round his loins kneels in front, holding a piece of flesh in the flames on a long pole or spit; on his left a man holds a cup for libations, into which a goddess of victory, flying over the altar, pours the liquid; on the right stands Apollo, with lyre and plectrum.
Fig. 147.
The flesh of the animals which was not used for the sacrifice was usually consumed at the feast which followed the ceremony; this custom was only departed from in the case of sacrifices to the shades of the dead or for purposes of propitiation, and then the flesh which was not burnt was buried or destroyed in some other way, and, in fact, on these occasions many of the ceremonies were of a different kind.
As a rule, another purpose was combined with the sacrifice; it was necessary not only to win the favour of the gods, or atone for some crime, but also to discover the will of the gods by interpretation of signs. Although prayer was called for from all men—from labourer as well as from priest—and sacrifices, though usually offered by priests, could also be performed by others, the interpretation of omens was an art which depended on ancient traditions and knowledge of ritual, and was almost entirely confined to the priests, though, in the nature of things, it could be undertaken by anyone. This mode of prophecy had existed in various forms since the most ancient times. The commonest, though unknown in the time of Homer, was the examination of the entrails, in which the structure, that is, colour, form, and integrity of the inner parts of the victim, especially the liver, gall, etc., were regarded as of fortunate or unfortunate omen. Some anatomical knowledge of the inner parts of animals was therefore indispensable, and in consequence it is natural that this branch of knowledge was kept in the hands of the priests. The older kind of prophecy described in Homer was of a different nature, since it depended on all manner of phenomena appearing during the sacrifice; whether the flame attacked the victim quickly or slowly, whether it burnt clearly, whether it rose upwards, whether it was not put out until the whole animal was consumed, whether the wood crackled loudly, what shape was assumed by the ashes of the victim and of the wood, etc.
Apart from sacrifices, prophecy and divination played a great part in the life and religion of the Greeks. A distinction made by the ancients themselves was between prophecy by art and without art. Prophecy without art was regarded as inspiration of a human being by the divine spirit, and was not dependent on external signs or on the interpretation of an experienced person. There were three kinds: ecstasy, in which the gift of prophecy was communicated to a human being without his own assistance by divine strength and power; dreams, in which the gods revealed directly to men their will or coming events; and thirdly, the oracles, which were of a somewhat different character, being connected with professional prophecy. They were also regarded as direct revelations of the will of the god, so the mode in which this was expressed differed a good deal according to the various oracles; but the questioner was not immediately inspired, as in ecstasy and dreams, but required a mediator, one who was alone able to interpret the revelations of the gods.