Contributors ; Abbreviations ; Introduction ; Part I: Theorizing Sacrifice ; Stanley Stowers: The Religion of Plant and Animal Offerings Versus the Religion of Meanings, Essences and Textual Mysteries. ; Daniel Ullucci: Contesting the Meaning of Animal Sacrifice ; David Frankfurter: Egyptian Religion and the Problem of the Category Sacrifice ; William Gilders: Jewish Sacrifice: Its Nature and Function ; Jonathan Klawans: Symbol, Function, Theology and Morality in the Study of Priestly Ritual ; Part II: Negotiating Power through Sacrifice ; Zsuzsanna Varhelyi: Political Murder and Sacrifice: From Roman Republic to Empire ; Laura Nasrallah: The Embarrassment of Blood: Sacrifice and Rational Worship (I-II CE) ; Michele R. Salzman: The End of Public Sacrifice: Or, Changing Definitions of Sacrifice in the Post Constantinian World? ; Part III: Towards a Theology of Sacrifice ; James Rives: The Theology of Animal Sacrifice in the Ancient Greek World: Origins and Developments ; Fritz Graf: Rejecting Sacrifice in Imperial Times: The Treatise On Sacrifice ; Philippa Townsend: Bonds of Flesh and Blood: Porphyry, Animal Sacrifice and Empire ; Part IV: Imaginary Sacrifice ; Kathryn McClymond: Don't Cry Over Spilled Blood ; Andrew Jacobs: Passing: Jesus' Circumcision and Strategic Self-Sacrifice ; Ra'anan Boustan: Confounding Blood: Jewish Narratives of Sacrifice and Violence in Late Antiquity ; Bibliography

"The intelligent creation of Jennifer Knust and Zsuzsanna Varhelyi, this book stands out as bright star in the firmament of current academic publishing. Its contributors go to the heart of one of the two central phenomena of ancient religions--the other being prayer--and hence the book will be of great value for many years to come." --William V. Harris, Shepherd Professor of History, Columbia University "These stimulating studies by leading scholars in a variety of disciplines will be essential reading for all those interested in current discussion of the meanings ascribed to the practice of sacrifice in ancient religions."---Martin Goodman, Professor of Jewish Studies, University of Oxford "Ancient Mediterranean Sacrifice is a model of theoretically-inflected interdisciplinary scholarship. Combining expert analyses of the ancient archive in its variety and particularity with a sustained reappraisal of the theoretical frames through which 'sacrifice' has been studied in the modern period, the contributors to this book wisely caution against the impulse toward a comprehensive and unified theory of 'sacrifice' in the abstract. The result is a first-rate study of lasting value."---Elizabeth A. Castelli, Professor and Chair, Religion Department, Barnard College at Columbia University This rich collection of essays is the fruit of a 2008 conference in Boston devoted to exploring the multiple meanings and functions of sacrifice across the Greek, Roman, Jewish, and Christian traditions in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods...Highly recommended."--CHOICE "This useful volume offers an up-to-date examination of the topic by an interdisciplinary group of scholars in religious studies, history, and classics."--Religious Studies Review

Selling point: Addresses sacrifice in multiple contexts across the ancient world Selling point: Essays, all previously unpublished, consider diverse pagan, Jewish, and Christian attitudes toward sacrificial practices

Jennifer Wright Knust is author of Abandoned to Lust: Sexual Slander and Ancient Christianity (2005). She has held fellowships from the Henry Luce III Foundation/Association of Theological Schools and the Humanities Foundation at Boston University and is completing a book on the transmission of the Biblical story of the woman taken in adultery. Zsuzsanna Várhelyi works primarily on Roman social, cultural, and religious history. She is author of essays on Roman religion, sacrifice and ancient society, and her monograph, The Religion of Senators in the Roman Empire: Power and the Beyond, appeared in 2010. She is currently working on a book on Roman imperial selfhood.

Selling point: Addresses sacrifice in multiple contexts across the ancient world Selling point: Essays, all previously unpublished, consider diverse pagan, Jewish, and Christian attitudes toward sacrificial practices