As usual, Mary Beard’s blog on The Times Online is witty and interesting. Her latest entry on “Paganism without Blood” discusses some modern neo-pagan revivals involving worship of the Greek gods (about which I have also commented in my post: The worship of Zeus lives on). She concludes with the following:

“As almost everyone who studies ancient Greek religion insists, the key centre of the whole religious system was sacrifice: it was the ritual of killing and sharing the animal that was, if anything, the “article of faith” that defined the ancient community of worshippers. And it was through sacrifice (rather than ecology) that ancient Greeks conceptualized their own place in the world – distinct from animals on the one hand and the superhuman gods on the other.

Until these eager neo-pagans get real and slaughter a bull or two in central Athens, I shan’t worry that they have much to do with ancient religion at all. At the moment, this is paganism lite” (Mary Beard).

Paganism without blood (sacrifice) is no paganism at all. You can also read more about the importance of sacrifice and the accompanying meal for ancient “paganism” on the Meals in the Greco-Roman World site.

Mary Beard also has another post of great interest to me on Racism in Greece and Rome.