never denoted, though naturally it sometimes connoted, the slaughtering of animals—an act properly expressed by the verb [Greek: sphazein]. And in later times the substantive [Greek: thysia] was still applied to almost any religious festival, at which undoubtedly some offerings, but not necessarily animal sacrifices, were always made. When therefore Plato speaks of [Greek: thysiai pasai], 'all sacrifices,' he is clearly expressing his recognition of the fact that sacrifices ([Greek: thysiai]) are manifold in kind—and if in kind, therefore also in intention; for different rituals are the expressions of different religious motives. Communion with the gods was in general terms the object of all offerings made to them by men; but the particular aspect of such communion varied.
Offerings, we may suppose, were rarely if ever made purely for the benefit of the gods without any self-seeking on the part of the worshipper. Even when a sacrifice to some god was merely a pretext for social entertainments—and how frequently this was the case is shown by the fact that [Greek: philothytês], 'fond of sacrificing,' came to mean simply 'hospitable'—it is reasonable to suppose that the presentation to the god of the less edible portions of the victim was accompanied at least by an [Greek: hilathi], 'be propitious,' by way of grace before the meal; and at more strictly religious functions, at which the guests, if there were any, were secondary to the god, the dedication of the offering undoubtedly included a declaration of the offerer's motive.
As regards the character of that motive in most cases, Lucian is right; it was frankly and baldly commercial. Homer does not blink the fact; for Phoenix even commends to the notice of Achilles the open mind displayed by the gods towards an open-handed suppliant. 'Verily even the gods may be turned, they whose excellence and honour and strength are greater than thine; yet even them do men, when they pray, turn from their purpose with offerings of incense and pleasant vows, with fat and the savour of sacrifice, whensoever a man hath transgressed and done amiss[1].' And so Greek feeling has ever remained. Offerings are the ordinary means of gaining access to the gods, of buying their goodwill and buying off their anger. The ordinary medium of exchange in such commerce was, when Greece was avowedly pagan,
- ↑ Hom. Il. IX. 497 ff.
