The ritual of sacrifice in Greek literature played a prominent role in societal influence, defining many aspects of their culture. Sacrifice was the foundation of moral concern, as well as an effective means of narrative development in Greek tragedy. The thematic reoccurrence of sacrifice in Greek literature reveals its symbolic importance. At a time when politics and religion were one in the same, sacrifice was crucial in regulating governmental issues. Tragedies manipulate rituals in order to portray a community’s current sense of order or disorder. The pattern of sacrifice typically entails conflict between the needs of an individual and those of a community in crisis, ultimately resolved in favor of the community through willing participation of the sacrificial victim (Easterling 188). Rites of sacrifice serve to rectify corrupted relations, and maintain moral balance. The social order of Greek life is constructed, by sacrifice, through irrevocable acts; religion and political existence were thoroughly integrated forcing all other life functions to reflect this foundation. In Greek literature, the role of sacrifice served many functions. The literal meaning of sacrific

e, in most instances, juxtaposes the consequences of its perpetrations, ultimately establishing beneficial results. Most importantly, sacrifice was the basis of the relations maintained between men and gods, establishing a means of contact and interaction. Additionally, the practice of ritual sacrifice helped to classify the gods, and differentiate them from one another: double aspects of a single deity, hierarchical relations between two dietes, or the outstanding nature of one particular deity. And finally, sacrifice functions directly to clarify the political rights of each individual and reveal the structures of their social body (Sissa and Marcel). However, various implementations of sacrifice can possibly induce different results depending on the direction of the interaction. For example, sacrifice can take place between a god and animals, humans, or another god thus revealing rites both of, and to mythological gods. Mortals made sacrifices at any time, to any god during the occurrence of something that fell with that deity’s’ jurisdiction, or as a payment of a vow (Sissa and Marcel). Rites of sacrifice were also the focus of many cultural festivals in which additional purposes were combined, such as rites of initiation, purification, fire, blood and oath. These rites presented themselves in all facets of Greek culture, producing ritualistic transfers of virtue, possessions, and power seeking to redress past injustices or to return existence to the status quo. However, blood, oath, and fire rituals are simply additional aspects, or traditions connected with rites of sacrifice that exemplify the detail once exhibited surrounding previous experiences. For example, the power of blood in belief and superstition exits only when it is warm running blood- as it is also necessary that the altars become bloody, in adherence with ritualistic protocol. Occasionally human blood rituals were performed, yet limited to only two reasons: before battle and at the burial of the dead (Burkert 60). Although instances of sacrifice in Greek literature are not limited by their purpose or triviality, as can be seen in exchanges of virtues or material belongings, the traditional premise of ritual sacrifice is ceremonious in conduct and essentially religious. Typically, the sacrificial victims are almost always animals—customarily Greeks chose the bull, the sheep, the ox, the goat, or the pig as honorable subjects (Burkert 55). Humanistic ritual, contrastingly, was not as prevalent due to societal disapproval, though instances of human sacrifice did occasionally take place in Ancient Greece. The moral decision pertaining to blatant human sacrifice creates a double-standard in mythological theory: on one hand it is nothing more than the sacrifice of a victim as a means to satisfy the vengeance of the gods; but on the other hand it is a violent sacrilege resulting in the murder of another human. Greek mythological accounts of human sacrifice reflect the hesitancy of society towards killing one of their own. Rene Girard, a Civilization Professor at Stanford University presents the rationalization of this position in his novel, Violence

Some topics in this essay:
Ancient Greece, Greek Mythology, Marcel Rites, Bacchae Euripides, Sissa Marcel, Walter Burkert, Agamemnon Failure, Violence Sacred, Aeschylus Agamemnon, Typically Greek, ancient greece, human sacrifice, rites sacrifice, greek literature, sacrifice greek, sissa marcel, sacrifice greek literature, animal sacrifice, greek tragedy, greek mythology, ritual sacrifice, sacrifice irrevocable acts, social greek life, greek mythology ritual, constructed sacrifice irrevocable,