It is a commonplace to say that sacrifice constitutes the central act of the worship of Greek gods and heroes in the Greek cities. One of the likely reasons for this central position is the fact that many other actions, such as processions, dances, prayers, athletic contests and, more generally, festivals and the deposition of votive offerings, were associated with sacrifices or performed in contexts which in some way or other included aspects of sacrificial practice. As Michael Jameson said, in a very concise manner: ‘Ritual activity was crucial for any Greek social entity. Although we emphasize social and political functions, for its members it might almost be said that the raison d'être of the group was the offering of sacrifice to a particular supernatural figure or group of figures.’ It is then a little surprising that some studies on the religion of the Greek polis do not put the sacrificial question at the centre of their considerations.

Another commonplace is to suggest that the sacrificial ritual functions as a mediation between the worshippers and the divine or heroic powers. These are very general statements with which everybody can agree. The difficulties arise when we want to go further and try to explore the significance of this act. Now, the first difficulty comes from the fact that, for many anthropologists, ethnologists, sociologists or specialists in ancient civilizations, the sacrificial act can be explained by one general theory, capable of interpreting all civilizations throughout time.