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The Tongues of Greek Sacrificial Victims

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Edward Kadletz
Affiliation:
Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

Extract

In the Greek ritual of animal sacrifice a rather unusual use was reserved for the tongue of the victim. While most of the animal was either burned in offering to the deity or enjoyed as a feast by the participants, the tongue was cut out and laid aside. Why the tongue was treated differently from the rest of the victim and what exactly was done with it are the questions which I propose to deal with in this paper. These problems have been dealwith before, but the evidence has never been fully consideredand all previous discussions have been inconclusive.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1981

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