EsoteriaA library of sacred & hidden knowledge
Liber X · Greek Mythology

Liber X · Greek Mythology · Chapter VI: Religion, Mysteries & Oracles

Greek Sacrifice, Festivals and Temples: How Cult Worked

How ancient Greek worship worked: thysia animal sacrifice, libations, the Panathenaia, the Olympic festival of Zeus, and the temple as house of a god.

8 min read 1,855 words Updated

Ancient Greek worship centred on thysia (also transliterated thusia), the sacrifice of an animal at an open-air altar, followed by a meal in which the gods received the smoke of burnt bones and fat and the worshippers ate the meat. Sacrifices were the core of the festivals that filled the calendar of every city, such as Athena's Panathenaia at Athens and the four-yearly festival of Zeus at Olympia, and they took place in front of temples that were not halls for congregations but houses for a god's image and treasures.

For Greek religion as a whole and the Eleusinian Mysteries, see Greek Religion and the Mysteries.

Thysia: The Shape of a Greek Animal Sacrifice§

Homer's scenes (such as the sacrifice at Pylos in Odyssey 3), vase paintings, inscribed sacred laws and comic parodies allow scholars to reconstruct a typical sequence. It began with a procession (pompē) leading a garlanded animal, ideally unblemished, to the altar. A young woman carried the basket (kanoun) in which barley grains covered the knife; a vessel of water and a fire-brand were taken around the altar to mark out the sacred space.

The participants washed their hands and sprinkled water on the animal; some ancient writers say its shaking head was taken as a sign of consent, though how widespread this idea was is debated. The barley was thrown, hair from the victim's forehead burned, and a prayer spoken naming the god and the favour asked. At the moment of killing the women present raised a high ritual cry, the ololygē. Small animals were held over the altar; large ones were struck down and their throats cut, the blood caught in a bowl and poured on the altar.

The carcass was then divided. The thigh bones (mēria), wrapped in fat, were burned for the god together with small portions from every part of the body; the tail placed on the fire was watched as it curled, as a sign that the god had accepted the offering. The innards (splanchna) were roasted on spits and tasted at once by the inner circle of participants, and the rest of the meat was cooked and shared out, with set portions, often the skin, for the priest. For most Greeks, sacrifice was the main occasion on which they ate meat.

Offerings Without Blood and Sacrifices to the Dead§

Animal sacrifice was the most prestigious rite, but it was not the only one or even the most frequent. Libations (spondai) of wine, poured from a shallow bowl called a phialē with a short prayer, accompanied meals, treaties and departures; "to pour libations together" was a Greek way of saying "to make a truce". Cakes, honey, cheese, fruit and grain, first-fruits of the harvest (aparchai) and incense were offered daily and at festivals, and some altars, such as that of Apollo Genetor on Delos, accepted no blood at all. Worshippers also gave lasting gifts, anathēmata, from terracotta figurines and bronze tripods to captured armour, statues and whole buildings.

A distinct group of rites was addressed to powers below the earth, to heroes and to the ordinary dead. Here the verb enagizein often replaces thuein: the victim might be killed over a pit or low hearth, its blood poured into the ground, and the whole animal burned (a holocaust), so that nobody ate from it. Liquid offerings to the dead, the choai, were poured onto tombs. The older picture of two opposed systems, "Olympian" and "chthonic", has been softened by work such as Gunnel Ekroth's, which shows that heroes very often received ordinary sacrifices with a meal. The afterlife beliefs behind offerings to the dead are discussed in Hades and the Greek Underworld.

Why the Greeks Sacrificed: Myth and Modern Theories§

The Greeks themselves explained the unequal division of the victim through myth. In Hesiod's Theogony, Prometheus divided an ox at Mekone, hiding the meat in the stomach and wrapping the bones in glistening fat, and Zeus chose the fat; ever since, mortals have burned bones for the gods and eaten the meat. The story is told in full in Prometheus and Pandora. Behind the myth lay a principle of reciprocity: humans gave honour (timē) and gifts, and hoped for favour in return, although no Greek thought that the gods were bound to give it.

Ancient critics existed too: Pythagoreans and Empedocles rejected killing animals, and Theophrastus, quoted in Porphyry's On Abstinence, argued that the oldest offerings had been grain, flowers and incense.

Modern theories differ. Walter Burkert's Homo Necans (1972) traced sacrifice back to Palaeolithic hunting, a ritual that both performed and contained an act of killing. Jean-Pierre Vernant, Marcel Detienne and the Paris school saw it as a "cuisine" defining the human place between gods, who need no food, and beasts, which eat raw flesh. F. S. Naiden has argued that both neglect what the Greeks emphasised most: whether the god accepted the offering.

The Festival Calendar and the Panathenaia§

Every city had its own sacred calendar; in Athens, by some modern reckonings, well over a hundred days a year had some public celebration. Festivals were funded by the city or by wealthy citizens, and their sacrifices fed the citizen body. The dramatic contests of the City Dionysia, which produced the tragedies discussed in Greek Tragedy and Myth, were part of this system.

The Panathenaia was the chief festival of Athena, held each year in the month Hekatombaion (midsummer), with a more splendid Great Panathenaia every fourth year, traditionally reorganised in 566/5 BCE. Its heart was a procession from the Dipylon Gate across the Agora to the Acropolis, bringing a newly woven robe (peplos) for the ancient olive-wood image of Athena Polias. In the Great Panathenaia, at least in later periods, a larger peplos was displayed like a sail on a wheeled ship. Citizens, resident foreigners, basket-bearing girls, musicians and sacrificial cattle all had their places, and a great sacrifice on the Acropolis ended in a distribution of meat.

The Great Panathenaia also held athletic, equestrian and musical contests, including recitations of Homer by rhapsodes and the apobatēs race, in which an armed man leapt from a moving chariot. Winners received Panathenaic amphorae of olive oil from Athena's sacred trees, painted with the armed goddess. The Parthenon frieze has long been read as the Panathenaic procession, though scholars such as Joan Breton Connelly have proposed other readings.

Olympia: Zeus, the Games and the Great Altar§

The Olympic festival in the sanctuary of Zeus at Olympia, in the western Peloponnese, was held every four years. Its traditional foundation date, 776 BCE, comes from a list of victors compiled by Hippias of Elis around 400 BCE, and most historians treat it with caution. Before each festival heralds proclaimed a sacred truce (ekecheiria) so that athletes and spectators could travel safely.

The games honoured Zeus, and the central day saw a hecatomb, nominally a hundred oxen, sacrificed on his great ash altar, which Pausanias (second century CE) describes as built up from the ashes of burnt thigh bones mixed with water of the river Alpheios. A black ram was offered to the hero Pelops at his shrine, and the Temple of Zeus (completed around 456 BCE) housed Pheidias' gold-and-ivory statue, one of the Seven Wonders. The games are usually said to have ended under Theodosius I around 393 CE, though activity at the site seems to have continued into the fifth century.

How a Greek Temple Worked§

A Greek sanctuary was a temenos, a piece of land "cut off" for a god and marked by boundary stones, with basins of water at the entrance for purification. Its essential feature was the altar; many sanctuaries had no temple at all. Where a temple stood, it was a house (naos) for the god's image, usually facing east so that the statue looked out through the door to the altar and the rising sun.

The main room, the cella, stood behind a porch, often with a rear room used as a treasury, and larger temples were surrounded by a colonnade. Early temples were of wood and mud brick; stone spread from the seventh century BCE, and Pausanias still saw an oak column in the Temple of Hera at Olympia. The cult statue might be an old, small and sacred image, like Athena Polias, or a monumental showpiece, like Pheidias' Athena Parthenos. Temples were often opened only on certain days.

Temples were also treasuries. They stored dedications, kept inventories, leased sacred land and lent money: Athena's treasury helped finance Athens in the Peloponnesian War. Priests and priestesses were not a separate caste; many served for a year, chosen by lot or election, while others came from hereditary families such as the Eteoboutadai. Sacred laws set rules of purity, forbidding for example births and deaths inside sanctuaries. Oracular sanctuaries such as Delphi and healing sanctuaries such as Epidaurus, described in Dodona and the Cult of Asclepius, followed the same basic pattern, adding special buildings for consultation or sleep. The Roman equivalents are described in Roman Religion.

Frequently asked questions§

What is thysia in Greek religion?§

Thysia is the standard Greek animal sacrifice followed by a shared meal: the thigh bones wrapped in fat were burned for the god, and the meat was eaten by the worshippers.

Did the Greeks worship inside their temples?§

Generally not. The temple was the god's house, holding the cult statue and treasures, and the main rites took place at the altar outside. Individuals could enter on certain days to pray or dedicate gifts.

What happened at the Panathenaia?§

The Panathenaia honoured Athena at Athens with a great procession bringing a new robe to her ancient statue, a large sacrifice and public feast and, every fourth year, athletic, equestrian and musical contests with prizes of olive oil in painted amphorae.

Were the ancient Olympic Games a religious festival?§

Yes. They were held in the sanctuary of Zeus, protected by a sacred truce, and the central day included a hecatomb on the god's great ash altar.

Sources and further reading§