offered entire*, or after their heads had been taken off, as was customary in the sacrifices of the Jews, who were commanded, if the offering was of fowls, "to wring off the head," and allow the blood to fall upon the ground at the side of the altar. † But this difference appears to exist between the rites of the Jews and Egyptians, that, in the former, the sacrifice of birds was confined to certain occasions‡; and in the latter, they were commonly deposited on the altar with oxen and other offerings. When presented alone, they were sometimes placed upon a portable stand, furnished with spikes §, over which the bird was laid; and the same mode of arranging the offerings was adopted No.476. Stands for bearing offerings. on a larger scale upon the altars themselves, when filled with the profusion usually presented at the shrines of the gods. It is, however, proper to observe, that the Egyptian artists may have intended by this drawing to represent the burning of the offering, the apparent spikes being flames of fire; though the former is far more probable. Geese, the most favourite offering ||, were gene† Levit. i. 15. * Vide Vol. II. p. 379. Woodcut 275. Levit. v. 7, 8.; xii. 6, 7.; and xiv. 4. 49. The Greeks and Etruscans had a sort of patera, furnished in like manner with spikes to hold offerings. || Conf. Juv. Sat. vi. 540. :— “Ansere magno Scilicet et tenui popano corruptus Osiris." The round thin cake (popanum) occurs on all altars. rally trussed, but wading birds were frequently offered with their feathers, unplucked; a peculiarity occasionally extended also to geese. Even oxen and other animals were sometimes offered entire, though generally after the head had been taken off; but it does not appear if this depended on any particular ceremony, or was confined to the rites of certain Deities. According to Porphyry, as quoted by Eusebius *, "there were gods of the earth in the Greek my. thology, and gods of the lower regions, to whom four-footed victims were offered; with this difference, that to the former they were presented on altars, but to the infernal gods in a hole made in the earth. To the gods of air birds were offered, the bodies being burnt whole, and the blood sprinkled around the altar; as to the sea gods likewise but for these last the libation was thrown into the waves, and the birds were of a black colour." Sometimes fruit or flowers alone were presented to certain Deities, as to Pomona and others; and sometimes a hecatomb was offered on great occasions, as in a public calamity or rejoicing, and other events of importance: though not always confined to a hundred oxen, as the word implies, since the number might be made up with other animals. Credulity has even tried to insist upon the story of Pythagoras offering a hecatomb on his demonstrating the 47th proposition of Euclid, a custom which, if still in vogue on that * Eus. Prep. Ev. i. 3. + Hom. Od. iii. 6 and similar occasions, would tend materially to increase the embarrassments of modern education. The same marked difference does not appear to have existed in the sacrifices of an Egyptian temple, though peculiar forms, as well as offerings, were suited to some Deities, and at certain festivals.* Even those presented at the same altar varied on particular occasions. In slaying a victim, the Egyptians suffered the blood to flow upon the ground, or over the altar, if placed upon it; with the Jews it was either poured upon the ground, or purposely brought by the priest to be sprinkled over the horns, and poured out at "the bottomt of the altar." The Egyptians were not so strict in regard to the use of the blood on ordinary occasions, when animals were slaughtered for the table, as the Jews and modern Moslems; to both of whom it is forbidden by the strictest ordinance of religion §; and we even find them represented in the kitchen catching the blood for the purposes of cooking. The mode of cutting up the victim appears to have been the same as when it was killed for the table. The head was first taken off; and after the skin had been removed, they generally cut off the * Vide suprà, p. 182. 300. 337. et seq.; Vol. I. (2d Series) p. 300. 328. 335. 363. 380. +"Yesood," 10' Levit. iv. 7. and viii. 15. The Moslems slay the animal over the altar stone. Levit. xvii. 13. Whoever "hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten, he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust." The Moslems generally attend to the custom of covering it with dust, and they are always scrupulous about its use. | Vide Vol. II. p. 383. Woodcut, No. 276. right shoulder, and the other legs and parts in succession; which, if required for the table, were placed on trays, and carried to the kitchen, or if intended for sacrifice, were deposited on the altar, with fruit, cakes, and other offerings. With the Greeks, the thight was the part selected as a chosen offering to the gods, which was burnt on a clear fire of wood. Apollonius Rhodius also states this‡; and Lucian tells us that the sacrifices depended in some degree on the quality or employment of the person by whom they were presented; as in the first offering made by Cain and Abel. Thus, "the tiller of the land immolated an ox, the shepherd a lamb, and the goatherd a goat. Some were permitted to present simple cakes or incense; and a poor man made his oblations by kissing his right hand." The joints and parts most readily distinguished in the sculptures are the legs, the hind leg (fig. 1) with No. 477. Different joints placed on the altars or the tables. Thebes. its thighs (or upper joint (2)), the kidneys (4), the ribs (5 and 8), the heart (3), and the rump (6); * Conf. Levit. viii. 25. It is supposed to have been styled C&ITT, "the chosen" part. Sometimes the left was the first taken off. Vide Woodcut, No. 273. Apollon. Rhod. lib. i. 432. + Pausan. in Attic. and in Arcad. and those most commonly seen on the altars are the head, the hind leg, and the ribs. When the Egyptians offered a holocaust, they commenced with a libation of wine †, a preliminary ceremony common, according to Herodotus, to all their sacrifices; and after it had been poured upon the altar, the victim was slain. They first removed the head and skin (a statement, as I have already shown, fully confirmed by the sculptures); they then took out the stomach, leaving only the entrails and the fat; after which the thighs, the upper part of the haunches, the shoulders, and the neck, were cut off in succession. Then, filling the body with cakes of pure flour, honey, dried raisins, figs, incense, myrrh, and other odoriferous substances, they burnt it on the fire, pouring over it a considerable quantity of oil. The portions which were not consumed were afterwards given to the votaries, who were present on the occasion, no part of the offering being left; and it was during the ceremony of burning the sacrifice at the fête of Isis, that they beat themselves in honour of Osiris. Similar to this was the burnt offering § of the Jews; when "the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the This in hieroglyphics signified "power" or "strength." + Herodot. ii. 39, 40. This mode of filling the body with raisins and other sweet things recalls a common dish of modern Egyptian, and other Eastern tables; but they fortunately omit the myrrh and incense, which, however we'l adapted to the taste of the gods, would be by no means palatable to men. Levit. viii. 25. 28. |