From: CeiSerith@...
Message: 18007
Date: 2003-01-23
it is more complicated that you semm to believe
remind you this athenian festival of bouphonia
cf. www.msu.edu/~tyrrell/BouphThu.htm
Yes, I'm aware of this ritual. It has exerted an immense fascination over interpreters of Greek ritual. I think, however, that this is a case of the exception proving the rule. The very fact that classicists make such a fuss about this ritual shows that it seems anomalous to them. Not having studied Greek sacrificial ritual in the same depth as they have I have to think that that means that the particular aversion to sacrifice is unique to this ritual. That's the question that needs to be asked.
David Fickett-Wilbar