Cultic Perceptions of Pigs and Goats in the Hellenistic Societies of the Southern Coastal Levant: Textual and Material Evidence
The Greek inscriptions discovered on Delos ascribed to (former) inhabitants of Ashkelon and Yavneh may offer insight into the ritual customs practiced in these regions. Noteworthy instances of such inscriptions, dating back to the 2nd and early 1st centuries BCE, explicitly prohibit the sacrifice of...
| Auteurs: | ; |
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| Type de support: | Électronique Article |
| Langue: | Anglais |
| Vérifier la disponibilité: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Publié: |
2025
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| Dans: |
Tel Aviv
Année: 2025, Volume: 52, Numéro: 2, Pages: 256-273 |
| Sujets non-standardisés: | B
Delos
B Yavneh (Iamnia) B Ashkelon (Ascalon) B Phoenicians B Goat B Pork B Dietary Laws |
| Accès en ligne: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| Résumé: | The Greek inscriptions discovered on Delos ascribed to (former) inhabitants of Ashkelon and Yavneh may offer insight into the ritual customs practiced in these regions. Noteworthy instances of such inscriptions, dating back to the 2nd and early 1st centuries BCE, explicitly prohibit the sacrifice of either goats or both goats and pigs. In this paper, we endeavour to elucidate both the meaning of these inscriptions and the ritual practices associated with them. To achieve this goal, we delve into the zooarchaeological data found at these sites, draw comparisons between the findings of this and earlier periods, and explore literary sources referring to Levantine societies. Both types of evidence, zooarchaeology and textual, suggest that these prohibitions on the sacrifice of pigs and/or goats can be attributed to a specific ritual belief or taboo associated with these animals, which reflects the origins of the inscriptions’ dedicators. |
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| ISSN: | 2040-4786 |
| Contient: | Enthalten in: Tel Aviv
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1080/03344355.2025.2546277 |