sacrifice

(noun)

The offering of food, objects, or the lives of animals to a higher purpose or to God or the gods as an act of worship or appeasement; often implies ritual killing.

Related Terms

Examples of sacrifice in the following topics:

  • Sacrifices

    • Human sacrifice was also practiced by many ancient cultures.
    • Sacrifices were either blood sacrifices (animals) or bloodless offerings (grain and wine).
    • An animal sacrifice in Arabic is called Qurban.
    • Animal sacrifice offered together with libation in Ancient Greece.
    • The Aztecs practiced human sacrifice on an unusually large scale; for instance, a sacrifice would be made every day to aid the sun in rising.

  • Offerings

    • Religious offerings, also called bloodless sacrifices, are the offerings of food or objects to a religious diety(ies) as an act of worship.
    • Religious offerings, also known as sacrifices, are the offerings of food, objects, or the lives of animals (and sometimes humans) to a higher purpose, to God, or gods as an act of propitiation or worship.
    • While sacrifice often implies ritual killing, the term offering (Latin oblatio) can be used for bloodless sacrifices of food or artifacts.
    • The Latin term came to be used of the Christian eucharist in particular, sometimes named a "bloodless sacrifice" to distinguish it from blood sacrifices.
    • In individual pre-Christian ethnic religions, terms translated as "sacrifice" include the Indic yajna, the Greek thusia, the Germanic blōtan, the Semitic qorban/qurban, etc.

  • The Ancient Greek Gods and Their Temples

    • Religious festivals and ceremonies were held throughout the year, and animal sacrifice and votive offerings were popular ways to appease and worship the gods.
    • Rituals and animal sacrifices in honor of the god or goddess would take place outside, in front of the temple.
    • Rituals often included a large number of people, and sacrifice was a messy business that was best done outdoors.
    • Scene of a sacrifice.

  • Painting

    • A final image, found in the peristyle, depicts the Sacrifice of Iphigenia .
    • Fresco scene of the Sacrifice of Iphigenia.

  • Florence in the Late 1400s

    • Successfully defeating several would-be conquerors in the early 15th century, Florentines imagined themselves as the "New Rome" -- in other words, as the heirs to the Ancient Roman Republic, prepared to sacrifice for the cause of freedom and liberty.

  • Architecture of the Early Christian Church

    • This was not simply for their pagan associations, but because pagan cult and sacrifices occurred outdoors under the open sky in the sight of the gods.
    • A series of mosaics in the lunettes above the triforia depict sacrifices from the Old Testament.

  • African Art and the Spirit World

    • The wooden sculptures, which represent a highly stylized animal or human figure, are washed, re-oiled and offered sacrifices.

  • Architecture of the Early Dynastic Period

    • Human sacrifice was practiced as part of the funerary rituals associated with all of the pharaohs of the first dynasty.

  • Painting in the High Renaissance

    • While earlier Renaissance artists would stress the perspective of a work, or the technical aspects of a painting, High Renaissance artists were willing to sacrifice technical principles in order to create a more beautiful, harmonious whole.

  • Neoclassical Sculpture

    • One of them was Jean-Antoine Houdon, whose work was mainly portraits, very often as busts, which do not sacrifice a strong impression of the sitter's personality to idealism.