To butcher for Asclepius: ....

Introduction

Cut-marks inflicted on animal bones during butchery are the most direct line of evidence for how
carcasses were treated after slaughter. Aim of this paper is to examine the carcass processing sequence
by analysis of the butchery marks recorded on the faunal assemblage of the Hellenistic Asklepieion of
ancient Thouria in Messenia in order to identify ....................

General overview of the thysia

The principal kind of Greek animal sacrifice, the thysia (θυσία), was practised at least from the 8 th c. B.C.
until the prevalence of Christianity in the late Roman period. The carefully selected sacrificial victims
were led to the altar where prayer and the killing of the animal took place. Cattle were first stunned with
a blow to the forehead or over the neck and then their throat was cut with a knife. Sheep, goats and pigs
were of smaller size than cattle and so did not need to be stunned first (Ekroth 2002, 244; 2014, 326).
During the Classical and Hellenistic periods, the slaughter and butchering of the sacrificial victims was
performed by the mageiros, a butcher, meat seller and cook employed by the sanctuaries 1.

Returning to the sacrificial victim, its blood was collected in a bowl, called sphageion (σφαγεῖον)2, for the
making of sausages and black-puddings 3, while a small quantity was sprinkled on the altar 4 (Ekroth 2014,
326). Next, the carcass of the victim was either laid down horizontally or strung up vertically and opened
up at the abdomen so that its intestines (splanchna/σπλάγχνα)5 could be removed and inspected to
judge whether the animal was proper for the gods to whom it was offered (Ekroth 2014, 326). Burkert
(1983, 6), citing literary evidence, states that the heart was removed first, sometimes while still beating,
and placed on the altar. In addition, the femurs (thighbones) were removed, stripped of all their meat,
wrapped in fat from the stomach (omentum) with small pieces of meat from all the limbs placed on top
and burnt in the altar fire (Bremmer 2007, 137; Ekroth 2014, 326). The smoke from the burning of the
femurs, called knisē (κνίσῃ), was thought to reach the gods and be inhaled by them. The tail and sacrum,
together called osphys (ὀσφῦς)6, were also burnt on the altar and the upward curving of the tail, while it
1
it is not clear whether the employment of a mageiros was standard practice or just a necessity during large
festivals, when a large number of animals were sacrificed (Tsoukala 2009, 5-6). However, this issue is beyond the
scope of the present paper. On the role of the mageiros, see Berthiaume (1982) and, for a shorter overview,
Detienne (1989, 11-2).
2
In Homer’s Odyssey (3, 444), the vessel is called amnion (ἀμνίον) instead (van Straten 1995, 105 n. 8). Ekroth
(2002, 244-5 n. 137 and n. 140) lists a number of iconographic representations of the vessel.
3
For a more detailed overview of the culinary treatment of blood by the ancient Greeks, see Ekroth (2002, 247-
51).
4
A number of literary sources referring to the staining of the altar with blood have been collected by Ekroth (2002,
242 n. 132). As for iconographic evidence, see again Ekroth (2002, 242 n. 133).
5
A proposed sequence in which the internal organs of the victims were removed can be found in Carbon (2017,
172). Durand (1989) describes the butchery sequence after thysia  I should include him when I am writing the
chapter on butchery practices.
6
Very few ancient Greek writers mentioned the osphys (Ekroth 2017a, 23), a term the meaning of which is not
exactly clear among scholars. Van Straten (1995, 128-9) has best described the word as indicating the sacrum plus
one or more of its adjacent body parts.

1
burned, symbolised the gods’ acceptance of the sacrifice (Ekroth 2014, 326; van Straten 1988; 1995,
118-41), meaning that the burning of the osphys acted as a form of divination (Peirce 1993, 233). It
should be noted that when considering all relevant published faunal assemblages, Ekroth (2009, 136-9
and 144-9; 2017a, 26-9) arrived at the conclusion that, despite local variation, femurs were more
frequently burnt at the altar than the osphys. Furthermore, when the chronology of the assemblages is
taken into account, it seems that the burning of the osphys was a practice introduced later to Greek cult
than the burning of the femurs 7. Next, the innards (the heart, the kidneys, the liver, the lungs and the
spleen) were grilled on spits (ὀβελοί) on the altar fire by the splanchnoptes (σπλαγχνόπτης) and
consumed on the spot by those closest to the altar. Parts of the grilled intestines could also be offered
to the gods by being placed in the hands or on the knees of their statues as various inscriptions inform
us8. Then, the carcass was skinned and butchered by the mageiros and the meat was distributed (Ekroth
2008b, 261; 2014, 326), while the entrails (the stomach and the intestines) were made into sausages
(Detienne 1989, 10).

7
However, the small sample size of faunal assemblages deriving from cultic activities should be factored into these
conclusions (Ekroth 2017a, 28). Another factor that, in my opinion, should be taken into account is the small size of
caudal vertebrae combined with the lack of sieving of the excavated soil in many post-prehistoric excavations in
Greece.
8
A number of relevant inscriptions, though limited to Chios, are listed by Ekroth (2008a, 94 n. 39) and Carbon
(2016, 38 n. 3). Ekroth (2008a, 93-5) treats the role of splancha in ancient Greek religion in more detail and offers
additional bibliographical references.