The Merdītu-Offerings
Animal Sacrifice in First-Millennium Babylonian Religious Contexts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4587094 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rocío Da Riva (corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 280-287 |
| Publication date | 2022-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Near Eastern Archaeology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1094-2076 • E-ISSN: 1557-5594 |
| Publisher | University of Chicago Press (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1086/721882 |
| OpenAlex | W4311183655 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 9 |
Some Late Babylonian texts containing evidence on temple ceremonies refer to a sacrificial offering called merdītu, which was performed on special occasions in the sanctuaries of Uruk and Babylon. The merdītu was a libation of sorts poured directly onto the decapitated head of a sheep and onto the heart extracted from an ox or bull. Although the texts are not very informative, they contain some interesting data on the internal structure of the temples, the ritualization of space, and on the cultic performers involved in the ceremonies
Ancient history · Art · Biology · Linguistics · Literature · Ritualization · Sociology · Ancient Near East History · Anthropology · Botanical Research and Chemistry · History · Linguistics and language evolution · Philosophy · Paleontology
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |