Download or read book Dying for the Gods written by Miranda Jane Aldhouse-Green and published by Tempus Publishing, Limited. This book was released on 2001 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explains "the nature of sacrifice in antiquity" and "different aspects of the subject: the notion of flesh for the gods; rites of fire and blood; the significance of defleshing heads and of skulls; suffocation ... ; the selection of victims and the evidence for the sacrifice of children." Author "puts forward some reasons for ritual murder and shows how" certain practices "illustrate the importance of place in the sacrificial rite" and "highlights the essential role of the priesthood in sacrificial murder."--Jacket.