sacrificial animals
Beasts for altars
Sacrificial animals are creatures killed as offerings in religious rituals—to honor deities, seek favor, or atone for sins.
The practice spans cultures and millennia: lambs in ancient Judaism, goats in Greek religion, cattle in Hindu rites.
The term appears in both historical and contemporary religious contexts: The priest selected the sacrificial animals for the ceremony.
- goatHorned, bearded livestock
- scapegoat ritualCeremony transferring sins symbolically
- ritualCeremonial set of actions
- atonementCompensation for wrongdoing
- sin offeringSacrifice for wrongdoing
sheep · offering · cow · lamb · renewal · altar · high priest · cleansing · dove · covenant · gratitude · bull · deity · chicken · pigeon · fertility · harvest festival · divine favor
- Parthenon sculpturespediments, frieze, drapery, torsos, heads
- kosher animalskosher, split hooves, chewing cud, fins and scales, kosher fish
- Roman triumphchariot, laurel wreath, spoils of war, captives, white horses
sacrificial animalspets
Domesticated companion animals
companion animals · service animals · working animals · draft animals · therapy animals
sacrificial animalslivestock
Domesticated farm animals
farm animals · wild game · game animals · vermin · poached animals
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