Abstract

This article offers a close reading of a ritual described by Pausanias (2.35.4-8) in which old women use sickles to slaughter heifers inside a temple of Demeter in Hermione. Following the contextualization of several of the rituals' elements within other Hermionian cults, other cults of Demeter, and Greek cultural values more generally, the author argues that the ritual was directed towards both agriculture and the proper maturation of maidens. The article also problematizes the category "sacrifice," suggesting that the broader "ritualized killing" enables us to make better sense of this and other rituals, and encourages more consciously polyvalent readings of ancient rituals.

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