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Greeek sacrifice, in Greece had to do primarily with cooking. It was ritualized cooking. In other words Greeks only ate meat if it was ritually sacrificed. Sacrifice was the only way of having meat to eat, and basically while eating it, of sharing it according to very strict rules. Killing the victim was less important, in a way, than cutting it up and distributing the parts according to very strict rules that corresponded to the socio-political system. And it had to be cooked whether boiled or roasted, so that humans could eat the meat. And they have to eat because they're not gods, not immortal. They have to eat to live, their lives are nourished by taking the life of an animal, but only under such conditions as to make this act, behind its obvious and terrible appearance of slaughter, of killing, seem like an act that is the opposite of murder and violence, like a perfectly civilized act. We've seen the extent to which the Greeks, via their rites, concealed, effaced, camouflaged that violence. As a rule the victim had to be led without force. It had to consent, for example, by moving its head when seeds were sprinkled on it, as if it agreed to be sacrificed. The sacrificial knife was hidden in a basket under the seeds. Everything was designed to hide the blood and the slaughter. Their idea was to kill as if no blood were being spilled. So the sacrifice was clearly set up as the oppoisite to slaughter. What we have is a very coherent system in which sacrifice leads, as it were, to culture. Sacrifice being the main public religious activity it confers on man a certain state, that of being civilized, which differentiates him from the gods who don't eat. They have the fragrant smoke and don't need to eat. They're immortal. It also differentiates humans from animals because animals eat raw meat and devour each other without rules or prohibitions, without cooking, without civilization. The sacrificial act differentiates humans from animals and the gods through their way of eating. They're different from the gods. By sacrificing they recognize that gods and human beings are two completely different races. -- Jean-Pierre Vernant excerpt from Arts and Myths Volume 2: Mnong Gar Jar Stake
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