What is a sacrifice to the Greeks?

Answer 1

In the New Testament the Greek words for "sacrifice" are either thusia, the noun form which has no meaning beyond "sacrifice, victim," and the verb form thuo, meaning "to sacrifice, to slay, kill, slaughter." Greek used the difference in form to distinguish between the victim and the act, while English uses only the one word "sacrifice" and depends on context to distinguish between them. There is no significant difference in the definition of the Greek words thusia and thuo and the English word "sacrifice," so the meaning is, "an offering to a deity in homage or propitiation (most often a ritually slaughtered animal or person); and the ritual act itself." The only exception in the Greek usage is found in the phrase "things sacrificed to idols" in Revelation 2:14 and 2:20, where that entire phrase is translated from the compound word eidolothuton, whose usage was, "sacrificed to idols; specifically the flesh left over from heathen sacrifices" (which was eaten at the public feasts or sold in the market).

Answer 2

žAnimals might be sacrificed with the family standing around, and then the family would eat the animals for dinner. There was a stone altar outside each house that you could kill the animals on, with an appropriate ceremony. Then the fat and bones were offered up to the god, while the meat was roasted over a fire. The type of animals depended on how big the sacrifice is.