Sacrificial firewood in the ancient Mediterranean and beyond:a comparative analysis

Sacrifices in the Ancient Mediterranean usually involved fire, which required burning materials, typically wood. Assuming that sacrificial wood choice and management may have had significance for ancient societies, this article investigates the amounts and types of wood required, as well as the ritual requirements of its collection, arrangement on the altar and burning, in Greek, Roman and Jewish cultures of antiquity. The investigation is based on the texts from these cultures as well as on archaeobotanical research. While Jewish texts took more interest in these issues, calling for specific types and rituals and even seeing the wood itself as an offering, there is haphazard evidence for more specificity in Roman texts as well. However, it remains an open question whether this finding is a result of actual difference or of the ritual focus of many Jewish texts.