Burkert's core thesis is that when
paleolithic man became a
hunter, in spite of the generally
omnivorous orientation of the
great apes, lack of a
predator instinct was made up for by turning patterns of intra-species
aggression against the prey:
Homo necans means "man the killer". Thus, the animal hunted by ancient man automatically acquired aspects of an equal, as if it were of one of the hunter's relations. In a first attempt at applying
ethology to
religious history, Burkert confronts the power and effect of tradition in uncovering traces of ancient hunting rituals so motivated in historical
animal sacrifice and
human sacrifice (by his thesis unified as deriving from the same fundamental principle) in specific historical Greek
rituals with relevance to human
religious behaviour in general. Burkert acknowledges that a decisive impulse for the thesis derived from
Konrad Lorenz'
On Aggression (1963). The thesis is an extension of the
hunting hypothesis, which states that hunting as a means of obtaining food was a dominant influence on human evolution and cultural development (as opposed to gathering vegetation or scavenging). The guilt incurred in the violence of the hunt was reflected in sacred crimes, which through rituals of cleansing and expiation served to unify communities. Burkert supports his thesis by integrating a multitude of examples that elaborate primitive ritual as it is reflected in
Greek mythology. He examines various
cult-complexes in detail, confronting "sacrificial ritual with its tension between encountering death and affirming life, its external form consisting of preparations, a frightening central moment, and restitution", and affirming in detail the initial hypothesis. ==Reception==