Abstract
After posing the question of the background shared by the Greeks in the representation of the gods and analyzing the expression nomizein tous theous, we now turn to the ritual practices also evoked by this expression. Can we detect a shared background in the register of Greek rituals and, in particular, in sacrificial practices ? To answer this question, Herodotus' text on Persian sacrifice (I, 132) provides an opportunity to identify the characteristics of Greek sacrifice, which can then be compared with the few epic and comic texts featuring sacrifices. A " frame " of sacrifice emerges from this exercise of comparison between so-called " literary " texts.
If the latter enable us to achieve a certain degree of generality in the structure of the bloody sacrifice " à la grecque ", can we detect such a background in the epigraphic documentation itself, or do these documents merely record variations and motifs on the framework ? A remarkable inscribed stele unearthed in 2002 at Marmarini/Larisa in Thessaly provides an all the more remarkable answer to this question, as it is the first time that the expression " Greek norm "(Hellenikos nomos) appears explicitly in an epigraphic text to designate a sacrificial procedure. Analysis of this text enables us to identify the type of handling of the sacrificial animal that was considered to be part of a " Greek way of doing things ".
