Abstract
Greek deities are not content with just adult victims ( teleia) : they also like to welcome to their altars representatives of the tender years, from newborns who " are still suckling " (galathêna), to year-olds, an age that oscillates between the time of youth and the period leading up to mating and procreation. But sacrificing young animals is not something that can be taken for granted, as certain ritual prescriptions show. The recommendation to offer " small " depends, in fact, on a complex set of factors, including the personality of the divine (or heroic) recipient. This leads us to wonder about the special bond forged between certain deities and the young of a particular animal species (for example, Apollo and lambs, or Dionysus and kids). This leads to another, no less essential question, concerning the place of young animals in the Greek diet - since sacrifice and meal often (but not always) went hand in hand.
