The Divine Sacrifice
Although it is believed that ancient Greeks did not practice human sacrifice, the concept itself occupied a large space of Greek drama, which raises questions about its meaning(s), function(s), and how it has contributed to the human-deity relationship in Greek Drama. Human sacrifice, as a thematic frame, is common within the works of the three Greek tragedians, who employ it as a mean to create a dilemma in their plays, add a layer of meaningful depth to the human death, and/or to stage a tragedy that invokes pity and provokes conclusions. As Wilkins noted, human sacrifice, in the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, is, more often than not, related to the gods within Greek mythology—it is a call that comes…