Homo necans is a book on Ancient Greek religion and mythology by Walter Burkert. The book's core thesis is that when paleolithic man became a hunter, in spite of the generally omnivore orientation of the great apes, lack of a predator instinct was made up for by turning patterns of intra-species aggression against the prey. Thus, the animals hunted by ancient man automatically acquired aspects of an equal, as it were of one of the hunter's relations. Burkert uncovers 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 historical Greek ritual, and in human religious behaviour in general. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau (Bavaria), February 2, 1931), the most eminent living scholar of Greek myth and cult, is an emeritus professor of classics at the University of Zurich, Switzerland who has also taught in the United Kingdom and the United States. ... The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (Greek παλαιός paleos=old and λίθος lithos=stone or the Old Stone Age) was the first period in the development of human technology of the Stone Age. ... Hunting is, in its most general sense, the pursuit of a target. ... An omnivore (from Latin: omne all, everything; vorare to devour) is an animal that eats both plants and meat. ... Genera Subfamily Ponginae Pongo - Orangutans Gigantopithecus (extinct) Sivapithecus (extinct) Subfamily Homininae Gorilla - Gorillas Pan - Chimpanzees Homo - Humans Paranthropus (extinct) Australopithecus (extinct) Sahelanthropus (extinct) Ardipithecus (extinct) Kenyanthropus (extinct) Pierolapithecus (extinct) (tentative) The Hominids (Hominidae) are a biological family which includes humans, extinct species of humanlike creatures and the other great apes... This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards and make it easier to understand, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Sacrifice is the practice of offering food, or the lives of animals or people to the gods, as an act of propitiation or worship. ... Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. ... A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value, which is prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. ... Fishers of Men, oil on panel by Adriaen van de Venne (1614) Various religious symbols Religion is a human phenomenon that defies easy definition. ...

• (1972) Homo necans: Interpretationen Altgriechischer Opferriten und Mythen (in German). Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN 3110038757.
  • (1981) Homo necans: Antropologia del Sacrificio Cruento nella Grecia Antica, trans. Francesco Bertolini (in Italian), Turin: Boringhieri. ISBN 8833951146.
• (1997) Homo Necans: Interpretationen Altgriechischer Opferriten Und Mythen: 2., Um Ein Nachwort Erweiterte Auflage(Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche Und Vorarbeiten , Vol 32) (2nd edition, with a 1996 postscript) de Gruyter, ISBN 3110150980.