The sacrifice, for which the ancient Greeks used the expression "telein ta iera" (performing sacred acts), was simply the slaughter of a domestic animal in a specific place and the consumption of its meat by the participants. The sacrifice was performed on the altar,on behalf of a person or a group which was dedicated to one and rarely to more gods. According to the standards of the ancient Greeks the bull was the most suitable animal to be sacrificed followed by the ox. In exceptional cases one hundred oxen were sacrificed and the sacrifice was then called hekatomb. There are references to hekatombs mostly in myths and the epic cycles, since in reality such expensive sacrifices were very rare. Among the animals that were sacrificed were sheep, goats, hogs, poultry, whereas other birds or fish were not common. It is characteristic that the animals that were chosen were large mammals to thank the gods. The blood had to flow abundantly and the altar had to be spattered with it. This picture, which doubtlessly caused fear, had a conversely strange influence which banished the worries of the people during that period. The "murder" of the animal emphasized the sanctity of human life. Thus, noone could hurt a person on or next to an altar. This person, who was called the supplicant, belonged to god and his murder brought miasma to the city, which could even lead to its destruction.

As far as the ritual of the sacrifice is concerned it generally followed the same procedure. The participants took care to be clean and well-dressed, while they adorned their heads with garland. The animal or animals that they chose should be of the best. Some times they even gilded the horns of the bulls and tied woollen red ribbons, the lemniskoi. A blamelles maiden led the procession bearing on her head a sacrificial basket with grains or barley cakes and the knife of the sacrifice. They also had a vessel with water and a censer. The procession was usually accompanied by one or more musicians, especially by a flute player. It was expected that the animal would go by itself to the altar, which was either a large mound of ashes, or a kind of stone table. Many altars during the Archaic period were constructed of bricks, but later those curved in stone or marble prevailed. After the participants formed a circle around the altar, certain steps were made constituting the beginning of the sacrifice and called "archesthai" and "katarchesthai". They included the washing of the hands, the sprinkling of the animal with water, and the throwing of barley groats towards the altar, while the sacrificer uttered a prayer to the sky.

Then, the sacrificer cut some hair from the forehead of the animal with the sacrificial knife and threw it on the fire (aparchesthai), the final step of the preparation. Smaller animals were lifted over the altar and their neck was cut, whereas oxen and bulls were struck on the nape with an ax and then the carotid was cut. At that moment the attendant women would shout in a shrill cry (ololyge). The blood was collected in a lekane, for the altar to be spattered, and first of all the heart and the entrails were removed, to be roasted on the fire and be eaten immediately by the participants. At the same time the animal was carved and skinned. They separated its unedible parts (bones) and placed them on a pile of wood, in a way that symbolically recomposed the animal, in order to be burnt. With the bones small quantities of food (cakes, gruel) were also burnt, whereas wine was spilled on the fire to intensify it. After the completion of all this, the roasting or the boiling of the meat, which was consumed during the sacrificial meal began. In fact, in many cases noone was allowed to take home meat from the sacrifice.