A holocaust is a religious animal sacrifice that is completely consumed by fire, also known as a burnt offering. The word derives from the ancient Greek holokaustos, the form of sacrifice in which the victim was reduced to ash, as distinguished from an animal sacrifice that resulted in a communal meal.
The Greek holocausts were apotropaic rituals, intended to appease the spirits of the Greek Underworld, including the Greek heroes. Holocausts were also given to dangerous powers, such as the Keres and Hecate. The same term was used in the Koine Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew olah. This form of sacrifice, in which no meat was left over for anyone, was seen as the greatest form of sacrifice Jewish holocausts was the form of sacrifice permitted to be given solely at the Temple in Jerusalem by both Jews and non-Jews.
Holocausts are conducted at night, without wine, and offer black-hided animals at a low altar, with their heads directed downwards; in all these they are opposed to the commensal sacrifice given to the Olympian gods. (This distinction is between extreme types, and was somewhat exaggerated in the early twentieth century, as by Jane Harrison; considerable evidence has also been found of commensal sacrifice offered to heroes.)
Jewish sacrifice
300px|thumb|The Altar of Incense, Altar of Burnt-Offering, and Laver from the biblical Tabernacle; illustration from the 1890 Holman Bible
A "burnt offering" is a type of korban (sacrifice), specifically an animal sacrifice in which the entire sacrifice is consumed totally by fire. When the Jewish scriptures were translated into the Koine Greek Septuagint, the translators used the Greek term holokautein to translate the Hebrew olah. This form of sacrifice, in which no meat was left over for anyone, was seen as the greatest form of sacrifice and was the form of sacrifice permitted to be given solely at the Temple by Jews and non-Jews.
Most biblical scholars now agree that the intricate details of the whole offering, particularly the types and number of animals on occasion of various feast days, given by the Torah, were of a late origin, as were the intricate directions given in the Talmud.