Human sacrifice

Human sacrifice was practiced in many ancient cultures. Victims were ritually killed in a manner that was supposed to please or appease gods or spirits. On very rare occasions human sacrifices still occur today.

Related Topics:
Culture - Ritual - God - Spirit

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Reasons for human sacrifice include:

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• Sacrifice to accompany the dedication of a new building like a temple or bridge. Chinese legends hold that thousands of people were entombed in the Great Wall of China, though they were not.
• Sacrifice upon the death of a king, high priest or great leader; the sacrifices were to serve or accompany the deceased leader in the next life. Mongols, Scythians and various Mesoamerican chiefs could take most of their household, including servants and concubines, with them to the next world. This is sometimes called a "retainer sacrifice," as the leader's retainers would be sacraficed along with their master.
• Sacrifice for divination; a priest would try to predict the future from the body parts of a slain prisoner or slave. According to Strabo, Celts stabbed a victim with a sword and divined the future from his death spasms.
• Sacrifice in times of natural disaster. Droughts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. were seen as a sign of anger or displeasure of gods and sacrifices were made to appease the divine ire. Cretans tried to stop the destruction of their island this way.
• Ritual combat: the victim was killed in a nominally fair fight against a warrior.

Human sacrifices were made in the Bronze Age Celtic religions in Europe, and in rituals related to worship of Norse gods (modern Ásatrú and Druidism do not condone such practices). However, because most of the information comes from outside sources (Greeks and Romans for Celts and medieval Christians for Norsemen) who may have had ulterior propaganda motives, contemporary historians consider them suspect.

Related Topics:
Bronze Age - Europe - Norse gods - Ásatrú - Druidism - Greeks - Romans - Christians - Norsemen - Propaganda

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Human sacrifice: Sacrifice in the classical world ►