Looking at the Area 51 commitment page, I realized that some of the questions that were originally suggested there never got asked here, so I thought I'd add some of them. Something else I would like to see addressed as part of this question would be the reasons behind the sacrifices. Were they tied to religious or superstitious beliefs, such as appeasing gods, or were they done as a form of punishment or revenge?
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The Maya did: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_religion , in most cases this seemed to be more extaordinary and in a way of trying to get the attention of the gods in extreme circumstances, such as famine, flood or alternately kings ascending the throne. As did the Aztec: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec#Human_sacrifice , although I have never seem much in the way of explanation other than some considered it an honor to be sacrificed. Depending on how you view the sacrifice witch burning could be another, this was religious and a punishment but again it depends on how you define it. |
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Carthage practised mass infant sacrifice to their gods in particular BaĘżal. The practices increased as Rome was defeating Carthage culminating just before the destruction of the city. Source: NY Times and The Punic Wars by A. Goldsworthy. |
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One example of human sacrifice was a practice called Sati in India. It was a Hindu tradition, mostly restricted to some northern regions of India. Under Sati, a widowed woman would sit on her husband's pyre and burn along with him. What differentiates Sati from other examples above, was that this practice was voluntary and the decision rested with the widow (in theory, if not in practice). There's some debate as to how this practice started, but it seems to be more social than religion in origin. It was discouraged/banned by several rulers, leaders etc. It was also one of the very few Hindu customs outlawed unconditionally by the British (in 1829). Nowadays, sati is very very rarely followed. |
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Followers of Kali in India. It was never a mass thing, but supposedly at some point a certain Kali temple sacrificed a human every day. It still happens today, but a lot less frequently. One non-scolarly source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,322673,00.html Also, Wiki ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifice#History_by_region ) has a pretty extensive list, including such unusual and unexpected examples as ancient Russia (Rus apparently sacrificed slaves/prisoners of war to Perun); pre-Buddhist Tibet; and Ancient Hawaii. |
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One form of human sacrifice that I hadn't considered was the act of retainer sacrifice that was exercised in ancient Egypt as well as Mesopotamia. Whenever a king or ruler died, his entire household could be executed to serve him in the after-life. There even seems to be indications that this happened in ancient China as well. This form of sacrifice I suppose could have been considered an honor, but I'm not sure those who were sacrificed necessarily agreed. In my reseacrh for a book that will be set in West Africa, I found information that some tribes there used human sacrifice to appease their gods by sacrificing prisoners that were captured in battle. There was a reference that the Kingdom of Dahomey may have been the most prominent in this, but I couldn't find anything substantial to confirm that. |
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Adding up an example, if you read the old testament, you see numerous examples, most famously when Abraham was willing to sacrifise Isaac, of course we know it didn't happen. And since Abraham didn't doubt this is God's will, I think this was in a way accepted, even if it wasn't the daily practice amongst Jewish people that time. consider the followings: I am pretty convinced in ancient jewish culture this thing was more common, since the Bible don't register all the sacrifises. These sacrifises weren't as regular as in Mayan or Aztec culture, but existed. |
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Every culture sacrificed humans. It's usually justified murder. The normal motives are not that different than murders. Curiously, in China, human sacrificed is ended by a king that kill even more people, namely Yin Zheng, the founder of Chin dynasty. The reasoning is that Yin Zhen don't believe superstition. The egypt sacrifice the king's family and the king's most loyal general so the priests can maintain the power for themselves :) Clever priests. According to Matt Ridley's "Red Queen" By burying most loyal general along with the king, the priests can get rid the most important defender of the throne. Also most baal worshiper sacrifice their children to signal to their friends that they're not making too many kids and hence reducing their power. All religious dogma has reasonable simple economic/evolutionary/biology explanation. |
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