HUMAN SACRIFICE:
Human sacrifice (defined as the killing of a human for the purpose of dedication to a divine or
semi-divine being) seems to have been a reality of the ancient Mediterranean world, although the
frequency and extent of the practice is heatedly debated among scholars. Since the SACRIFICE of
a human would have been the most extreme gift one could make to a god, it was in various
contexts celebrated or reviled, but frequently featured in literature and histories. Three separate
categories of human sacrifice in the cultures of the Mediterranean may be utilized to clarify the
difficulties in understanding this phenomenon: (i) the sacrifice of a highly-valued human by a
king or other leader, usually to avoid some catastrophic outcome; (ii) the sacrifice of prisoners
taken in war, often as thanks for victory; (iii) the regular, recurring sacrifice of humans as part of
a religious cult.
The human sacrifice made by a king or other leader (i) is perhaps the most widely established
form of human sacrifice thought to have been practiced, though it would have occurred only
under rare circumstances. The sacrifice in these cases is typically made under duress—famous
examples include the king of Moab who sacrifices his son on the walls of his capital city to
escape an Israelite siege, or the story of Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, to
obtain good omens for his voyage to TROY. The trope of a leader giving the life of his own child
in order to save those whom he leads is a powerful literary device, but perhaps also reflects a
realistic scenario of last resort.
The second type (ii) involves a scenario in which the value of the offered human lives would
presumably be less (to those conducting the sacrifice) than in the first scenario. For example,
HERODOTOS (the earliest Greek source to discuss human sacrifice) describes the Scythians as
sacrificing one in every hundred of their prisoners of war to the god Ares.
The sacrifice of humans as part of a regular, recurring religious cult (iii) is the most controversial
of the three. Many ancient accounts seem designed to shock their readers: Herodotos tells the
story of the Massegetae (a nomadic tribe sometimes associated with Scythians and the Iranian
plateau), who reportedly kill their elderly members as part of a larger sacrificial ceremony, boil
their flesh, and offer this dish to relatives to consume. Others attest to the association of human
sacrifice with a particular festival or place; such as on Mt. Lykaion, in Arcadia, Greece. In the
latter case, ongoing excavations have traced the use of the site to 3000 BCE, and osteological
studies may have more to say about the possible sacrifice of humans. Regularly occurring child
sacrifice is opaquely referenced by several biblical texts: the story of Abraham’s interrupted
sacrifice of his son is often read as a prohibition of human sacrifice as an appropriate gift to god;
as are the biblical warnings against the worship of a god called MOLECH.
The Phoenicians have been particularly singled out by authors ancient and modern as practicing
human sacrifice as part of a regularly occurring religious ritual. In their case, the accusations
involve the sacrifice of infants, and especially one’s own child. No evidence for this practice
exists in the Phoenician Levantine “homeland.” But the discovery of ten Mediterranean Punic
cemeteries containing the cremated remains of infants buried in ceramic vessels (frequently
referred to by scholars with the Hebrew term “TOPHET”), and often accompanied by inscribed or
painted stelae, has suggested to some that the practice may have been a reality in CARTHAGE and
other Punic sites.
No feature of the evidence for human sacrifice in Punic contexts is uncontested. Because
archaeological excavation has produced human remains, it was hoped that these would reveal
whether the infants were miscarriages, still-births, or other natural deaths, or whether they were
born healthy and sacrificed afterwards. However, aside from the difficulties associated with
identifying pre- versus post-natal features under ideal circumstances, the infant skeletal remains
underwent shrinkage during the cremation process and calcination due to the sandy soil in which
they were buried. The inscribed stelae which mark graves at seven of the ten burial sites are
formulaic in nature, and utilize specialized Punic vocabulary that is not found in clear contexts in
other extant texts. Finally, none of the twenty-four ancient authors writing in Greek or Latin
(dating from the 5th c. BCE to the 5th c. CE) who discuss the practice of human sacrifice among
people of Phoenician or Punic origin claims to have witnessed the practice first-hand, and many
seem to be using them as a stock example of a long-ended barbaric or aberrant practice.
Accusations of both adult human and child sacrifice (as well as various forms of cannibalism)
were also leveled at early Christians, continuing a long tradition of using this trope to alienate or
“other” a particular religious group.
SUGGESTED READING:
Azize, Joseph. “Was there regular child sacrifice in Phoenicia and Carthage?” In Gilgameš and
the World of Assyria: Proceedings of the Conference Held at the Mandelbaum House,
University of Sydney, 21-23 July, 2004 (J. Azize and N. Weeks, eds.), 185-206. Peeters
Publishers, 2007.
Hughes, Dennis D. Human sacrifice in ancient Greece. Routledge, 1991.
Rives, J. “Human Sacrifice among Pagans and Christians.” In The Journal of Roman Studies 85
(2010): 65-85.
H.D.