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Numerous ancient texts describe human sacrifices and other forms of
ritual killing: in 480 BC Themistocles sacrifices three Persian
captives to Dionysus; human scapegoats called "pharmakoi" are
expelled yearly from Greek cities and, according to some authors,
they are killed. Many texts speak of human sacrifices performed
regularly in the cult of the gods or during emergencies such as war
and plague. Archaeologists have also frequently proposed human
sacrifice as an explanation for their discoveries. If the
archaeologists' interpretations and the claims in the ancient
sources are accepted, they present a bloody and violent picture of
the religious life of the Ancient Greeks, from the Bronze Age well
into historical times. The author of this study, however, counsels
caution. Following an examination of the written and archaeological
evidence of ritual human killings, he argues that many of the
archaeological findings are uncertain, and in many cases
alternative explanations are possible.
Numerous ancient texts describe human sacrifices and other forms of
ritual killing: in 480 BC Themistocles sacrifices three Persian
captives to Dionysus; human scapegoats called pharmakoi are
expelled yearly from Greek cities, and according to some authors
they are killed; Locrin girls are hunted down and slain by the
Trojans; on Mt Lykaion children are sacrificed and consumed by the
worshippers; and many other texts report human sacrifices performed
regularly in the cult of the gods or during emergencies such as war
and plague. Archaeologists have frequently proposed human sacrifice
as an explanation for their discoveries: from Minoan Crete
children's bones with knife-cut marks, the skeleton of a youth
lying on a platform with a bronze blade resting on his chest,
skeletons, sometimes bound, in the dromoi of Mycenaean and Cypriot
chamber tombs; and dual man-woman burials, where it is suggested
that the woman was slain or took her own life at the man's funeral.
If the archaeologists' interpretations and the claims in the
ancient sources are accepted, they present a bloody and violent
picture of the religious life of the ancient Greeks, from the
Bronze Age well into historical times. But the author expresses
caution. In many cases alternative, if less sensational,
explanations of the archaeological are possible; and it can often
be shown that human sacrifices in the literary texts are mythical
or that late authors confused mythical details with actual
practices.Whether the evidence is accepted or not, this study
offers a fascinating glimpse into the religious thought of the
ancient Greeks and into changing modern conceptions of their
religious behaviour.
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