Europe may have had human sacrificies

[Carnyx]

Originally Posted by Raven Hunter

Although I think that there was human sacrifice in the British Isles pre-Roman invasion I wonder if the wicker thing was actually used or if it was simply Roman propaganda, which they were not above using.

Winners write History.

[Menydh]

Romans did use propaganda for which they overstated facts. But that doesn't mean that they did not happen. I think that researchers of Roman history have developed a skill to contrast ancient texts and identify how much on a statement was myth and how much was reality over which that myth was built up.

The Official Truth: Propaganda in the Roman Empire

This isnt surprising. When the Romans suffered the defeat at Cannae we find them undertaking in one of the rarest examples of human sacrifice in their written history: two Greeks and two Gauls were buried alive.

No doubt this was an old ritual by that died out as the Romans came into contact with Greek culture.

[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

No doubt this was an old ritual by that died out as the Romans came into contact with Greek culture.

"Numerous ancient texts describe human sacrifices or other forms of ritual killing: In the Iliad Achilles slaughters twelve Trojan captives before the funeral pyre of Patroclus, while many other texts report human sacrifices performed regularly in the cult of the gods or during emergencies such as war and plague. In addition, archeologists have frequently proposed sacrificial rites as an explanation for their discoveries.

The first book-length study of this controversial subject to appear since 1915 and the first ever published in English, Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece examines the written and archeological evidence for the ritual killing of human beings in ancient Greece. The author discusses the evidence for a range of sacrificial practices which collectively suggest a bloody and violent religious life among the ancient Greeks from the Bronze Age well into historical times. At the same time, Hughes presents the skeptical view of such sacrificial interpretations. A valuable synthesis of data and arguments on this controversial subject, Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece offers a fascinating glimpse into the religious thought of the ancient Greeks and into changing modern conceptions of their religious behavior."

Amazon.com: Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece: Books: Dennis D Hughes

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Mynydd

Romans did use propaganda for which they overstated facts.

As everybody else does.

That is what we call "history", subjective, tendencious and intended to serve certain views, the way they like us to believe it.

But all history is temporary, and lasts only intil it is teared down from the theoretical pedestal by the next theory or hypothesis that takes its place, until it is teared down from the theoretical pedestal by the next theory or hypothesis that takes its place, until it is teared down from the theoretical pedestal by the next theory or hypothesis that takes its place, usw.



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[Menydh]

Originally Posted by Savage

As everybody else does.

To a certain point.

Being a recognised fact, history researchers take this into account to review the assumptions made in the past. And at times these revisions are also overstatements by themselves. Especially if pursuing a preconceived agenda.

[Uri]

There is a Russian legend (but perhaps written by the firsts monks that arrived on Kiev after 988-year of Baptism of Russia-) that tells how a christian varangian boy from Kiev was selected by some elders for being sacrificate to Perun, God of Thunders. His father resisted, and the guard burn their house. This fact is cited in a book by Elizabeth Warner: Mitología russa; ed. Barcanova, Barcelona 1986. Where really human sacrifices among the slavs at the time?

[meadhbh]

A lot cultures practiced some form of human sacrifice, even the Romans when things got really bad. There could have been huge mass killings for all I know. But I read some where, I forgot the name of the book, where the Romans claimed the druids worshipped in groves that had oegans hanging off trees. There could not have been a large scale sacrifice all that often or things would have started to collapse look at Rapa Nui as an example.

[Uri]

The Dacians of the actual Romania practised a sacrifice to his god Zalmoxis by "sending" a man to his realm every five years.

There is a depiction of the ritual in the Persian Wars from Herodotus:


The belief of the Getae in respect of immortality is the following. They think that they do not really die, but that when they depart this life they go to Zalmoxis, who is called also Gebeleizis by some among them. To this god every five years they send a messenger, who is chosen by lot out of the whole nation, and charged to bear him their several requests. Their mode of sending him is this. A number of them stand in order, each holding in his hand three darts; others take the man who is to be sent to Zalmoxis, and swinging him by his hands and feet, toss him into the air so that he falls upon the points of the weapons. If he is pierced and dies, they think that the god is propitious to them; but if not, they lay the fault on the messenger, who (they say) is a wicked man: and so they choose another to send away. The messages are given while the man is still alive. This same people, when it lightens and thunders, aim their arrows at the sky, uttering threats against the god; and they do not believe that there is any god but their own.