do correct me if im wrong, but afaik the human sacrifice stories are iether completely made up or greatly exaggerated by christian, roman and or muslim missionaries, where the accounts served as propaganda to justify conversion and oher colonial activities
I'm not sure about sacrifices but cannibalism was wide spread. Often as part of burial rites. But crusaders also ate people when they were desperate so...
This is my favorite part on Christianity to be honest.
On one hand, christians today literally call it a sacrament and it is one of the most revered practices.
On the other hand, IF Jesus even said this. It was because of two things 1) Romans lied that Jews drank blood and ate flesh, 2) he was trolling as he did with every other instance of his existence, if they accuse us of eating flesh and drinking blood let's eat some flesh and drink some goddamn blood baby!
Nah, there was a big thing with sacrifices for Kali or Mara I think back in the 90s or early 2k. Lots a deaths..
People can get freaky when it comes to fanatical beliefs.
Edit: For those looking to join random death cults, please remember that when it comes to sacrifices, if the head of the cult isn't the first to go, it's a scam. And if the head of the cult isn't enough, continue downward through the hierarchy. The most devout make for the greatest sacrifice.
If we did this shit in the modern age when we are much more connected and aware of each other, we did it millennia ago when we were isolated and warmongering.
And people are the same everywhere, no matter how much we like to argue about cultural differences.
I combed through the article and found this small section,
Human sacrifice
Human sacrifice in ancient Rome was rare but documented. After the Roman defeat at Cannae two Gauls and two Greeks were buried under the Forum Boarium, in a stone chamber "which had on a previous occasion [228 BC] also been polluted by human victims, a practice most repulsive to Roman feelings".^[119]^ Livy avoids the word "sacrifice" in connection with this bloodless human life-offering; Plutarch does not. The rite was apparently repeated in 113 BC, preparatory to an invasion of Gaul. Its religious dimensions and purpose remain uncertain.^[120]^
In the early stages of the First Punic War (264 BC) the first known Roman gladiatorialmunus was held, described as a funeral blood-rite to the manes of a Roman military aristocrat.^[121]^ The gladiator munus was never explicitly acknowledged as a human sacrifice, probably because death was not its inevitable outcome or purpose. Even so, the gladiators swore their lives to the gods, and the combat was dedicated as an offering to the Di Manes or the revered souls of deceased human beings. The event was therefore a sacrificium in the strict sense of the term, and Christian writers later condemned it as human sacrifice.^[122]^
The small woolen dolls called Maniae, hung on the Compitalia shrines, were thought a symbolic replacement for child-sacrifice to Mania, as Mother of the Lares. The Junii took credit for its abolition by their ancestor L. Junius Brutus, traditionally Rome's Republican founder and first consul.^[123]^ Political or military executions were sometimes conducted in such a way that they evoked human sacrifice, whether deliberately or in the perception of witnesses; Marcus Marius Gratidianus was a gruesome example.
Officially, human sacrifice was obnoxious "to the laws of gods and men". The practice was a mark of the barbarians and thus associated with Rome's traditional enemies such as the Carthaginians and Gauls. Rome banned it on several occasions under extreme penalty. A law passed in 81 BC characterized human sacrifice as murder committed for magical purposes. Pliny the Elder saw the ending of human sacrifice conducted by the druids as a positive consequence of the conquest of Gaul and Britain. Despite an empire-wide ban under Hadrian, human sacrifice may have continued covertly in North Africa and elsewhere.^[124]^
That last source is ++Beard, Mary++; North, John; Price, S. (1998), Religions of Rome, vol. I, Cambridge University Press, ISBN978-0-521-31682-8
So far what you've presented here is that the ancient Romans believed that barbarians in Gaul, Britain,and Carthage practiced human sacrifice, but you have not presented any historical evidence of it actually happening.
I'm no historian and i don't feel like putting work into researching this, but your Wikipedia article doesn't appear to be a slam dunk.
The only Human sacrifice I KNOW ABOUT is that time the Roman Republic sacrificed two slaves during one of the fights with Carthage.
And it was clear that the Romans didn't want to do that and it made them greatly uncomfortable.
I can think of a lot of ritual killing in like arena fight style things. Roman gladiators are obvious and Viking honor duels (though FULL DISCLOSURE, I'm not super knowledgeable on the Vikings. Please fight me if I'm wrong).
I guess we could count ritual or religious war as a human sacrifice. I mean what were the crusades but human sacrifice at scale?
The meme does specifically mention European pagans. So bringing up Aztec human sacrifice would be like talking about how much you don't like hoppy beer in a post about how great cabernet sauvignon is.
19 replies
do correct me if im wrong, but afaik the human sacrifice stories are iether completely made up or greatly exaggerated by christian, roman and or muslim missionaries, where the accounts served as propaganda to justify conversion and oher colonial activities
I'm not sure about sacrifices but cannibalism was wide spread. Often as part of burial rites. But crusaders also ate people when they were desperate so...
fun fact: cannibalism was so widespread we invented a modern religion based on it
This is my favorite part on Christianity to be honest.
On one hand, christians today literally call it a sacrament and it is one of the most revered practices.
On the other hand, IF Jesus even said this. It was because of two things 1) Romans lied that Jews drank blood and ate flesh, 2) he was trolling as he did with every other instance of his existence, if they accuse us of eating flesh and drinking blood let's eat some flesh and drink some goddamn blood baby!
Nah, there was a big thing with sacrifices for Kali or Mara I think back in the 90s or early 2k. Lots a deaths..
People can get freaky when it comes to fanatical beliefs.
Edit: For those looking to join random death cults, please remember that when it comes to sacrifices, if the head of the cult isn't the first to go, it's a scam. And if the head of the cult isn't enough, continue downward through the hierarchy. The most devout make for the greatest sacrifice.
But Kali is not european paganism, nor are the 90s and 2000s quite considered historical in that sense yet.
If we did this shit in the modern age when we are much more connected and aware of each other, we did it millennia ago when we were isolated and warmongering. And people are the same everywhere, no matter how much we like to argue about cultural differences.
Please provide evidence of pre-christian european religious practices around human sacrifice or pack up your constructed BS.
Honestly, your way of reaching a conclusion is so far from scientific, it reaches astrology levels.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrifice_in_ancient_Roman_religion
I combed through the article and found this small section,
That last source is ++Beard, Mary++; North, John; Price, S. (1998), Religions of Rome, vol. I, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-31682-8
So far what you've presented here is that the ancient Romans believed that barbarians in Gaul, Britain,and Carthage practiced human sacrifice, but you have not presented any historical evidence of it actually happening.
I'm no historian and i don't feel like putting work into researching this, but your Wikipedia article doesn't appear to be a slam dunk.
The article you provide states that the religious dimensions of the given example are unknown.
You're just here looking to argue. Have fun with that.
Human sacrifice is fun for the majority of participants
The only Human sacrifice I KNOW ABOUT is that time the Roman Republic sacrificed two slaves during one of the fights with Carthage.
And it was clear that the Romans didn't want to do that and it made them greatly uncomfortable.
I can think of a lot of ritual killing in like arena fight style things. Roman gladiators are obvious and Viking honor duels (though FULL DISCLOSURE, I'm not super knowledgeable on the Vikings. Please fight me if I'm wrong).
I guess we could count ritual or religious war as a human sacrifice. I mean what were the crusades but human sacrifice at scale?
So you must not know much about the Aztecs, then.
The meme does specifically mention European pagans. So bringing up Aztec human sacrifice would be like talking about how much you don't like hoppy beer in a post about how great cabernet sauvignon is.
I was in European paganism mind set.
But I guess the Aztecs were pagan for as useless as that word is
That makes sense, I should have kept the context of the post in mind.