Civilizations That Have Sacrificed Humans

Ancient Egyptians are known to have placed strong emphasis on preparing for the afterlife — hence their elaborate tombs and embalmed bodies. In early ancient Egypt, servants were sometimes killed after the death of a pharaoh or other noble, so that they could continue to serve their lord in the afterlife.

Like the early Egyptians, the Shang often buried slaves along with their master, or expected them to voluntarily took their own lives when their master died. They also practiced ritual sacrifice during Renji ceremonies, wherein male slaves or prisoners of war were decapitated, sometimes en masse, in order to appease the god Shang-Di during times of food scarcity.

Phoenicians in the city of Carthage are thought to have engaged in infant sacrifice, according to some historic Roman and Greek accounts. Children of wealthy nobles were killed in order to garner favor with the gods. Supporting evidence includes a Carthaginian burial ground called Tophet that contains thousands of urns holding cremated infants.

Much evidence supports the theory that the Aztecs sacrificed their own people to appease the gods — often during pandemics and famines — as well as war captives during the civilization’s expansion. Firsthand accounts from Conquistadors include the story of a victim whose heart was cut out and offered up to the gods while still beating. Archaeological evidence, including racks of skulls, from Aztec temples confirms that human sacrifice was a part of everyday life.

The practice of sati — the burning of a widow on her husband’s funeral pyre, whether voluntarily or by force — most likely occurred as early as the Bronze Age, but became more commonplace after the Gupta Empire, around 500 AD. The practice most often occurred within the Rajput warrior class and was seen as a way of preserving the honor of a woman whose husband had been slain in battle.

The Nazca sacrificed prisoners and kept their heads as trophies, according to archeological evidence. There are also indications of other ritual human sacrifice from the Nazca ceremonial pilgrimage site called Cahuachi, where many bodies have been excavated.

Excavations of Viking graves in the Norwegian municipality of Flakstad have revealed what archaeologists believe are decapitated slaves, who were buried along with their masters. The decapitated bodies contained evidence of much cruder diets than the intact bodies, indicating a lower social status. Other Viking graves have revealed slaves who were beaten and injured before being decapitated.

Around 2100 BC, Mesopotamians in the city of Ur practiced retainer sacrifice, in which numerous staff of a deceased noble — including advisers, musicians, soldiers, and servants — were killed in order to serve their master in the afterlife. Some victims were slain with a sharp object driven into their skull.

The Maya practiced various forms of human sacrifice as early as 250 AD, including decapitation, death by bow and arrow, and heart removal. Human blood was seen as one of the most potent offerings to Mayan gods, and many prisoners of war — including enemy kings — were sacrificed to honor them.

Ancient Hawaiian temples dating back as far as 1300 AD contain sacrificial altars where offerings were made to various gods, including gods of war. Ritual sacrifices may also have been performed on the poor and criminals to enforce and maintain a social hierarchy and keep the lower classes in check.

Rulers of the West African kingdom of Dahomey practiced human sacrifice in a yearly kingdom celebration, often decapitating prisoners of war and criminals in honor of departed kings and ancestors. Some sources claim that 4,000 people were sacrificed for the celebration in 1727.

The sacrifice of children to appease the gods was widely practiced by the Inca, as evidenced by the many mummies of well-cared for children between the ages of 6 and 15 found high in the Andes. The children were often fed fattening diets in the months leading up to the sacrifice, then given coca leaves and dressed in fine clothing before being strangled, bludgeoned, or left to freeze.

Although the Romans often looked down upon cultures who sacrificed humans, they themselves participated in the practice in certain circumstances, including the burying alive of Vestal Virgins who were unchaste, the drowning of hermaphrodite children, and the sacrifice of captured enemies after battle.

As early as the third and as late as the 16th century, a practice known as hitobashira has been recorded in Japanese texts. The practice involves burying a person alive under or in the walls of a newly constructed building, bridge, or dam. The sacrifice is meant to prevent accidents during construction as well as destruction of the structure due to wars or natural disasters.

Ancient Greek texts have long alluded to human sacrifices to the god Zeus during a yearly festival on Mount Lykaion. Little proof of these sacrifices existed until 2016, when archaeologists unearthed the 3,000-year-old remains of a teenage boy near an altar where animal sacrifices also took place.

Many Mesoamerican societies practiced human sacrifice, including the Moche. Human sacrifice is depicted frequently in their art, and may have been performed in an effort to ensure bountiful harvests. Remains of multiple sacrificed people have been found in Moche temples.

In a ritual similar to the Hindu practice of sati, widows of chiefs and other nobles in ancient Fiji were often strangled — sometimes by their own brothers — and buried with their husbands. If the man had many wives or mistresses, they would all be killed in order to “carpet the grave.”

Like the Japanese, ancient Koreans may have sacrificed individuals as early as the 4th century AD by burying them under buildings and castles in order to ensure the safety or efficiency of the structure. Bodies unearthed under Wolseong Palace show signs of malnutrition, indicating that the victims were of low-ranking class.

The pre-Roman Etruscan culture of ancient Italy engaged in ritual sacrifice of lower-class, diseased, and foreign victims, possibly as a means to help the souls of the higher-class deceased reach their ancestors in the kingdom of death. Prisoners of war may also have been sacrificed to honor fallen Etruscan leaders.

Although numerous accounts exist of human sacrifice among the Asante, many may be overblown propaganda. It is possible, however, that the Asante sacrificed criminals during harvest ceremonies in order to ensure plentiful yields, as well as slaves to ensure that their deceased master had servants in the afterlife.

The largest city in pre-Columbian North America, Cahokia thrived in the Mississippi River Valley in modern-day Illinois. Burial mounds found among the ancient city’s ruins have revealed over 270 bodies that were victims of human sacrifice. Many mounds contain malnourished young women who were most likely strangled or bled to death, while one contains the bodies of nearly 40 men and women who were killed by bludgeoning, bow and arrow, or decapitation.

The Indus Valley civilization had two major cities, Harappa and Mohenjo-daro. Although no excavated remains of sacrifice victims have been found in their ruins, artwork has been found that depicts warriors being sacrificed in front of gods.