Book contents
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- The Cambridge History of Violence
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume i
- General Introduction: Violence in World History
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I The Origins of Conflict
- Part II Prehistoric and Ancient Warfare
- Part III Intimate and Collective Violence
- Part IV Religion, Ritual and Violence
- 21 Ritual Violence and Headhunting in Iron Age Europe
- 22 Ritual Killing and Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East
- 23 Violent Sacrifice in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds
- 24 Combat Sports in Ancient Greece and Rome
- 25 Religious Violence in Late Antiquity
- Part V Violence, Crime and the State
- Part VI Representations and Constructions of Violence
- Index
- References
22 - Ritual Killing and Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East
from Part IV - Religion, Ritual and Violence
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 March 2020
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- The Cambridge History of Violence
- The Cambridge World History of Violence
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Contributors to Volume i
- General Introduction: Violence in World History
- Introduction to Volume I
- Part I The Origins of Conflict
- Part II Prehistoric and Ancient Warfare
- Part III Intimate and Collective Violence
- Part IV Religion, Ritual and Violence
- 21 Ritual Violence and Headhunting in Iron Age Europe
- 22 Ritual Killing and Human Sacrifice in the Ancient Near East
- 23 Violent Sacrifice in the Ancient Greek and Roman Worlds
- 24 Combat Sports in Ancient Greece and Rome
- 25 Religious Violence in Late Antiquity
- Part V Violence, Crime and the State
- Part VI Representations and Constructions of Violence
- Index
- References
Summary
Human sacrifice was a rare practice among the cultures of ancient Mesopotamia. Our best-sourced occurrences are the archaeological remains from the royal death pits at Early Dynastic Ur (c. 2600–2450 BCE) and textual records of the substitute king ritual that was practised at least from the early second millennium BCE down to the time of Alexander the Great. Such sporadic occurrences of ritual human sacrifice require an investigation as to why it happened at all. This chapter examines the practice of human sacrifice in the light of its respective historical and cultural contexts to better understand this extreme form of ritual violence. It finds that while there are rather different contexts, in both instances it is clear that the office of kingship held absolute power over the subjects who were disposed of for the sake of the ruler.
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- The Cambridge World History of Violence , pp. 460 - 474Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020