Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece

Numerous ancient texts describe human sacrifices or other forms of ritualkilling In theIliad Achilles slaughters twelve Trojan captives before thefuneral pyre o... » 

Numerous ancient texts describe human sacrifices or other forms of ritualkilling In theIliad Achilles slaughters twelve Trojan captives before thefuneral pyre of Patroclus while many other texts report human sacrificesperformed regularly in the cult of the gods or during emergencies such as warand plague.In addition archeologists have frequently proposed sacrificialrites as an explanation for their discoveries.The first booklength study of this controversial subject to appear since 1915and the first ever published in English Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greeceexamines the written and archeological evidence for the ritual killing of humanbeings in ancient Greece. The author discusses the evidence for a range ofsacrificial practices which collectively suggest a bloody and violent religiouslife among the ancient Greeks from the Bronze Age well into historical times.At the same time Hughes presents the skeptical view of such sacrificialinterpretations. A valuable synthesis of data and arguments on thiscontroversial subject Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece offers a fascinatingglimpse into the religious thought of the ancient Greeks and into changingmodern conceptions of their religious behavior. «