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{{Английская Википедия/Панель перехода}}
{{Short description|Killing of a child to appease a tribe or deity}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{more citations needed|date=October 2013}}

[[File:Molech babylon.jpg|thumb|500 px|Babylonian [[cylinder seal]] representing child sacrifice]]

'''Child sacrifice''' is the [[ritual]]istic killing of [[child]]ren in order to please or appease a [[deity]], [[supernatural]] beings, or sacred social order, tribal, group or national loyalties in order to achieve a desired result. As such, it is a form of [[human sacrifice]].
Child sacrifice is thought to be an extreme extension of the idea that the more important the object of sacrifice, the more devout the person rendering it.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/secondary/SMIGRA*/Sacrificium.html|title=LacusCurtius • Greek and Roman Sacrifices (Smith's Dictionary, 1875)|access-date=5 August 2015}}</ref>

The practice of child sacrifice in [[Europe]] and the [[Near East]] appears to have ended as a part of the religious transformations of [[late antiquity]].<ref>Guy Strousma, "The End of Sacrifice" in ''The Making of the Abrahamic Religions in Late Antiquity'' (Oxford 2015). [https://www.academia.edu/37048514/Guy_G_Stroumsa_The_End_of_Sacrifice_Religious_Mutations_of_Late_Antiquity_in_Johann_Arnason_and_Kurt_Raaflaub_eds_The_Roman_Empire_in_Context_Historical_and_Comparative_Perspectives_London_John_Wiley_2011_134_147 Academia link.]</ref>

{{Homicide}}

==Pre-Columbian cultures==
{{Main|Child sacrifice in pre-Columbian cultures}}

Archaeologists have found the remains of more than 140 children who were sacrificed in Peru's northern coastal region.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-43928277|title=Peru child sacrifice discovery may be largest in history|work=BBC News|date=28 April 2018}}</ref>

===Aztec culture===
[[File:Aztec ritual for flooding.jpg|thumb|250 px| 1499, the [[Aztecs]] performing child sacrifice to appease the angry gods who had flooded [[Tenochtitlan]]]]
The [[Aztecs]] are well known for their ritualistic [[human sacrifice]] as offerings to gods with the goal of restoring cosmological balance. While the demographic of people chosen to sacrifice remains unclear, there is evidence that victims were mostly warriors captured in battle and slaves in the slave trade.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Moreiras Reynaga |first1=Diana K. |last2=Millaire |first2=Jean-François |last3=Chávez Balderas |first3=Ximena |last4=Román Berrelleza |first4=Juan A. |last5=López Luján |first5=Leonardo |last6=Longstaffe |first6=Fred J. |date=2021-06-01 |title=Residential patterns of Mexica human sacrifices at Mexico-Tenochtitlan and Mexico-Tlatelolco: Evidence from phosphate oxygen isotopes |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278416521000295 |journal=Journal of Anthropological Archaeology |language=en |volume=62 |pages=101296 |doi=10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101296 |s2cid=234822862 |issn=0278-4165}}</ref> Human sacrifice was not limited to adults, however; 16th century Spanish codices chronicled child sacrifice to Aztec rain gods.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last1=de la Cruz |first1=Isabel |last2=González‐Oliver |first2=Angélica |last3=Kemp |first3=Brian M. |last4=Román |first4=Juan A. |last5=Smith |first5=David Glenn |last6=Torre‐Blanco |first6=Alfonso |date=2008 |title=Sex Identification of Children Sacrificed to the Ancient Aztec Rain Gods in Tlatelolco |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/587642 |journal=Current Anthropology |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=519–526 |doi=10.1086/587642 |jstor=10.1086/587642 |s2cid=162519111 |issn=0011-3204}}</ref> In 2008, [[Archaeologists]] found and excavated 43 victims of Aztec sacrifice, 37 of which were subadults.<ref name=":2" /> The sacrificial victims were found by Temple R, a temple in [[Tlatelolco (archaeological site)]], the ancient Aztec city which is now modern day [[Mexico City]]. Temple R was dedicated to the Aztec rain gods, including [[Tlāloc]], [[Ehecatl]], [[Quetzalcoatl]], and [[Huītzilōpōchtli]].<ref name=":2" /> A majority (66%) of the excavated subadults were under 3 years old, and 32 subadults as well as 6 subadults were identified as male.<ref name=":2" />

It is hypothesized that this specific child sacrifice cite took place during the great drought and famine of 1454–1457, furthering the theory that Aztecs utilized human sacrifice to placate the gods.<ref name=":2" /> Osteological and dental pathological evidence shows that many of the child sacrificial victims had varying health issues, and it is suggested that the Tlaloques selected these children who had medical ailments.<ref name=":2" /> Because sacrificial victims typically embodied the gods they were being sacrificed to, male child sacrifices were more present at this site due to the masculine nature of the Aztec rain gods.<ref name=":2" />

===Inca culture===
The [[Inca]] culture sacrificed children in a ritual called ''[[qhapaq hucha]]''. Their frozen corpses have been discovered in the [[South America]]n mountaintops. The first of these corpses, a female child who had died from a blow to the skull, was discovered in 1995 by Johan Reinhard.<ref>http://gallery.sjsu.edu/sacrifice/precolumbian.html {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060519021943/http://gallery.sjsu.edu/sacrifice/precolumbian.html |date=19 May 2006 }} - "Pre-Columbian Andean Sacrifices"</ref> Other methods of sacrifice included [[strangulation]] and simply leaving the children, who had been given an intoxicating drink, to lose consciousness in the extreme cold and low-oxygen conditions of the mountaintop, and to die of [[hypothermia]].

=== Maya culture ===
In [[Maya civilization|Maya]] culture, people believed that supernatural beings had power over their lives and this is one reason that child sacrifice occurred.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Mortuary Landscapes of the Classic Maya|last=Scherer|first=Andrew|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2012}}</ref> The sacrifices were essentially to satisfy the supernatural beings. This was done through ''k'ex'', which is an exchange or substitution of something.<ref name=":0" /> Through ''k'ex'' infants would substitute more powerful humans.<ref name=":0" /> It was thought that supernatural beings would consume the souls of more powerful humans and infants were substituted in order to prevent that.<ref name=":0" /> Infants are believed to be good offerings because they have a close connection to the spirit world through [[liminality]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Ardren|first=Traci|date=2015|title=Burial and the Social Imaginary of Childhood|journal=Social Identities in the Classic Maya Northern Lowlands: Gender, Age, Memory, and Place|doi=10.7560/768116-005 |s2cid=240099439 }}</ref> It is also believed that parents in Maya culture would offer their children for sacrifice and depictions of this show that this was a very emotional time for the parents, but they would carry through because they thought the child would continue existing.<ref name=":1" /> It is also known that infant sacrifices occurred at certain times. Child sacrifice was preferred when there was a time of crisis and transitional times such as famine and drought.<ref name=":0" />

There is archaeological evidence of infant sacrifice in tombs where the infant has been buried in urns or ceramic vessels. There have also been depictions of child sacrifice in art. Some art includes pottery and [[stele]]s as well as references to infant sacrifice in mythology and art depictions of the mythology.

===Moche culture===
[[File:Carte Moche.png|thumb|Peru- Moche Culture Region]]
The [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] of northern [[Peru]] practiced mass sacrifices of men and boys.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20080506113520/http://www.exn.ca/mummies/story.asp?id=1999041452 – [[Discovery Channel - Archive.org]] article</ref> Archeologists found the remains of 137 children and 3 adults, along with 200 camelids, during excavations in 2011, 2014 and 2016, beneath the sands of a 15th-century site called Huanchaquito-Las Llamas. This sacrifice was possibly made during the heavy rains as there was a layer of mud on top of the clean sand.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Fleur |first=Nicholas St |date=2019-03-06 |title=Massacre of Children in Peru Might Have Been a Sacrifice to Stop Bad Weather |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/science/peru-child-sacrifice.html |access-date=2022-05-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prieto |first1=Gabriel |last2=Verano |first2=John W. |last3=Goepfert |first3=Nicolas |last4=Kennett |first4=Douglas |last5=Quilter |first5=Jeffrey |last6=LeBlanc |first6=Steven |last7=Fehren-Schmitz |first7=Lars |last8=Forst |first8=Jannine |last9=Lund |first9=Mellisa |last10=Dement |first10=Brittany |last11=Dufour |first11=Elise |date=2019 |title=A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru |journal=PLOS ONE |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=e0211691 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0211691 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=6402755 |pmid=30840642|bibcode=2019PLoSO..1411691P |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Hundreds of children and llamas sacrificed in a ritual event in 15th century Peru: The largest sacrifice of its kind known from the Americas was associated with heavy rainfall and flooding |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/03/190306142902.htm |access-date=2022-05-11 |website=ScienceDaily |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Prieto |first1=Gabriel |last2=Verano |first2=John W. |last3=Goepfert |first3=Nicolas |last4=Kennett |first4=Douglas |last5=Quilter |first5=Jeffrey |last6=LeBlanc |first6=Steven |last7=Fehren-Schmitz |first7=Lars |last8=Forst |first8=Jannine |last9=Lund |first9=Mellisa |last10=Dement |first10=Brittany |last11=Dufour |first11=Elise |date=2019-03-06 |title=A mass sacrifice of children and camelids at the Huanchaquito-Las Llamas site, Moche Valley, Peru |journal=PLOS ONE |language=en |volume=14 |issue=3 |pages=e0211691 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0211691 |issn=1932-6203 |pmc=6402755 |pmid=30840642|bibcode=2019PLoSO..1411691P |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Timoto-Cuica culture===
The [[Timoto-Cuicas]] offered human sacrifices. Until colonial times children sacrifice persisted secretly in [[Laguna de Urao]] ([[Mérida (state)|Mérida]]). It was described by the chronicler [[Juan de Castellanos]], who cited that feasts and human sacrifices were done in honour of [[Icaque]], an Andean prehispanic goddess.<ref>http://www.saber.ula.ve/bitstream/123456789/18495/1/articulo3.pdf De los timoto-cuicas a la invisibilidad del indigena andino y a su diversidad cultural</ref><ref>http://issuu.com/bnahem/docs/revista_digital_timoto_cuicas Timoto-Cuicas</ref>

==Ancient Near East==

[[File:Girl sawn asunder infant in jar.png|thumb|[[R A Stewart Macalister]] made claims about child sacrifice in pre-Israelite [[Gezer]].]]

===Tanakh===
The Tanakh mentions human sacrifice in the history of [[ancient Near Eastern]] practice. The king of [[Moab]] gives his firstborn son and heir as a whole burnt offering (''olah'', as used of the Temple sacrifice). In the book of the prophet [[Micah (prophet)|Micah]], the question is asked, 'Shall I give my firstborn for my sin, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?',<ref>{{bibleverse||Micah|6:7|HE}}</ref> and responded to in the phrase, 'He has shown all you people what is good. And what does Yahweh require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.'<ref>{{bibleverse||Micah|6:8|HE}}</ref> The Tanakh also implies that the [[Ammon (nation)|Ammonites]] offered child sacrifices to [[Moloch]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/daily-life-and-practice/first-person-human-sacrifice-to-an-ammonite-god/|title=First Person: Human Sacrifice to an Ammonite God?|date=2014-09-23|website=Biblical Archaeology Society|language=en|access-date=2019-10-11}}</ref>

According to scholars such as [[Otto Eissfeldt]], Paul G. Mosca, and [[Susan Ackerman (biblical scholar)|Susan Ackerman]], Moloch was not a name for a god, but instead is a word for a particular form of child sacrifice practiced in Israel and Judah which was not abandoned until the reforms of [[Josiah]].<ref name="Dewrell2017">{{cite book | first = Heath D. | last = Dewrell | date = 23 May 2017 | title = Child Sacrifice in Ancient Israel | publisher = Penn State Press | pages = 8–18 | isbn = 978-1-64602-201-4 | oclc = 1285169603 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UYlNEAAAQBAJ}}</ref> In the Tanakh mentions are made in books such as [[Books of Kings|Kings]], [[Leviticus]], and [[Book of Jeremiah|Jeremiah]] of children being given "to the ''mōlek''".{{sfn|Dewrell|2017|p=4-7}} According to [[Patrick D. Miller]] these child sacrifice traditions were not originally part of the Yahwism, but were instead foreign imports.{{sfn|Dewrell|2017|p=18-19}} [[Francesca Stavrakopoulou]] contradicts this, asserting that sacrifices were native to Israel and part of the royal line's attempts to perpetuate itself.{{sfn|Dewrell|2017|p=18-19}}

{{bibleref2|Exodus|22:28b-29}} states "The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me" potentially a demand by Yahweh that the firstborn children of the Israelites must be sacrificed to him.{{sfn|Dewrell|2017|p=72-74}}<ref name="Stavrakopoulou2012">{{cite book | first = Francesca | last = Stavrakopoulou | date = 24 October 2012 | title = King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice: Biblical Distortions of Historical Realities | publisher = Walter de Gruyter | pages = 179–181| isbn = 978-3-11-089964-1 | oclc = 1091457866 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kVQgAAAAQBAJ}}</ref> However, Yahweh forbids human sacrifice and, as in the Day of Atonement, Yahweh instituted substitutionary animal sacrifices for human sin and the redemption of the firstborn in Israelite families ([[Book of Exodus|Exodus]] 13:11-16). Yahweh also states to the prophet Jeremiah, “They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind,” (Jeremiah 7:31) indicating that it was viewed as an antithesis to the law and desire of Yahweh.

====Binding of Isaac====
{{main|Binding of Isaac}}
[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 028.png|thumbnail|In this depiction of the [[Binding of Isaac]] by [[Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld]], 1860, Abraham is shown not sacrificing Isaac.]]
Genesis 22 relates the [[binding of Isaac]], by Abraham to present his son, [[Isaac]], as a sacrifice on [[Moriah|Mount Moriah]]. It was a test of faith (Genesis 22:12). Abraham agrees to this command without arguing. The story ends with an [[angel]] stopping Abraham at the last minute and making Isaac's sacrifice unnecessary by providing a ram, caught in some nearby bushes, to be sacrificed instead. Later interpretations of the text have contradicted this version.  For example, [[Martin S. Bergmann]] states "The [[Aggadah]] rabbis asserted that "father Isaac was bound on the altar and reduced to ashes, and his sacrificial dust was cast on  [[Moriah|Mount Moriah]]."<ref name="Bergmann1992">{{cite book | first = Martin S. | last = Bergmann | date = 1992 | title = In the Shadow of Moloch: The Sacrifice of Children and Its Impact on Western Religions, Volume 10 | publisher = Columbia University Press | pages = 97 | isbn = 978-0-231-07248-9 | oclc = 1024062728 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=4DnL2ryuprYC&pg=PA97}}</ref> A similar interpretation was made in the [[Epistle to the Hebrews]].<ref name="Bergmann1992" /> [[Margaret Barker]] notes that "Abraham returned to [[Bersheeba]] without Isaac" according to {{bibleref2|Genesis|22:19}} a possible sign that he was indeed sacrificed.<ref name="Barker2012">{{cite book | first = Margaret | last = Barker | date = 27 September 2012 | title = The Mother of the Lord: Volume 1: The Lady in the Temple | publisher = Bloomsbury Publishing | pages = 131 | isbn = 978-0-567-37861-3 | oclc = 1075712859 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=jNzeBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA131}}</ref>  Barker also notes that wall paintings in the ancient [[Dura-Europos synagogue]] explicitly show Isaac being sacrificed, followed by his soul traveling to heaven.<ref name="Barker2012" /> According to [[Jon D. Levenson]] a part of Jewish tradition interpreted Isaac as having been sacrificed.<ref name="Morgan-Wynne2020">{{cite book | first = John Eifion | last = Morgan-Wynne | date = 22 May 2020 | title = Abraham in the New Testament | publisher = Wipf and Stock Publishers | pages = 186–187 | isbn = 978-1-72525-829-7 | oclc = 1159564269 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tgLtDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA186}}</ref> Similarly the German theologians {{ill|Christian Rose (theologian)|de|Christian Rose (Theologe)|vertical-align=sup|lt=Christan Rose}} and {{ill|Hans-Friedrich Weiß|de|vertical-align=sup}} maintain that due to the grammatical [[Perfect (grammar)|perfect tense]] used to describe Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac, he did, in fact, follow through with the action.<ref name="Morgan-Wynne2020" />

Rabbi A.I. Kook, first Chief Rabbi of Israel, stressed that the climax of the story, commanding Abraham not to sacrifice Isaac, is the whole point: to put an end to, and God's total aversion to the ritual of child sacrifice.<ref>"Olat Reiya", p. 93.</ref> According to Irving Greenberg the story of the [[binding of Isaac]], symbolizes the prohibition to worship God by [[human sacrifice]]s, at a time when human sacrifices were the norm worldwide.<ref>Irving Greenberg. 1988. The Jewish Way: Living the Holidays. New York : Summit Books. p.195.</ref>

====Ban in Leviticus====
{{See also|Textual variants in the Book of Leviticus#Leviticus 18}}
In Leviticus 18:21, 20:3 and Deuteronomy 12:30–31, 18:10, the [[Torah]] contains a number of imprecations against and laws forbidding child sacrifice and human sacrifice in general. The [[Tanakh]] denounces human sacrifice as barbaric customs of [[Baal]] worshippers (e.g. Psalms 106:37).
[[James Kugel]] argues that the Torah's specifically forbidding child sacrifice indicates that it happened in Israel as well.<ref>" It was not just among Israel's neighbours that child sacrifice was countenanced, but apparently within Israel itself. Why else would biblical law specifically forbid such things – and with such vehemence?" However, [[Chananya Goldberg]] argues that such a point is illogical - for if it were to be accepted, one would be forced to assume that, within Israel, people killed, stole and injured with impunity. [[James Kugel]] (2008). ''How to Read the Bible'', p. 131.</ref> The biblical scholar [[Mark S. Smith]] argues that the mention of "Tophet" in Isaiah 30:27–33 indicates an acceptance of child sacrifice in the early Jerusalem practices, to which the law in Leviticus 20:2–5 forbidding child sacrifice is a response.<ref>" Smith also cites Ezekiel 20:25–26 as an example of where Yahweh refers to "the sacrifice of every firstborn". These passages indicate that in the seventh-century child sacrifice was a Judean practice performed in the name of YHWH...In Isaiah 30:27–33 there is no offense taken at the Tophet, the precinct of child sacrifice. It would appear that the Jerusalemite cult included child sacrifice under Yahwistic patronage; it is this that Leviticus 20:2–5 deplores." [[Mark S. Smith]] (2002). ''The early history of God: Yahweh and the other deities in ancient Israel'', pp. 172–178.</ref> Some scholars have stated that at least some [[Israelites]] and Judahites believed child sacrifice was a legitimate religious practice.<ref>
* Susan Nidditch (1993). ''War in the Hebrew Bible: A Study in the Ethics of Violence'', Oxford University Press, p. 47. "While there is considerable controversy about the matter, the consensus over the last decade concludes that child sacrifice was a part of ancient Israelite religion to large segments of Israelite communities of various periods." However, no mainstream Jewish sources allow child-sacrifice, even in theory. All mainstream Jewish sources state, or imply, that such an act is abhorrent.
* [[Susan Ackerman (biblical scholar)|Susan Ackerman]] (1992). ''Under Every Green Tree: Popular Religion in Sixth-Century Judah'', Scholars Press, p. 137. "the cult of child sacrifice was felt in some circles to be a legitimate expression of Yawistic faith."
* Francesca Stavrakopoulou (2004). "King Manasseh and Child Sacrifice: Biblical Distortions of Historical Realities', p283. "Though the Hebrew Bible portrays child sacrifice as a foreign practice, several texts indicates that it was a native element of Judahite deity-worship."</ref>

====Numbers 31====
In the aftermath of the War against the Midianites narrated in [[Numbers 31]], the Israelites appear to be dedicating 32 captive Midianite virgin girls to be sacrificed to Yahweh as his share in the spoils of war.
{{Excerpt|Numbers 31#Fate of the 32 virgins}}

====Gehenna and Tophet====
{{main|Tophet}}
{{further |Moloch}}
The most extensive accounts of child sacrifice in the Hebrew Bible refer to those carried out in [[Gehenna]] by two kings of Judah, [[Ahaz]] and [[Manasseh of Judah]].<ref>Christopher B. Hays Death in the Iron Age II & in First Isaiah 2011 p181 "Efforts to show that the Bible does not portray actual child sacrifice in the Molek cult, but rather dedication to the god by fire, have been convincingly disproved. Child sacrifice is well attested in the ancient world, especially in times of crisis."</ref>

====Jephthah's daughter====
{{main|Jephthah|Jephthah's daughter}}
[[File:Schnorr von Carolsfeld Bibel in Bildern 1860 078.png|thumb|right|Jephthah sees his daughter in this 1860 woodcut by [[Julius Schnorr von Karolsfeld]]]]
In the [[Book of Judges]], chapter 11, the figure of [[Jephthah]] makes a vow to God, saying, "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering" (as worded in the [[New International Version]]). Jephthah succeeds in winning a victory, but when he returns to his home in [[Mizpah in Gilead (Judges)|Mizpah]] he sees his daughter, dancing to the sound of [[timbrel]]s, outside.  After allowing her two months preparation, Judges 11:39 states that Jephthah kept his vow. According to the [[meforshim|commentators of the rabbinic Jewish tradition]], Jepthah's daughter was not sacrificed but was forbidden to marry and remained a spinster her entire life, fulfilling the vow that she would be devoted to the Lord.<ref name="Radak-MD">[[David Kimhi|Radak]], [[Book of Judges]] 11:39; ''Metzudas Dovid'' ibid</ref> The 1st-century CE Jewish historian [[Flavius Josephus]], however, interpreted this to mean that Jephthah burned his daughter on Yahweh's altar,<ref>{{cite book|last=Brenner|first=Athalya|author-link=Athalya Brenner|title=Judges: a feminist companion to the Bible|year=1999|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-84127-024-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=De4itoIYD9oC&q=josephus++Jephthah++++burned++daughter+altar&pg=PA74|page=74}}</ref> whilst [[pseudo-Philo]], late first century CE, wrote that Jephthah offered his daughter as a burnt offering because he could find no sage in Israel who would cancel his vow. In other words, this story of human sacrifice is not an order or requirement by God, but the punishment for those who vowed to sacrifice humans.<ref>{{cite book|title=Women's Bible Commentary|first1=Carol Ann |last1=Newsom |first2=Sharon H. |last2=Ringe |first3=Jacqueline E. |last3=Lapsley |page=133|publisher=Westminster John Knox Press}}</ref>

===Phoenicia and Carthage===
[[File:Fenici, ricostruzione di un santuario con tofet, 360-260 ac ca. 05.jpg|thumb|The inscription on this Sardinian votive doesn't mention the sacrifice]]

{{See also|Punic religion|Tophet}}
The practice of child sacrifice among Canaanite groups is attested by numerous sources spanning over a millennium. One example is in the writings of [[Diodorus Siculus]]:

<blockquote>"They also alleged that Kronos had turned against them inasmuch as in former times they had been accustomed to sacrifice to this god the noblest of their sons, but more recently, secretly buying and nurturing children, they had sent these to the sacrifice; and when an investigation was made, some of those who had been sacrificed were discovered to have been substituted by stealth... In their zeal to make amends for the omission, they selected two hundred of the noblest children and sacrificed them publicly; and others who were under suspicion sacrificed themselves voluntarily, in number not less than three hundred. There was in the city a bronze image of Kronos, extending its hands, palms up and sloping towards the ground, so that each of the children when placed thereon rolled down and fell into a sort of gaping pit filled with fire. It is probable that it was from this that Euripides has drawn the mythical story found in his works about the sacrifice in Tauris, in which he presents Iphigeneia being asked by Orestes: "But what tomb shall receive me when I die? A sacred fire within, and earth's broad rift." Also the story passed down among the Greeks from ancient myth that Cronus did away with his own children appears to have been kept in mind among the Carthaginians through this observance." [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/20A*.html Library 20.14]</blockquote>

[[Plutarch]]:

<blockquote>"Again, would it not have been far better for the Carthaginians to have taken Critias or Diagoras to draw up their law-code at the very beginning, and so not to believe in any divine power or god, rather than to offer such sacrifices as they used to offer to Cronos? These were not in the manner that Empedocles describes in his attack on those who sacrifice living creatures: "Changed in form is the son beloved of his father so pious,Who on the altar lays him and slays him. What folly!" No, but with full knowledge and understanding they themselves offered up their own children, and those who had no children would buy little ones from poor people and cut their throats as if they were so many lambs or young birds; meanwhile the mother stood by without a tear or moan; but should she utter a single moan or let fall a single tear, she had to forfeit the money, and her child was sacrificed nevertheless; and the whole area before the statue was filled with a loud noise of flutes and drums so that the cries of wailing should not reach the ears of the people." [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A2008.01.0189%3Asection%3D13 Moralia 2, De Superstitione 3]</blockquote>

[[Plato]]:

<blockquote>"With us, for instance, human sacrifice is not legal, but unholy, whereas the Carthaginians perform it as a thing they account holy and legal, and that too when some of them sacrifice even their own sons to Cronos, as I daresay you yourself have heard." (Minos 315)</blockquote>

[[Theophrastus]]:

<blockquote>"And from then on to the present day they perform human sacrifices with the participation of all, not only in Arcadia during the Lykaia and in Carthage to Kronos, but also periodically, in remembrance of the customary usage, they spill the blood of their own kin on the altars, even though the divine law among them bars from the rites, by means of perirrhanteria and the herald's proclamation, anyone responsible for the shedding of blood in peacetime."<ref>Dennis Hughes, ''Human Sacrifice in Ancient Greece'', Taylor & Francis 2013, p116</ref></blockquote>

[[Sophocles]]:

<blockquote>". . . was chosen as a . . . sacrifice for the city. For from ancient times the barbarians have had a custom of sacrificing human beings to Kronos."</blockquote>

[[Quintus Curtius Rufus]]:

<blockquote>"Some even proposed renewing a sacrifice which had been discontinued for many years, and which I for my part should believe to be by no means pleasing to the gods, of offering a freeborn boy to Saturn —this sacrilege rather than sacrifice, handed down from their founders, the Carthaginians are said to have performed until the destruction of their city—and unless the elders, in accordance with whose counsel everything was done, had opposed it, the awful superstition would have prevailed over mercy. But necessity, more inventive than any art, introduced not only the usual means of defence, but also some novel ones." History of Alexander IV.III.23</blockquote>

[[Tertullian]]:

<blockquote>"In Africa infants used to be sacrificed to Saturn, and quite openly, down to the proconsulate of Tiberius, who took the priests themselves and on the very trees of their temple, under whose shadow their crimes had been committed, hung them alive like votive offerings on crosses; and the soldiers of my own country are witnesses to it, who served that proconsul in that very task. Yes, and to this day that holy crime persists in secret." Apology 9.2-3</blockquote>

[[File:Tunisie Néapolis musée 10.jpg|thumb|Child depicted, Tunisian figure ]]

[[Philo of Byblos]]:

<blockquote>"Among ancient peoples in critically dangerous situations it was customary for the rulers of a city or nation, rather than lose everyone, to provide the dearest of their children as a propitiatory sacrifice to the avenging deities. The children thus given up were slaughtered according to a secret ritual. Now Kronos, whom the Phoenicians call El, who was in their land and who was later divinized after his death as the star of Kronos, had an only son by a local bride named Anobret, and therefore they called him Ieoud. Even now among the Phoenicians the only son is given this name. When war’s gravest dangers gripped the land, Kronos dressed his son in royal attire, prepared an altar and sacrificed him."<ref>fragment in Eusebius, Praeparatio evangelica 1.10.44=4.16.11</ref></blockquote>

[[Lucian]]:

<blockquote>"There is another form of sacrifice here. After putting a garland on the sacrificial animals they hurl them down alive from the gateway and the animals die from the fall. Some even throw their children off the place, but not in the same manner as the animals. Instead, having laid them in a pallet, they drop them down by hand. At the same time they mock them and say that they are oxen, not children."{{sfn|Dewrell|2017|p=43}}</blockquote>

[[Cleitarchus]]:

<blockquote>"And Kleitarchos says the Phoenicians, and above all the Carthaginians, venerating Kronos, whenever they were eager for a great thing to succeed, made a vow by one of their children. If they would receive the desired things, they would sacrifice it to the god. A bronze Kronos, having been erected by them, stretched out upturned hands over a bronze oven to burn the child. The flame of the burning child reached its body until, the limbs having shriveled up and the smiling mouth appearing to be almost laughing, it would slip into the oven. Therefore the grin is called “sardonic laughter,” since they die laughing."{{sfn|Dewrell|2017|p=137}}</blockquote>

[[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]]:

<blockquote>"The Phoenicians too, in great disasters whether of wars or droughts, or plagues, used to sacrifice one of their dearest, dedicating him to Kronos. And the ‘Phoenician History,’ which Sanchuniathon wrote in Phoenician and which Philo of Byblos translated into Greek in eight books, is full of such sacrifices."<ref>Albert Baumgartner, ''The Phoenician History of Philo of Byblos: A Commentary'', Brill, 1981, p244</ref></blockquote>

At Carthage, a large cemetery exists that combines the bodies of both very young children and small animals, and those who assert child sacrifice have argued that if the animals were sacrificed, then so too were the children.<ref name="plosone.org">Skeletal Remains from Punic Carthage Do Not Support Systematic Sacrifice of Infants http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0009177</ref> Recent archaeology, however, has produced a detailed breakdown of the ages of the buried children and, based on this and especially on the presence of prenatal individuals – that is, [[still birth]]s – it is also argued that this site is consistent with burials of children who had died of natural causes in a society that had a high [[infant mortality rate]], as Carthage is assumed to have had. That is, the data support the view that Tophets were cemeteries for those who died shortly before or after birth.<ref name="plosone.org"/> Conversely, Patricia Smith and colleagues from the [[Hebrew University]] and [[Harvard University]] show from the teeth and skeletal analysis at the Carthage Tophet that infant ages at death (about two months) do not correlate with the expected ages of natural mortality (perinatal), apparently supporting the child sacrifice thesis.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Avishai|first1=Gal|last2=Greene|first2=Joseph A.|last3=Stager|first3=Lawrence E.|last4=Smith|first4=Patricia|date=2013|title=Cemetery or sacrifice? Infant burials at the Carthage Tophet: Age estimations attest to infant sacrifice at the Carthage Tophet|journal=Antiquity|language=en|volume=87|issue=338|pages=1191–1199|doi=10.1017/S0003598X00049954|s2cid=161040311|issn=1745-1744}}</ref>

Greek, Roman and Israelite writers refer to Phoenician child sacrifice. Skeptics suggest that the bodies of children found in Carthaginian and Phoenician cemeteries were merely the cremated remains of children that died naturally.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/phoenicians00mars|url-access=registration|quote=child sacrifice.|title=The Phoenicians|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|access-date=5 August 2015|isbn=9780761403098|last1=Marston|first1=Elsa|year=2001}}</ref> Sergio Ribichini has argued that the Tophet was "a child necropolis designed to receive the remains of infants who had died prematurely of sickness or other natural causes, and who for this reason were "offered" to specific deities and buried in a place different from the one reserved for the ordinary dead".<ref>Sergio Ribichini, "Beliefs and Religious Life" in Moscati, Sabatino (ed), ''The Phoenicians'', 1988, p.141</ref>

According to Stager and Wolff, in 1984, there was a consensus among scholars that Carthaginian children were sacrificed by their parents, who would make a vow to kill the next child if the gods would grant them a favor: for instance that their shipment of goods was to arrive safely in a foreign port.<ref>{{cite journal
| last = Stager
| first = Lawrence
|author2=Samuel. R. Wolff
| title = Child sacrifice in Carthage: religious rite or population control?
| journal = Journal of Biblical Archeological Review
| volume = January
| pages = 31–46
| year = 1984}}</ref>

===Pre-Islamic Arabia===
The [[Quran]] describes pagan Arabians sacrificing their children to idols.{{qref|6|137|b=y|s=y}}{{Primary source inline|date=June 2020}}

==Europe==
Archaeologist [[Peter Warren (archaeologist)|Peter Warren]] was involved in the [[British School at Athens]] excavation of [[Palekastro]] for one season and the excavation at [[Lefkandi]] for two seasons. Then he led the excavation at [[Fournou Korifi]], [[Myrtos]] from 1967 to 1968. During the 1980s, in two archaeology magazines, Warren wrote about "child sacrifice" despite there being no mention of this subject in the official excavation report, which was completed and published along with his book in 1972.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Warren |first=Peter |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1052134057 |title=Myrtos : an early Bronze Age settlement in Crete |date=1972 |publisher=British School of Archaeology at Athens/Thames and Hudson |isbn=0-500-42007-6 |oclc=1052134057}}</ref><ref>Rodney Castleden, Minoans. Life in Bronze Age Crete (illustrated by the author), London-New York, Routledge,pp. 170–173.</ref><ref>{{Cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8eIAgAAQBAJ&q=peter+warren+child+sacrifice&pg=PA172 |title = Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete|isbn = 9781134880645|last1 = Castleden|first1 = Rodney|date = 4 January 2002| publisher=Routledge }}</ref>
{{blockquote|Startling as it may seem, the available evidence so far points to an argument that the children were slaughtered and their flesh cooked and possibly eaten in a sacrifice ritual made in the service of a nature deity to assure an annual renewal of fertility.<ref>Peter Warren, "Knossos: New Excavations and Discoveries," Archaeology (July / August 1984), pp. 48–55.</ref><ref>Minoan Crete and Ecstatic Religion: Preliminary Observations on the 1979 Excavations at Knossos. Front Cover. Peter Warren. 1981</ref>}}

Rodney Castleden uncovered a sanctuary near Knossos where the remains of a 17-year-old were found.
{{blockquote|His ankles had evidently been tied and his legs folded up to make him fit on the table... He had been ritually murdered with the long bronze dagger engraved with a boar's head that lay beside him.<ref>Rodney Castleden, ''The Knossos Labyrinth: A New View of the "Palace of Minos" at Knossos'', 2012, pp. 121–22.</ref>}}

The [[Ver Sacrum]] is a religious practice of [[Ancient peoples of Italy|ancient Italic peoples]], especially the [[Sabelli]] (or [[Sabini]]) and their offshoot [[Samnites]]. The practice is related to that of ''[[Glossary of ancient Roman religion#devotio|devotio]]'' in [[Religion in ancient Rome|Roman religion]]. It was customary to resort to it at times of particular danger or strife for the community. Some scholars believe that in earlier times ''devoted'' or vowed children were actually [[Human sacrifice|sacrificed]], but later expulsion was substituted. [[Dionysius of Halicarnassus]] states the practice of child sacrifice was one of the causes that brought about the fall of the [[Pelasgians]] in Italy.

The human children who had been ''devoted'' were required to leave the community in early adulthood, at 20 or 21 years of age. They were entrusted to a god for protection, and led to the border with a veiled face. Often they were led by an animal under the auspices of the god. As a group, the youth were called ''sacrani'' and were supposed to enjoy the protection of Mars until they had reached their destination, expelled the inhabitants or forced them into submission, and founded their own settlement. The [[Waldensians]], a medieval sect deemed heretical, were accused of participating in child sacrifice.<ref name="Tice Wickliffe 2003 p. 19">{{cite book | last1=Tice | first1=P. | last2=Wickliffe | first2=H.J.T.L. | title=History of the Waldenses: From the Earliest Period to the Present Time | publisher=Book Tree | year=2003 | isbn=978-1-58509-099-0 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3v-YdBOpt0C&pg=PP19 | access-date=2023-02-27 | page=19}}</ref>

==Africa==
{{Further|Witchcraft accusations against children in Africa}}

===South Africa===

The continued murder within Black communities of children of all ages, for body parts with which to make [[muti]], for purposes of witchcraft, still occurs in South Africa. [[Muti murders]] occur throughout South Africa, especially in rural areas. Traditional healers or witch doctors often grind up body parts and combine them with roots, herbs, seawater, animal parts, and other ingredients to prepare potions and spells for their clients.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Vincent|first1=Louise|title=New magic for new times: muti murder in democratic South Africa|journal=Studies of Tribes and Tribals|date=2008|volume=Special Volume No. 2|pages=43–53|url=http://www.krepublishers.com/06-Special%20Volume-Journal/S-T%20&%20T-00-Special%20Volumes/T%20&%20T-SV-02-Hlth-Nut-Problems-Web/T%20&%20T-SV-02-043-08-05-Vincent-Louise/T%20&%20T-SV-02-043-08-05-Vincent-Louise-Tt.pdf|access-date=31 October 2015}}</ref>

===Uganda===

{{Main|Child sacrifice in Uganda}}

In the early 21st century Uganda has experienced a revival of child sacrifice. In spite of government attempts to downplay the issue, an investigation by the [[BBC]] into human sacrifice in [[Uganda]] found that ritual killings of children are more common than Ugandan authorities admit.<ref>[[Tim Whewell]], [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/newsnight/8441813.stm "Witch-doctors reveal extent of child sacrifice in Uganda"], BBC News, 7 January 2010</ref> There are many indicators that politicians and politically connected wealthy businessmen are involved in sacrificing children in practice of traditional religion, which has become a commercial enterprise.<ref>Rogers, Chris 2011. Where child sacrifice is a business, BBC News Africa (11 October):  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15255357#story_continues_1</ref>

==See also==
* [[Child cannibalism]]
* [[Early infanticidal childrearing]]
* [[Human sacrifice]]
* [[Infanticide]]
* [[Religious abuse]]
* [[Religious violence]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|Child-Sacrifice among European Witches}}
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928130439/http://www.ugpulse.com/articles/daily/news.asp?about=Child%20survives%20sacrifice&ID=7046 11/04/2008 Child survives sacrifice in Uganda ''UGPulse.com'']
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060907102900/http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/classics/history/bronze_age/lessons/les/15.html#20 Minoan Child Sacrifice]

[[Category:Child sacrifice| ]]
[[Category:Religion and violence]]
[[Category:Gehenna]]
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