• Human sacrifices in the Greco-Roman world

  • Jul 1 2024
  • Length: 12 mins
  • Podcast

Human sacrifices in the Greco-Roman world

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  • The last thing that comes to mind when we think of human sacrifices perpetrated for magical-religious purposes is Rome itself: the cradle of civilization, military art, hydraulic engineering, etc. Maybe it is easier to think of the pre-Columbian aborigines who chopped off heads and then threw them from the stepped pyramids, yet, even in the history of the Italian peninsula there are testimonies of ritual, propitiatory sacrifices to obtain divine favor. Pliny the Elder, a very important Roman author whose work can be considered a true encyclopedia of period knowledge, tells us about it. These are his words:“It was only in the year 657 of the city of Rome, during the consulate of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Licinius Crassus, that a senatusconsultum was held, so that no man would be sacrificed again. It is therefore clear that until then monstrous sacrifices were made.”The year 657 of the city of Rome, mentioned by Pliny, corresponds to 97 BC for us. Because the way of counting the years was different. The Romans in the Republican era measured time starting from the origin of Rome, dated 753 BC. We, instead, start counting after the birth of Christ. Maybe it's a bit confusing, but do not bother so much. I'm do the counting for you.So, according to Pliny, it took 657 years to achieve the abolition of such a bloody practice, a requirement for us today, indispensable in a civil society. But what do we know about these sacrifices that occurred in Ancient Rome?
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