Throwing Virgins into the Sea and Other Ways to Appease the Gods

The Ancient Reasons behind Virgin Sacrifice                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 [Open in app]( or [online]() [Throwing Virgins into the Sea and Other Ways to Appease the Gods]( The Ancient Reasons behind Virgin Sacrifice Jun 7   [Share](   [Andromeda Chained to the Rock by the Nereids]( When the going got tough, it was believed sacrificing a virgin to the gods—by throwing them into the sea, burying them alive, or leaving them for hungry monsters—was the best plan. Virgin sacrifice could be done for a number of widely accepted reasons: from winning a war, to appeasing an angry deity, or merely to protect architecture. For a time, the practice seemed to be widely recognized as many cultures show traces of virgin sacrifice in their mythologies and religious texts. [The Ancient Egyptians throwing a Virgin into the Nile, 1884]( The Ancient Egyptians throwing a Virgin into the Nile, 1884 ([Public Domain]( Gods are Listening: Hasty Promises You Shouldn’t Have Made In Homeric legend, Iphigeneia was to be sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to appease Artemis so she would allow the Greeks to wage the Trojan War. An example of a virgin sacrifice is also mentioned in the Bible—the sacrifice of Jephthah’s daughter in Judges 11, in which Jephthah vows to sacrifice to God whatever or whoever comes to greet him at the door when he returns home if he is victorious. In the Book of Judges 11:31 in which Jephthah says, “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." Unfortunately, when Jephthah returns from battle, it’s his virgin daughter who comes out of his door to greet him. [Jephthah’s Daughter (Public Domain)]( Jephthah’s Daughter ([Public Domain]( In the 18th-century, French philosopher Voltaire noted the similarities between Jepththah and the Greek mythological general, Idomeneus, who asked the gods to calm a storm by promising that he would sacrifice the first living thing he saw upon his return. The first living thing turned out to be his young son. [The return of Idomeneus (Lena/CC BY 3.0)]( The return of Idomeneus (Lena/[CC BY 3.0]( According to Pliny the Elder, human sacrifice in Ancient Rome was abolished by a senatorial decree in 97 BCE, although by this time the practice had already become so rare that the decree was mostly a symbolic act. The Vedic Purushamedha ("human sacrifice") was already a purely symbolic act in its earliest records. This was then followed by a period of embarrassment about violence in rituals of this sort as this period corresponds to the rise of Buddhism and Jainism, both of which place emphasis on ahimsa (“non-violence”). This period also corresponds to the composition of the Chandogya Upanishad (c. 8 - 6 BCE) which lists non-violence as a virtue. - [Vestal Virgins: The Pious Maidens of Ancient Rome]( - [Lost in Translation? Understandings and Misunderstandings about the Ancient Practice of “Sacred Prostitution”]( - [Why Did Early Human Societies Practice Violent Human Sacrifice?]( - [1,200-Year-Old Ceremonial Temple with Six Female Sacrifice Victims Unearthed in Peru]( The Japanese Yasiitomi-ki, a diary of the fifteenth century CE, contains an old tradition called Hitobashira ("human pillar") in which maidens were buried alive at the base or near some constructions to protect the buildings against disasters or enemy attacks. Of course, the question of why there would be any need to sacrifice a virgin at all is a rather difficult one to answer as we are only left with traces of this practice. However, the information we have may help us to understand the reason behind it. Tame the Ocean and Save the Village: The Maiden & The Hero Queen Cassiopeia was known as the beautiful wife of King Cepheus. One day, she boasted that her daughter, Andromeda, was far more beautiful than the fifty Nereids, sea nymphs, daughters of Nereus (the old man of the sea) and Doris. This boast angered Poseidon, who was married to Amphrite, the eldest of the Nereids. Poseidon had the sea monster, Cetus destroy the city where Andromeda lived with the king and queen. Cetus’ task was to wreak havoc in his pursuit and to not stop until the city was in shambles. The only way to stop Cetus was to sacrifice Andromeda to him. King Cepheus obeyed Poseidon and chained his daughter to a rock to save the land. [Andromeda and Perseus (Public Domain)]( Andromeda and Perseus ([Public Domain]( However, the hero Perseus killed Cetus, freed Andromeda from the chain and took her back to her land. He eventually married her and they settled in Tiryns in Mycenae where they had seven sons and one daughter together. Legend has it that his children went on to be the rulers of Mycenae until the civilization’s ultimate decline. In Japan, Kojiki ("Records of Ancient Things," completed 712 CE) has a similar story of Orochi, a monstrous eight-forked serpent that devoured seven maidens every year. On the eighth year, the heroic storm god Susanoo cut the serpent to pieces when he rescued the maiden, the rice goddess Kushinadahime. Like Andromeda, Kushinadahime also became the wife of her rescuer. [Susanoo slaying the Yamata-no-Orochi ca. 1870s (Public Domain)]( Susanoo slaying the Yamata-no-Orochi ca. 1870s ([Public Domain]( I Volunteer as Tribute: Self-Sacrifice However, although the more popular myths involve a maiden being rescued by a hero, the opposite version also exists. A similar narrative concerning Tachibana-hime is recorded in the same book. In this story, when Prince Yamatodake was crossing the sea to subjugate a revolt in the east, his boat was nearly capsized by a sudden storm. Believing it to be a punishment upon them by the sea god, Tachibana-hime, the prince’s consort, threw herself into the ocean to calm the agitation of the waves, thus saving the life of the prince, and leaving him free to fight the revolt. The Monstrous Monkey and the Secret in the Chest The Konjaku Monogatari compiled by Minamoto Kunitaka in the eleventh century CE, contained the oldest written account of a long tradition of virgin sacrifices which are said to have been offered to monstrous monkeys. There were, once upon a time, two deities, Chusan and Koya, in the province of Mimasaku in Japan. The body of the Chusan deity was a monkey and the body of the Koya deity was a serpent. Every year, a virgin was selected from among the inhabitants of the province to be offered to them. One time, there was a beautiful maiden extremely beloved by her parents. However, the maiden was selected as a victim for the next year's festival. Therefore, in accordance to the tradition, she was given special nourishment to fatten her up on the day of the festival. A hunter came to this province bringing many dogs which he trained to bite animals to death. This man heard about the maiden and called upon her parents. He heard their lamentation and proposed to save their daughter from her death. On the day of the festival, a Shinto priest visited the house, bringing with him a large chest in which the maiden was to lock herself. Instead, the hunter secretly entered the chest, armed with a sharp sword and two of his dogs. Escorted by many, the chest was carried to the shrine. After the strings were cut off, it was left there as a sacrifice to the monkey. After a while, the hunter pushed up the cover of the chest a little and found a giant, eight-feet-tall monkey. The monkey came to the chest and opened the cover. At this moment, the hunter jumped out of the chest and, with help from his dogs, overpowered the beast. At the same time, a revelation was made to the Shinto priest who had brought the chest, saying, "I (the monkey) need no more human sacrifices from now on, so come and deliver me from death." The priest and others rushed into the shrine and told the hunter about the revelation. After they implored him to let the monkey go, the hunter gave the monkey back his freedom. As the monkey ran to the hills, the hunter went back to the maiden’s house and married her. Victims of the Gods: Erachtheus, His Daughter, and their Civic Duties to the City Erechtheus is known as early as the Iliad, where we learn that Athena settled him in her own temple on the Acropolis where he received annual sacrifice of bulls and rams. According to Herodotus, Erechtheus and Athena were worshipped in close connection. The story of Erechtheus' victory over Eumolpos, the first outside aggressor to launch an attack on Athens, is known from Thucydides who tells us that the towns of Attica used to be independent of the king and even made war upon him, as Eumolpos and the Eleusinians did against Erechtheus. Eumolpos was motivated by a desire to settle his father Poseidon's claim upon Attica as his own land. While the story of Erechtheus and Eumolpos is known from many sources, it is the orator Lycurgus who informs us of the centrality of the myth within the consciousness of the Athenians by quoting the speech of Erechtheus's wife, Praxithea, in Euripides’ play who recounts how her daughter will be sacrificed to save Athens. [Temples of Erechtheus and Minerva Polias, 1829. (Public Domain)]( Temples of Erechtheus and Minerva Polias, 1829. ([Public Domain]( Euripides' play is set in the heroic past when the city was threatened by Eumolpos, who claimed possession of Attica and rallied a large force of Thracians to help him take it. Eumolpos was the son of Poseidon. Poseidon, at this time, was still bitter at losing the patronage of Athens to Athena whose gift of an olive tree bested his offering of a sea spring. Erechtheus and Eumolpos found themselves continuing the rivalries of the divine older generation of Athena and Poseidon. Erechtheus consulted the oracle at Delphi to learn how he might protect Athens from the impending siege. He was told that he must sacrifice one of his daughters to save the city. However, Erechtheus’ three daughters had made an oath that if one sister should die the others would die as well. Erechtheus shared the bad news with his wife, Praxithea, who made the stirring speech quoted by Lycurgus: “The ruin of one person's house is of less consequence and brings less grief than that of the whole city. If there were a harvest of sons in our house rather than daughters and a hostile flame were engulfing the city, would I not have sent my sons into battle, fearing for their death? ... I hate women who in preference to the common good, choose for their own children to live.” This is a very telling speech as it relates to Andromeda and Kushinadahime’s role as the “saviors” of their homes and cities through their sacrifices. - [Age of the Gods: Japanese Creation Stories and the Descendants of Deities]( - [When it Rained Blood in Northern Peru: The Mystical, Macabre, and Mysterious Moche Sacrifice Ceremony]( - [Suttee: Deadly Ancient Lessons on How to be a ‘Good Wife’ and a ‘Redeemed Widow’]( In the end, Erechtheus sacrificed his daughter. The battle ensued and, as promised by the oracle, the Athenians were victorious although Erechtheus himself died, swallowed up by a chasm caused by Poseidon. The way in which the other two daughters die is not preserved in the surviving fragments, but it is clear that they kept their oath and died as well. Well-Dressed and Sacrificed: The Coming of Age of Ancient Maidens Greek tragedy gives us a number of examples in which virgins are sacrificed—most of these virgins were of noble birth as they are often daughters of the king sacrificed to ensure victory in war. Also with remarkable frequency, their death scenes include details concerning their dresses. Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia to enable the Greek fleet to set sail from Aulis to Troy. The lines in Aeschylus's Agamemnon (lines 228-43) describes Iphigeneia as being “wrapped round in her robes". The lines that follow discussed Iphigeneia's saffron robe "falling to the ground." In Euripides' version of the story, Iphigeneia at Aulis, Iphigeneia, thinking she was on her way to her wedding, was dressed as a bride. Although Iphigeneia first begged for her life, she later went willingly to be sacrificed, reminding her distraught mother that in doing so she would save Greece. "You bore me for all the Greeks, not yourself alone", she said—reiterating the sentiment of Praxithea that, just as boys go to war, girls get sacrificed, both for the good of the polis. [The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia (Public Domain)]( The Sacrifice of Iphigeneia ([Public Domain]( This would have also explained to us the preoccupation towards the virgin’s dress. The virgin sacrifice would have been seen as somewhat of a “rite of passage” in the time of war. Where boys became men by donning their military gear and dedicating their young lives to their polis, girls became women by dressing for their sacrifice—also for their polis. Euripides first took up the theme of human sacrifice in his Herakleidai, where a virgin must be sacrificed to save Athens from the forces of Argos. Makaria, daughter of Herakles, volunteered. She reasoned that if the Athenian soldiers were willing to die on her behalf she should be ready to die on theirs. The death of Polyxena, daughter of King Priam, was treated in Euripides' Hecuba and in Sophocles' lost Polyxena. In Hecuba, Polyxena offered Neoptolemos the choice of cutting her chest, as he would kill a man, or slitting her throat, like he would sacrifice an animal. A sixth-century BCE Tyrrhenian amphora shows Polyxena in the course of being sacrificed where she is wrapped with her arms inside an elaborately woven robe. Here, the iconography of virgin sacrifice seems to borrow from the iconography of animal sacrifice as shown on a black figure amphora in Viterbo. Just as the bull is carried horizontally by a group of men and slit at the throat, so Polyxena was hoisted horizontally and cut across the neck. We are reminded of the action described in the Agamemnon for the sacrifice of Iphigeneia in which the maiden is raised "as a kid, above the altar." [Neoptolemus sacrificing Polyxena after the capture of Troy. Attic black-figure Tyrrhenian amphora, ca. 570-550 BC. (Marie-Lan Nguyen/CC BY 2.5)]( Neoptolemus sacrificing Polyxena after the capture of Troy. Attic black-figure Tyrrhenian amphora, ca. 570-550 BC. (Marie-Lan Nguyen/[CC BY 2.5]( [Martini Fisher ]( a Mythographer and author of many books, including “[Time Maps: Australia, Early Sea Voyages and Invasions](. For regular updates about Martini’s books, interviews, courses, and blog, check out [MartiniFisher.com]( -- Top Image: Andromeda Chained to the Rock by the Nereids ([Public Domain]( By [Martini Fisher](   [Like]( [Comment]( [Restack](   © 2023 Ancient Origins 6 Abbey Business Park, Baldoyle Industrial Estate, Baldoyle, Dublin 13, D13N738, Ireland [Unsubscribe]() [Start writing]()