Human Sacrifice List
A viewset for viewing and editing Human Sacrifices.
GET /api/rt/human-sacrifices/?format=api&page=8
{ "count": 357, "next": null, "previous": "https://seshat-db.com/api/rt/human-sacrifices/?format=api&page=7", "results": [ { "id": 453, "polity": { "id": 144, "name": "jp_yayoi", "long_name": "Kansai - Yayoi Period", "start_year": -300, "end_year": 250 }, "year_from": -300, "year_to": 249, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": true, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Human_sacrifice", "human_sacrifice": "P", "comment": "Various later stories and myths refer to HS in the Yayoi period, e.g. the self-sacrifice of Prince Yamato-takeru’s concubine to avert a storm. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SF4WRPAW\">[Kidder 2007, p. 146]</a> The Nihon shoki (Chronicles of Japan, early eighth century) asserts that the haniwa clay figurines deposited in elite tombs are substitutes for human sacrificial victims, and dates the abolition of retainer sacrifice to the reign of the semi-legendary Emperor Suinin (r. 29 BCE–70 CE in the conventional dating). <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/MJY97SY3\">[Triplett 2019, p. 165]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SF4WRPAW\">[Kidder 2007, p. 304]</a> Likewise, the Wei zhi, a third-century CE Chinese historical text, claims that over 100 servants were killed to accompany Queen Himiko in death (retainer HS). <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SF4WRPAW\">[Kidder 2007, p. 304]</a> Himiko ruled in the mid-third century CE, probably in Kansai. The Wei zhi also refers to the Japanese custom of taking an extra person on sea voyages, who would be thrown overboard when stormy weather threatened to sink the ship. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/688UREJF\">[Bremmer_Harimoto 2007, p. 233]</a> Harimoto thinks this is credible, and the practice can be seen as a kind of small-scale emergency HS. The fact that the sacrifice of humans during funerals was officially prohibited in 646 CE, and the sacrifice of widows banned in 833 CE, also indicates that HS may have taken place earlier in the historical sequence. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/688UREJF\">[Bremmer_Harimoto 2007, p. 235]</a> Iles and Kidder believe that aside from possible rare occurrences, HS was not practiced (Timothy Iles, pers. comm. to Jenny Reddish, June 2021) <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SF4WRPAW\">[Kidder 2007, pp. 140-146]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SF4WRPAW\">[Kidder 2007, p. 304]</a> On balance, we have coded for scholarly disagreement: the later literary evidence is suggestive, and isolated instances of elite-sanctioned HS would still point towards a present code, but some authors are sceptical and we know of no archaeological evidence for HS in the period.", "description": "" }, { "id": 454, "polity": { "id": 146, "name": "jp_asuka", "long_name": "Asuka", "start_year": 538, "end_year": 710 }, "year_from": 538, "year_to": 710, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": true, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Human_sacrifice", "human_sacrifice": "P", "comment": "Buddhism, which prohibited both human and animal sacrifice, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JYBZZEYQ\">[Schmidt-Leukel 2006, p. 64]</a> was gaining influence in Japan during this period. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2PB6XZJP\">[Mitsusada_Brown 2008]</a> The sacrifice (including self-sacrifice) of humans during funerals was officially prohibited in 646 CE, but records suggest that it continued even after this point. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/688UREJF\">[Bremmer_Harimoto 2007, p. 235]</a> It was still apparently necessary in 833 to forbid the practice of killing widows after the husband’s death. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/688UREJF\">[Bremmer_Harimoto 2007, p. 235]</a> There is also a possibility that low-status people were sacrificed to the kami. Wooden tallies found close to Fujiwara record the killing of two female slaves in 705 CE in order to appeal to Shin-ryū-ō, a dragon deity, to lower the water level. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SF4WRPAW\">[Kidder 2007, p. 147]</a> However, Kidder notes that there is no record of floods in 705, so this account may not be reliable. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/SF4WRPAW\">[Kidder 2007, p. 147]</a>", "description": "" }, { "id": 455, "polity": { "id": 424, "name": "cn_wei_dyn_warring_states", "long_name": "Early Wei Dynasty", "start_year": -445, "end_year": -225 }, "year_from": -445, "year_to": -225, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Human_sacrifice", "human_sacrifice": "P", "comment": "HS was still practiced in the Warring States period, but popular opinion seemed to be shifting against it and funerary HS on the deaths of elites became less common. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/X5TGJFA6\">[Ebrey 1997]</a> The Zho Zhuan, a historical narrative written in the late fourth century BCE, offers a critique of HS. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/L74GVN4B\">[Lewis 1990, p. 27]</a> The Warring States period also saw the rise of the Hundred Schools of Thought, which included Mohism and Confucianism. Mozi believed that human sacrifice was not a necessary factor in balancing the relationship between humans and the heavens. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/DCV7XFSC\">[Puett 2002, p. 104]</a> Confucians spoke out against human sacrifice and the practice of “following in death”. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/2GMIXP2K\">[Ter_Haar_Cioni 2016]</a> Rationalist official Ximen Bao of the state of Wei stopped the custom of sacrificing girls to the god of the Yellow River. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/PQ9MZUML\">[Needham 1954, p. 137]</a> However, the presence of critics of HS like the Confucians and Ximen Bao highlights the fact that it was still practiced. War captives were sacrificed until the end of the Han Dynasty. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/7VVV7SGQ\">[interview_Seshat North China Workshop]</a>", "description": "" }, { "id": 456, "polity": { "id": 544, "name": "it_venetian_rep_3", "long_name": "Republic of Venice III", "start_year": 1204, "end_year": 1563 }, "year_from": 1205, "year_to": 1563, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Human_sacrifice", "human_sacrifice": "A", "comment": "Christian polity; HS not practiced.", "description": "" }, { "id": 457, "polity": { "id": 778, "name": "in_east_india_co", "long_name": "British East India Company", "start_year": 1757, "end_year": 1858 }, "year_from": 1757, "year_to": 1858, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Human_sacrifice", "human_sacrifice": "A", "comment": "Islam, which strongly proscribes HS, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4FFR7BN9\">[Sherwood 2004, pp. 831-832]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JLKJGGQW\">[Watts_Eberhart 2011]</a> , continued to be influential in South Asia. Hinduism also present. British officials sometimes saw one of their roles as suppressing HS among certain Indian populations, but there is limited evidence that it actually took place: it may have been a convenient justification of their rule. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/XET9K5WD\">[Bates_Bates 2006]</a>", "description": "" }, { "id": 458, "polity": { "id": 358, "name": "sa_rashidun_dyn", "long_name": "Yemen Hijaz", "start_year": 632, "end_year": 661 }, "year_from": 632, "year_to": 661, "tag": "TRS", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Human_sacrifice", "human_sacrifice": "A", "comment": "Islam strongly proscribes HS. <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/4FFR7BN9\">[Sherwood 2004, pp. 831-832]</a>, <a class=\"fw-bold\" href=\"https://www.zotero.org/groups/1051264/seshat_databank/items/JLKJGGQW\">[Watts_Eberhart 2011]</a>", "description": "" }, { "id": 460, "polity": { "id": 506, "name": "gr_macedonian_emp", "long_name": "Macedonian Empire", "start_year": -330, "end_year": -312 }, "year_from": null, "year_to": null, "tag": "IFR", "is_disputed": false, "is_uncertain": false, "name": "Human_sacrifice", "human_sacrifice": "A", "comment": "HS was not practiced within Hellenistic cultures ( Jennifer Larson, pers. comm. to Enrico Cioni, 2016).", "description": "" } ] }