The ancient people offered their sacrifices to the gods

The ancient Carthaginians sacrificed newborn babies and animals to express their gratitude to the gods.

The ancient Carthaginians offered their children as sacrifices

According to Guaradian, in the early 20th century, archaeologists discovered a special cemetery called Tophet in Carthage, Tunisia and many other Carthaginian sites in Sicily and Sardinia. The tomb contains cremated ashes of cremation lying underneath the stele thanking the gods. One of the carvings on the stele is understood as a priest holding a child.

A special cemetery used to bury babies is in a suburb of Carthage, Tunisia.(Photo: Josephine Quinn)

Ancient Greek and Roman missionaries said that the Carthaginians killed their offspring, buried them with sacrificial animals in the special cemetery to show gratitude to the gods. The Bible describes the child sacrifice for the Baal god , which was worshiped in Carthage civilization. A recent study suggests that this is true.

"The problem is considered bad propaganda, because in modern times people do not want to believe it ," said Josephine Quinn, an ancient history lecturer at Oxford University, England, who proposed the study.

"When linking all archaeological evidence, ancient and literary together, it is too overwhelming. We have a basis to conclude that they killed the offspring. Based on the writing written on the tombstone, this is not just is a sacrifice to be blessed by gods, but also a commitment to repay first. "

" Child sacrifice is not an ordinary event. Cremation is a burial ritual that happens only in the aristocracy because it is very expensive. Cremation is even considered a public act for the whole community, "Quinn said.

Quinn and a group of Italian and Dutch archaeologists and historians announced their findings in last year's Antiquity magazine, rejecting the earlier hypothesis that either an uterus or an infant represents a heart. regret of the ancient Carthaginian.

Although there are hundreds of remains found, it is too little to represent all cases of infant deaths and stillbirths in Carthage. According to Quinn, there will be about 25 such tombs a year for a city of 500,000 people.

The inscriptions on the tombstones are very clear. Many times researchers found an explanation on it saying "the spirit heard my voice and blessed me" . In addition, the cemetery also has the same burial animals, sometimes in pitchers with children's bones.

Roman historian Diodorus said some people buy children from the poor and raise them to sacrifice animals, because they don't want to sacrifice their own children.

Quinn said many colleagues were stunned by the results of the study. " The feeling of taboos being broken is very strong. When I ask about my research, my colleagues are often shocked, shocked and say, 'Oh no, there's no way that could be wrong. already."

"We like to think that we are very close to the ancient world - that they really are like us. I'm afraid the truth is not that, they are very different from us," Quinn concluded.