Human sacrifice: Did you mean...?

This map illustrates the early global migrations of Homo sapiens—our species’ remarkable journey from Africa to every inhabitable continent. Tracing movements that began over hundreds of thoussands of years ago, it highlights how small bands...

The tophet (also topheth) was a sacred precinct usually located outside cities where sacrifices and burials were made, especially of young children, in rituals of the Phoenician and then Carthaginian religion. The tophet is the most evident...

Artist's impression of an animal sacrifice. In most cultures around the ancient Mediterranean, including Greece and Rome, animals were frequently sacrificed as an offering to the gods. The gods were believed to feast upon the smells of the...

The Mayan religious text, the Popol Vuh (known by many names, among them, The Light That Came From Beside The Sea) is the Quiche Maya story of creation translated into Spanish in the early 18th century CE by the missionary Francisco Ximenez...

Fourth Style fresco depicting the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii. 1st century CE. (Naples National Archaeological Museum) Iphigenia is dragged to the altar as a sacrificial offering to Artemis. On either...

The bronze panel showing Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac by the Italian Renaissance artist and architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446 CE). The panel was created in 1401 CE as a trial piece for the competition to see who would receive the...

Andromeda being tied for sacrifice. Apulian red-figure vase, attributed to the Sisyphus Group, c. 430-420 BCE. National Archaeological Museum of Taranto.

A scene depicting a bird sacrifice, a common practice in the Phoenician religion from the sarcophagus of Ahiram, king of Byblos, 10th century BCE. Beirut National Museum.

A panel from the east doors of Florence’s Baptistery of San Giovanni. Made from 1425 CE by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1378-1455 CE). Gilded bronze. This panel shows the angels appearing before Abraham and the sacrifice of Isaac. The artist Michelangelo...

The Self-Sacrifice of a Father, painting by Jacques Sablet, second half of the 18th century. Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.