Death Through Sacrifice :: Greek Culture Traditions Papers

Death Through Sacrifice Death is one of the most terrible things we humans have to go through. Where do we go after death? Is there a Hell or a Heaven? These are questions that still remain without answers. Since remote times, men have wondered about this, but not even technology has helped us to find answers. Some people are said to have answers; it is true they do have answers, but answers that mainly fix their religious beliefs. Almost all religions have a theory about death, but they vary from one to another, and sometimes the difference is big. But have we ever wondered: How long have cultures and religions proposed theories for life after death? The answer is, since millions of years ago. If we go to ancient cultures, like the Greek or the Aztec cultures, we can recognize their theories to be really close to our own. The idea that there is a hell and a heaven, and after death you are judged --if you were good during your life you go to heaven; if not, you are punished in hell-- still remains in present cultures. Even though the theories may have many similarities, there are a few aspects related to death in ancient culture that we see as obsolete and horrifying. An example of this is sacrifice. In today?s society, sacrifice is not legal, and it is considered cruel and barbarian. This is the way most people view animal sacrifices because we do not even consider human sacrifices to be possible. In ancient cultures, both animal and human sacrifices were normal. For many cultures it was an absolute necessity for human survival because if food was not offered to the gods then they could not keep the world going. If we analyze some of the oldest cultures like Greece and the Aztecs, we can see that even though they both practiced sacrifices, the way they did it and to what extent, varies considerably. For example, the Greek practice both animal and human sacrifices, but not so often; while in the other hand, the Aztecs practiced mainly human sacrifices and very often. The Greeks have a long history with sacrifices: "We see in Greece a society in which the basic ritual acts in daily practice are of a sacrificial type. For nearly ten centuries, guided by immutable cultic statutes, the Greeks never failed to maintain relations with the divine power through the highly ritualized killing of animal victim, whose flesh was consumed collectively according to precise strictures" (Detienne and Vernant 1).