(urth) Soldier of Sidon writeup
David Stockhoff
dstockhoff at verizon.net
Mon Apr 2 17:55:53 PDT 2018
Expanding on my comments of yesterday (apologies if they were
long-winded), because I find the topic fascinating and relevant to the
Christian syncretistic theme.
Marc goes on to quote Herodotus about the Scythians' human sacrifices to
Ares:
">[62] … [I]n Ares’ case things are different. In every district, within
each province, a sanctuary has been constructed to Ares. … Bundles of
sticks are piled together into a block about three stades by three
stades wide, but not so high off the ground. … Each year they add a
hundred and fifty cart-loads of sticks, to make up for the subsidence
caused by the winter’s storms. On top of this structure the inhabitants
of each district plan an ancient iron *akinakes* [a small, straight
sword of Scythia and Persia], which is taken to represent Ares. The
festival takes place once a year, and at it they offer this *akinakes*
more domestic animals and horses as sacrificial victims than all the
other gods receive. They also sacrifice prisoners of war to this
*akinakes*, though the method is different from when domestic animals
are the victims. One prisoner in every hundred is selected; they pour
wine over the prisoners’ heads, cut their throats so that the blood
spills into a jar, and then carry the jars up on to the pile of sticks
and pour the blood over the *akinakes*. While the jars are being taken
up there, something else is happening down below, by the side of the
sanctuary: they cut off the right arms of all the slaughtered men – the
whole arm, from shoulder to hand – and hurl them into the air. Then they
sacrifice all the rest of the victims and leave. The arms are left lying
wherever they fall, detached from the corpses. (255)"
One can't help but notice that there are really only two slight but very
deliberate---and almost illogical---differences between the sacrifices
of animals and these humans. I say "illogical" because it seems easier
to simply kill the victim directly with the sacred sword, as Elric would
wield Stormbringer. But:
(1) Wine is poured on the victim's head. Maybe this is in token exchange
for the blood? Is wine then a kind of blood equivalent, with life symbolism?
(2) The victim's drained blood is applied to the iron sword rather than
the reverse.
So what is so important about this overly complicated means of getting
blood in contact with the iron sword? Truly, this is hardly a "different
method" at all. The victims are slashed at the throat and drained as in
any animal sacrifice. It is plainly important that this part of the
normal cult ritual be maintained; it may satisfy unknown requirements,
it may be the oldest part of the ritual, it may have a specific magic
effect, or all of these.
But the description also suggests that the victims' throats are *not
*cut with iron blades, because that would logically interfere with the
most sacred, symbolic, and difficult part of the ritual: applying the
blood to the sword. Especially if iron has its own magical significance,
you'd want to keep it away from the blood. Whatever value the blood
carries must reach the sword intact, as though iron interferes with it
in a way that stone and bronze do not. And since the soul departs the
body long before the blood reaches the sword, you have to wonder if this
segregation also serves some sort of hygienic purpose regarding the spirit.
We can conclude from this that if the Scythians actually performed
these sacrifices, the ritual use of an iron sword was grafted onto older
rituals involving animals and stone or bronze blades. For Wolfe, the
Great Mother has good reason to disdain iron blades. But Herodotus shows
her distaste is not for violence or the worship of Ares. *Even Ares
doesn't want the blood of men killed with iron.
*For some reason, iron must be kept away from all sacrificial victims
for all the gods. And this seems to hold for the bog people too.
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