tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post3774489096176752187..comments2024-01-04T04:11:55.717+02:00Comments on Dienekes’ Anthropology Blog: No infant sacrifice in Carthage (?)Dienekeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02082684850093948970noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-61126730041485628772010-02-20T22:56:25.695+02:002010-02-20T22:56:25.695+02:00I think that the truth, as often it is , is in th...I think that the truth, as often it is , is in the meddle. a lot of ancient sources say that the habit existed, but that in the time the Carthaginians had abandoned it preferring to use some more incruent substitutes. However in the moments of deep crisis, the fear that the Gods abandoned them made to return to that ancient and cruel rite.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-64067240779904670632010-02-20T12:41:28.045+02:002010-02-20T12:41:28.045+02:00@Ponto:
Sir, Diodorus Siculus wasn`t Roman, at al...@Ponto:<br /><br />Sir, Diodorus Siculus wasn`t Roman, at all. He was Greek from Agyrion.<br /><br />QUOTE<br />Only Jerome, in his Chronicon under the year of Abraham 1968 (49 BC), writes, "Diodorus of Sicily, a writer of Greek history, became illustrious". His English translator, Charles Henry Oldfather, remarks on the "striking coincidence" that one of only two known Greek inscriptions from Agyrium (I.G. XIV, 588) is the tombstone of one "Diodorus, the son of Apollonius".<br />UNQUOTE<br /><br />http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diodorus_Siculus<br /><br />Thus, the Siceliote Greek Diodorus had hardly any reason at all to `denigrate` [sic] the reputation of the Carthaginians, who were known to be in amiable terms with the Siceliote Greeks.<br /><br />As for Baptism, pouring of water on initiates in order to ritually purify them, was practised in the Eleusinian Mysteries (Occultism) since time immemorial in Ancient Greece, hence it would not look weird to Romans who were familiar with both the language as well as the customs of Greece.<br /><br />I will also add that I am in full agreement with J, supra.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-60981113989598780042010-02-20T08:00:58.158+02:002010-02-20T08:00:58.158+02:00I think we will never really know the true answer....I think we will never really know the true answer. Having a reputation is not proof. And the absence of proof proves nothing in itself except the ability of humans to speculate and denigrate (blacken!) the memories and reputations of those who cannot defend themselves. A common defence practice used against the victims of wrongful killing. Very cowardly.<br /><br />Now the Romans. Frankly I would believe those people as far as I could kick their Latin behinds. They often denigrated peoples better than they. The Carthagenians would not kowtow to Roman might so they had to be destroyed. <br /><br />There is a Tophet at Motya Island where the Phoenicians had a long presence. It is just a religious place, a place of burial of the stillborn, aborted foetuses and children without names as they did not survive long enough post birth. Christians have consecrated ground and their peculiar burial practices, places for the burial for stillborns and aborted foetuses separated from people with names, those who are baptized. Think of the baptizism process. It would look quite bizarre, and barbaric to the Romans. Imagine how the Roman observer would describe it to other Romans. I only have to read old anthropology books written by supposedly impartial and empathetic European or American observers of many indigenous peoples' customs and rites to see how the norms and mores of those observers cloud and bias the description of what has occurred.<br /><br />That Roman, Siculus, saw but understood nothing, nor tried to understand past his petty Roman senses. Just arrogance and prejudice against foreigners. Nothing more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7785493.post-42889019549010283992010-02-19T15:20:38.610+02:002010-02-19T15:20:38.610+02:00There are numerous Tophets in Canaanite settlement...There are numerous Tophets in Canaanite settlement, including the famous Tophet in Jerusalem in the Gay (Valley in Hebrew) of Ben Hinnon ("Gehennon"). There were ceremonial places to burn human (male children) and animal sacrifices dedicated to the god Moloch (King in Hebrew- Canaanite).<br />The prophets destroyed those sites. <br /><br />Maybe both interpretations - sacrifice + natural death - are right.Jhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05676167615981895061noreply@blogger.com