Human Sacrifice in Indo-European Traditions
By KalinHuman Sacrifice is a contentious issue at times because we know our ancestors practiced it, but we do not know how or why. This is in no way an endorsement of human sacrifice; as you will read below many, cultures replaced it with animal sacrifice. I will go over recorded instances of this type of sacrifice, its purpose in society, and the traditions it was practiced in.
Greco-Roman
The Romans rarely practiced human sacrifice and ancient Roman authors actually distanced Roman tradition heavily from it. The human sacrifices that did happen in ancient Roman religion were most likely later replaced with animals. This is also the case with the Greeks. As seen in the Sacrifice of Iphigenia, Agamemnon kills a deer sacred to Artemis and has to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia so that Artemis will let them invade Troy. At the very last moment Artemis replaces Iphigenia with a deer, and this could possibly symbolize the replacement of human sacrifice with animal sacrifice.
Germanic
In Germanic Paganism, ritual killings are alluded to in the sagas and earlier recorded by Tacitus in Germania. As was the case in most IE religions, Germans would sacrifice their prisoners of war and slaves for the most part. Slaves would often be sacrificed with their masters to accompany them in the afterlife. In Ahmad ibn Fadlan's description of a Norse chieftain's funeral, a slave girl volunteers to be sacrificed, is killed, then burned with the chieftain on his boat. In Germania there are multiple mentions of Germanic peoples preforming human sacrifice. Tacitus claims the Germanic peoples give the most human offerings to Mercury and have lesser offerings for Mars and Hercules. The Suebi were said to sacrifice to "Isis", and this is assumed to be Freya by many. The Latin names like Mercury, Mars and Hercules are probably Odin, Tyr and Thor, but this isn't confirmed. The ancient scholar Jordanes also shared an account of the Goths sacrificing prisoners of war to "Mars" and we see the same Latin names used by Tacitus.
Slavic
In Slavic tradition, human sacrifice has been recorded in the Primary Chronicle and by other Christian sources, and is also supported by archaeological evidence. In the Primary Chronicle it mentions prisoners of war being sacrificed to Perun. Leon the Deacon describes one of these prisoner sacrifices by the Rus during the Russo-Byzantine war, the practice being "in accordance with their ancestral custom". The main archeological evidence are the ancient mass graves and cremated remains of multiple people in a ritual context.
Iranic
The Scythians were of an Iranic origin and practiced ritual killings in the same ways as the previously mentioned cultures. The Scythian sacrifice was fortunately recorded by Herodotus and shows human sacrifice more in the context of war, in which enemies are sacrificed. The Scythian "Ares", much like "Mercury" from Germania, is the Ancient Greek equivalent of the God, used instead of the actual name or title which was used by the Scythians.
"In each district of the several governments they have a temple of Ares set up in this way: bundles of brushwood are heaped up for about three furlongs in length and in breadth, but less in height; and on the top of this there is a level square made, and three of the sides rise sheer but by the remaining one side the pile may be ascended. Every year they pile on a hundred and fifty wagon-loads of brushwood, for it is constantly settling down by reason of the weather. Upon this pile of which I speak each people has an ancient iron sword set up, and this is the sacred symbol of Ares. To this sword they bring yearly offerings of cattle and of horses; and they have the following sacrifice in addition, beyond what they make to the other gods, that is to say, of all the enemies whom they take captive in war they sacrifice one man in every hundred, not in the same manner as they sacrifice cattle, but in a different manner: for they first pour wine over their heads, and after that they cut the throats of the men, so that the blood runs into a bowl; and then they carry this up to the top of the pile of brushwood and pour the blood over the sword. This, I say, they carry up; and meanwhile below by the side of the temple they are doing thus: they cut off all the right arms of the slaughtered men with the hands and throw them up into the air, and then when they have finished offering the other victims, they go away; and the arm lies wheresoever it has chanced to fall, and the corpse apart from it." - Herodotus describing the Scythian's sacrifice to "Scythian Ares"
Vedic
Human sacrifice known mainly as Narabali in India is not commonly practiced and it seems Vedic India shared similar views as the Romans on these sacrifices. However, post-Vedic human sacrifices to deities such as Kali were recorded. Some speculate that these later post-Vedic examples were a continuation of Vedic tradition, but this is debated. It is more likely that the Indo-European Vedic peoples did practice human sacrifice in some way, but like in Greece and Rome it was phased out and replaced with animal sacrifice. In the Bhagavata Purana such sacrifices are explicitly condemned along with cannibalism. The Purushamedha is a detailed vedic ritual of human sacrifice, thought to be a "priestly fantasy" by experts. It was much like the Asvamedha Yajnya ritual, but instead of a horse it was a person who was allowed a certain period of freedom in which all their wishes were granted, the victim was then sacrificed to Prajapati which means Lord of Hosts.
Celtic
Roman authors claim the Celts and their Druids preformed human sacrifice often. Roman accounts of Celtic peoples are however to be taken with a grain of salt, due to the context of these sources—they could very well be embellished for propaganda purposes. Victims for the Gaulish God Esus were hanged from trees and flogged to death. Examples such as the Lindow Man could even suggest that there were willing human sacrifices. Ritual beheadings must have also been a practice, judging by the decapitated corpses dating back to the Iron Age in France. The Gauls would also immolate people for Taranis and drown them for Teutates.
Conclusion
The main point of this article was to give context for sacrifices of humans in Indo-European traditions. For the most part it was something done with slaves or in times of war. Some would call the Greek, Roman and Vedic cultures more advanced or civilized for ridding human sacrifice from their rituals, which I disagree with. I think that the majority of examples of human sacrifice were justified, especially in cases of prisoners of war and slaves. I hope this post has shed some light on this subject.
Thank you for reading.