Human Sacrifice in Ancient Rome

Paper Summary:

This paper examines three cases of human sacrifice documented by historians in the Roman Republic. Through a literature review, it looks at how the human sacrifices in the Roman Republic became addressed first in the early twentieth century when documentation was discovered of three people being buried alive. It analyzes the various theories on the reasons for the sacrifices and attempts to show that the evidence clearly points to scandals among the Vestal Virgins being the direct cause for the human sacrifices that took place in Rome in the days of the Republic.

From the Paper:

"Plutarch specifically states that the Vestal scandal led to the Senate demanding that the decemviri sacris facundis "consult the Sibylline books" in order to see how they should progress. Only when the gods were suspected of being exceptionally displeased with the city was this act necessary. A scandal of infidelity among the Vestal Virgins was an extremely disturbing omen in the eyes of the citizens of Rome, for the Vestals kept the eternal flame burning a symbol of Rome itself. The report of the decemviri was that there must be a sacrifice to the gods of four people (two Greeks and two Gauls) and that they should be buried alive in the Forum Boarium."

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