Sacrifices in Ancient Egypt: Pigs, Bulls and Possibly Humans | Middle East And North Africa

SACRIFICES IN ANCIENT EGYPT

cat killing the demon Apep

In a temple in Hierakonpolis dated to 3500 B.C. large dangerous animals such as crocodiles and hippopotami were sacrificed perhaps as symbols of natural chaos. Bulls were sacrificed by the ancient Greeks, Romans and Druids but treated with reverence by Egyptians (black bulls in particular were given harems and palaces because they were believed to be related to the bull-god Apis).

In 440 B.C. Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Egyptians were forbidden to sacrifice animals except pigs, bulls and bull-calves, if they are unblemished, and geese. In Book 2 of “Histories” he wrote:” Egyptians of whom I have spoken sacrifice no goats, male or female: the Mendesians [people that lived in the Mendes region alog the Nile] reckon Pan among the eight gods who, they say, were before the twelve gods. Now in their painting and sculpture, the image of Pan is made with the head and the legs of a goat, as among the Greeks; not that he is thought to be in fact such, or unlike other gods; but why they represent him so, I have no wish to say. The Mendesians consider all goats sacred, the male even more than the female, and goatherds are held in special estimation: one he-goat is most sacred of all; when he dies, it is ordained that there should be great mourning in all the Mendesian district. In the Egyptian language Mendes is the name both for the he-goat and for Pan. In my lifetime a strange thing occurred in this district: a he-goat had intercourse openly with a woman. This came to be publicly known. 47. [Source: Herodotus, “The Histories”, Egypt after the Persian Invasion, Book 2, English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920, Tufts]

“All that have a temple of Zeus of Thebes or are of the Theban district sacrifice goats, but will not touch sheep. For no gods are worshipped by all Egyptians in common except Isis and Osiris, who they say is Dionysus; these are worshipped by all alike. Those who have a temple of Mendes or are of the Mendesian district sacrifice sheep, but will not touch goats. The Thebans, and those who by the Theban example will not touch sheep, give the following reason for their ordinance: they say that Heracles wanted very much to see Zeus and that Zeus did not want to be seen by him, but that finally, when Heracles prayed, Zeus contrived to show himself displaying the head and wearing the fleece of a ram which he had flayed and beheaded. It is from this that the Egyptian images of Zeus have a ram's head; and in this, the Egyptians are imitated by the Ammonians, who are colonists from Egypt and Ethiopia and speak a language compounded of the tongues of both countries. It was from this, I think, that the Ammonians got their name, too; for the Egyptians call Zeus “Amon”. The Thebans, then, consider rams sacred for this reason, and do not sacrifice them. But one day a year, at the festival of Zeus, they cut in pieces and flay a single ram and put the fleece on the image of Zeus, as in the story; then they bring an image of Heracles near it. Having done this, all that are at the temple mourn for the ram, and then bury it in a sacred coffin. 43.

Ritual and Royal Violence in Ancient Egypt

Kerry Muhlestein of Brigham Young University wrote: “Violence was a real part of cultic practice and many rituals employed violent actions. Most of this violence, however, was enacted against animals or inanimate objects. In these rituals, t he animals or objects were often seen as substitutes for humans. Sometimes the objects were anthropomorphic in form, as with the many clay, stone, and wax figures used in execration rituals. During the ceremonies, these figures were smashed, decapitated, mutilated, stabbed, speared, burned, and buried. Violence against mortals and against preternatural enemies was often combined in the rites. At least two execration rituals, one at Mirgissa during the Middle Kingdom and one at Avaris during the early 18th Dynasty, almost certainly used humans as the objects of the ritual. [Source: Kerry Muhlestein, Brigham Young University, 2015, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 2013 escholarship.org ]

smiting on the Narmer Palette in 3100 BC

“Early Dynastic labels appear to depict violent rituals, such as a Djer label illustrating some kind of royal festival, part of which depicts a bound man seemingly being stabbed by a priest . Some form of ritual violence continued throughout Egyptian history, for such early iconographic evidence is matched by later philological evidence. The language used to describe several sanctioned killings implies that they took place in a ritual context, while other texts are explicit about the ritual nature of the slaying. For example, Senusret I slayed offenders at the temple of Tod, Ramesses III captured and killed Libyans in a ritual context , and Prince Osorkon burned rebels in the temple of Amun at Karnak. In all of these cases ritual language is employed to describe the killings. For example, the text of Osorkon records the punishment of rebels: “Then he struck them down for him, causing them to be carried like goats on the night of the Feast of the Evening Sacrifice in which braziers are lit...like braziers at the going forth of Sothis. Every man was burned with fire at the place of his crime”.

“There is some evidence that the stereotypical smiting scene at times may have been an actual ritual. Undoubtedly Amenhotep II smote captives as part of his coronation ritual. Several late New Kingdom non-royal stelae represent the king smiting prisoners within temple grounds, perhaps indicating that the owner of the stela had witnessed the ritual. Some have disagreed with this interpretati on, such as Ahituv, while others, including myself , have supported Schulman’s claims, showing faults with the arguments of his detractors, such as illustrating that Ahituv was wrong in stating there was no corroborating evid ence for kings actually smiting prisoners, or demonstrating the illogic behind concluding that if Syrian prisoners were spared in the palace, none of them could have been smitten.

“Some texts describing Ramesses III’s dealings with captives can be taken to indicate that he subjected them to ritual smiting, such as when a captive prince and his visiting father engendered distrust in Ramesses and he “came down upon their heads like a mountain of granite”. Moreover, a number of specialized a nd individualized smiting scenes imply that these were based on real events, such as the depiction of a man with a unique physical deformity being struck by the king. While we cannot be sure, it is quite likely that smiting enemies was a royal ritual.”

Herodotus on Egyptian Bull Sacrifices

Herodotus wrote in Book 2 of “Histories”:“They believe that bulls belong to Epaphus,21 and for this reason scrutinize them as follows; if they see even one black hair on them, the bull is considered impure. One of the priests, appointed to the task, examines the beast, making it stand and lie, and drawing out its tongue, to determine whether it is clean of the stated signs which I shall indicate hereafter.22 He looks also to the hairs of the tail, to see if they grow naturally. If it is clean in all these respects, the priest marks it by wrapping papyrus around the horns, then smears it with sealing-earth and stamps it with his ring; and after this they lead the bull away. But the penalty is death for sacrificing a bull that the priest has not marked. Such is the manner of approving the beast; I will now describe how it is sacrificed. 39. [Source: Herodotus, “The Histories”, Egypt after the Persian Invasion, Book 2, English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920, Tufts]

“After leading the marked beast to the altar where they will sacrifice it, they kindle a fire; then they pour wine on the altar over the victim and call upon the god; then they cut its throat, and having done so sever the head from the body. They flay the carcass of the victim, then invoke many curses on its head, which they carry away. Where there is a market, and Greek traders in it, the head is taken to the market and sold; where there are no Greeks, it is thrown into the river. The imprecation which they utter over the heads is that whatever ill threatens those who sacrifice, or the whole of Egypt, fall upon that head. In respect of the heads of sacrificed beasts and the libation of wine, the practice of all Egyptians is the same in all sacrifices; and from this ordinance no Egyptian will taste of the head of anything that had life. 40.

“But in regard to the disembowelling and burning of the victims, there is a different way for each sacrifice. I shall now, however, speak of that goddess whom they consider the greatest, and in whose honor they keep highest festival. After praying in the foregoing way, they take the whole stomach out of the flayed bull, leaving the entrails and the fat in the carcass, and cut off the legs, the end of the loin, the shoulders, and the neck. Having done this, they fill what remains of the carcass with pure bread, honey, raisins, figs, frankincense, myrrh, and other kinds of incense, and then burn it, pouring a lot of oil on it. They fast before the sacrifice, and while it is burning, they all make lamentation; and when their lamentation is over, they set out a meal of what is left of the victim. 41.

“All Egyptians sacrifice unblemished bulls and bull-calves; they may not sacrifice cows: these are sacred to Isis. For the images of Isis are in woman's form, horned like a cow, exactly as the Greeks picture Io, and cows are held by far the most sacred of all beasts of the herd by all Egyptians alike. For this reason, no Egyptian man or woman will kiss a Greek man, or use a knife, or a spit, or a cauldron belonging to a Greek, or taste the flesh of an unblemished bull that has been cut up with a Greek knife. Cattle that die are dealt with in the following way. Cows are cast into the river, bulls are buried by each city in its suburbs, with one or both horns uncovered for a sign; then, when the carcass is decomposed, and the time appointed is at hand, a boat comes to each city from the island called Prosopitis, an island in the Delta, nine schoeni in circumference. There are many other towns on Prosopitis; the one from which the boats come to gather the bones of the bulls is called Atarbekhis;23 a temple of Aphrodite stands in it of great sanctity. From this town many go out, some to one town and some to another, to dig up the bones, which they then carry away and all bury in one place. As they bury the cattle, so do they all other beasts at death. Such is their ordinance respecting these also; for they, too, may not be killed. 42.”

How a Sacrifice of a Bull Was Carried Out in Ancient Egypt

The patient animal is led to the place of slaughter, and two practiced slaughterers throw him down with ease. ' The hind and fore legs are bound together, a string is tied round the tongue, and when this is pulled the poor animal falls at once helpless to the ground. Sometimes exciting scenes take place. A powerful animal sometimes rebels against his tormentors in a very fighting manner, and rushes madly upon them. But it is of no use — whilst some avoid his thrusts in front, others boldly seize him from behind; they hold on to his legs, they hang on to his tail, two of the most courageous even spring madly on his back and wring his horns with might and main. The bull is unable to withstand their united efforts; he falls down, and the men succeed in binding his fore and hind legs together. They then fearlessly' give him his death stroke; they cut his jugular vein, and, as they ironically say, they "allow him to yield." When the blood has been carefull' collected they begin the chief business, the scientific cutting up of the animal. [Source: Adolph Erman, “Life in Ancient Egypt”, 1894]

According to very ancient custom, which we often find retains its authority at sacrificial ceremonies, the slaughterers use flint knives for this purpose; but as these knives would soon become blunt, the men wear a metal sharpener (like our modern steel) tied to the corner of the apron, with which they sharpen the knife, striking off splinters of the stone. The legs, which the Egyptians considered the best part of the animal, are cut off first; one man holds up the hoof of the animal, and with his arm round it draws it back as firmly as he can, the other cuts it off at the joint. The following conversation takes place between the two men: “Draw it as far as you can "; "I am doing so." The belly is then slit up, and the heart of the animal taken out, this being also esteemed as such a choice piece for sacrificial purposes, that the one man takes much interest in showing the beauty of it to the other.

The disjointed pieces however cannot yet be made use of for the offering, for the most important personage has not yet appeared on the scene of action; the slaughterer already remarks in a vexed tone, “Will not the priest come to this leg joint?" At length he comes; he is the superintendent of the priests of the Pharaoh, who must declare the sacrifice to be pure. He gravely smells the blood of the animal and examines the flesh carefully, he then declares all to be good and pure. Now the legs can be laid upon the table of offerings; afterwards at the close of the festival they will be used to satisfy the hunger of the mourners. [Source: Adolph Erman, “Life in Ancient Egypt”, 1894]

These bulls, as well as the offering of bread and beer, are said to be the “offering that the king gives," for, according to ancient custom, it was the duty of the Pharaoh to provide the funerary offerings. Under the Middle Kingdom a “steward of the provision-house and superintendent of the horns, feathers, and claws boasts that he had “caused the offerings for the gods and the funerary gifts for the deceased to be brought, according to the command of Horus, the lord of the palace," i.e. the king." This custom probably only existed in those early ages when there were but a icw men of high station who were allowed by the gracious permission of the king to construct their tombs near the tomb of the monarch. Later, the number of tombs increased to such an extent that the custom fell into disuse of itself; the funerary\ offering however was always called “the offering that the king gifts," though it was brought, as was natural, by the relations of the deceased. It was the most sacred duty which the latter had to fulfil, to present the offerings regularly to their ancestors, to keep up their tombs, and thus to “cause their names to live."

Sacred Bulls and Apis Bull Rituals in Ancient Egypt

Apis bull on a coffin

Aidan Dodson of the University of Bristol wrote: “We know of a range of sacred bulls, including Bata of Cynopolis, Kemwer of Athribis, Hesbu of the 11th Upper Egyptian Nome, and the Siankh, known only from the Palermo Stone, which recounts its “running” in the 2nd Dynasty reign of Ninetjer. The three best attested, however, are the Apis (associated with Ptah), Mnevis (Ra), and Buchis (Montu) bulls. An inscription on a bowl formerly in the Michaelides Collection, naming the Horus Aha alongside Apis, appears to bear out a statement by the Roman writer Aelian that the cult was founded by Menes, while the “first occasion of running the Apis” is mentioned under king Den (?) in the Palermo Stone, and under the same king on a contemporary seal- impression in Saqqara tomb S3035. At least two “running of the Apis” rituals occurred under Ninetjer (the second of them recorded on the Palermo Stone). The precise nature of these rituals is uncertain, but they may be related to later depictions of the Apis running alongside the king during the Sed-festival, for example on the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut at Karnak. [Source: Aidan Dodson, University of Bristol, UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology 2009, escholarship.org ]

“The Apis was recognized by distinctive white and black markings, and after the death of an incumbent bull, a search would be made for its successor on this basis. According to Diodorus Siculus, “whenever one has died and has been buried in splendor, the priests who are charged with these matters seek out a young bull whose bodily markings are similar to those of its predecessor. When they find it, the people put away their mourning, and the priests whose duty it is conduct the bull calf to Nilopolis [near El-Wasta], where they keep it forty days; then they put it on a state barge with a gilded stall and convey it as a deity to the sanctuary of Hephaestus at Memphis.”

The earliest evidence for posthumous rituals concerning the Apis come from the late 18th Dynasty, when elaborate interments begin to be found at Saqqara, comprising above- ground chapels and subterranean burial chambers for each bull. These are succeeded under Ramesses II by a series of catacombs in the same area, known collectively as the Serapeum. While later bulls were conventionally embalmed, the surviving 18th and 19th Dynasty examples comprised broken osseous remains that had been formed into a mass using resin and linen, in at least one example molded into the simulacrum of a human mummy. Given that the tombs also held jars of ashes, it is possible that the dead bull may have been cooked and ceremonially eaten, perhaps by the king in an echo of the “Cannibal Hymn” in the Pyramid Texts. On the basis of Plutarch, Pliny, and Ammianus Marcellinus, it appears that by Roman times the bull’s maximum lifespan may have been fixed at 25 years, at which point a surviving bull was drowned (Pliny). However, there is no indication that this was the case earlier, and that practices regarding the Apis changed after the Ptolemaic Period (304–30 B.C.) is shown by the termination of burials in the Serapeum under Augustus. From the 27th Dynasty until Cleopatra VII, the cows that had borne an Apis were interred in their own catacomb . The ritual employed in the late Ptolemaic Period is preserved in Papyrus Vienna 3873, which indicates a sequence of ritual washing, embalming, wrapping, encoffining, and ceremonial, closely matching that used for high-status humans.

“The Mnevis of Heliopolis is known from New Kingdom tombs and monuments, but the Buchis bull of Upper Egypt first appears in the record at the end of the Late Period (712–332 B.C.) and continues to be attested well into Roman times. Although a catacomb, the Bucheum, was provided for him at Armant, the bull seems to have been a fusion of earlier bovine forms of Montu, and as such, rituals concerning the installation of the Buchis were carried out at Thebes, with the cult also existing at Tod and Medamud. It is at the latter site that we have evidence for the Buchis in an oracular role. A living representation of a god such as a sacred animal was of course an obvious oracle-giver. Good examples of Demotic oracular petitions addressed to the Thoth have been recovered from the baboon/ibis catacombs at Tuna el- Gebel. Other attested oracular creatures include the ram of Mendes and even a scarab beetle, but the practice almost certainly existed wherever a sacred animal was to be found.”

Herodotus on Pig Sacrfiices

Herodotus wrote in Book 2 of “Histories”:“Swine are held by the Egyptians to be unclean beasts. In the first place, if an Egyptian touches a hog in passing, he goes to the river and dips himself in it, clothed as he is; and in the second place, swineherds, though native born Egyptians, are alone of all men forbidden to enter any Egyptian temple; nor will any give a swineherd his daughter in marriage, nor take a wife from their women; but swineherds intermarry among themselves. Nor do the Egyptians think it right to sacrifice swine to any god except the Moon and Dionysus; to these, they sacrifice their swine at the same time, in the same season of full moon; then they eat the meat. The Egyptians have an explanation of why they sacrifice swine at this festival, yet abominate them at others; I know it, but it is not fitting that I relate it. But this is how they sacrifice swine to the Moon: the sacrificer lays the end of the tail and the spleen and the caul together and covers them up with all the fat that he finds around the belly, then consigns it all to the fire; as for the rest of the flesh, they eat it at the time of full moon when they sacrifice the victim; but they will not taste it on any other day. Poor men, with but slender means, mold swine out of dough, which they then take and sacrifice. 48. [Source: Herodotus, “The Histories”, Egypt after the Persian Invasion, Book 2 English translation by A. D. Godley. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1920, Tufts]

“To Dionysus, on the evening of his festival, everyone offers a piglet which he kills before his door and then gives to the swineherd who has sold it, for him to take away. The rest of the festival of Dionysus is observed by the Egyptians much as it is by the Greeks, except for the dances; but in place of the phallus, they have invented the use of puppets two feet high moved by strings, the male member nodding and nearly as big as the rest of the body, which are carried about the villages by women; a flute-player goes ahead, the women follow behind singing of Dionysus. Why the male member is so large and is the only part of the body that moves, there is a sacred legend that explains. 49.

“Now then, it seems to me that Melampus son of Amytheon was not ignorant of but was familiar with this sacrifice. For Melampus was the one who taught the Greeks the name of Dionysus and the way of sacrificing to him and the phallic procession; he did not exactly unveil the subject taking all its details into consideration, for the teachers who came after him made a fuller revelation; but it was from him that the Greeks learned to bear the phallus along in honor of Dionysus, and they got their present practice from his teaching. I say, then, that Melampus acquired the prophetic art, being a discerning man, and that, besides many other things which he learned from Egypt, he also taught the Greeks things concerning Dionysus, altering few of them; for I will not say that what is done in Egypt in connection with the god and what is done among the Greeks originated independently: for they would then be of an Hellenic character and not recently introduced. Nor again will I say that the Egyptians took either this or any other custom from the Greeks. But I believe that Melampus learned the worship of Dionysus chiefly from Cadmus of Tyre and those who came with Cadmus from Phoenicia to the land now called Boeotia. 50.

Human Sacrifices in Ancient Egypt

Marianne Guenot wrote in Business Insider: A common trope about ancient Egypt is that servants were buried alive or killed to be with their pharaoh so that they could accompany them in their death. It's possible that this did happen at some point in ancient Egyptian history, but it was likely for a very short period of time."During the first dynasty, there probably was a human sacrifice," said Dr Wojciech Ejsmond, a Warsaw-based Egyptologist. [Source: Marianne Guenot, Business Insider, May 5, 2023]

Tombs of the first dynasty pharaohs are surrounded by hundreds of smaller tombs of people aged between 14 to 25. That they would all die at the same time as the pharaoh is indeed very suspicious. Still, "no obvious marks on bones or anywhere were ever found to verify this. So it's still an open topic," said Ejsmond. Whether there were sacrifices "during the second dynasty, it's debatable, but still convincing. After that, there is no evidence of human sacrifice," said Ejsmond. That means there may have been sacrifices over a period of about 400 years, while ancient Egyptians ruled for about 3,000 years.

John Galvin wrote in National Geographic, “All of the 1st-dynasty tombs and most of the enclosures excavated so far are accompanied by subsidiary graves—hundreds in some cases—containing the remains of elite officials and courtiers. Egyptologists have long speculated that these graves might hold victims of sacrifice but also acknowledged that they could simply be graves reserved for the king's staff, ready to use as each person died naturally.” [Source: John Galvin, National Geographic, April 2005 +++]

Human Sacrifices in the Early Dynastic Period (2950 to 2650 B.C.)

Evidence unearthed in Abydos, one of the oldest ancient Egyptian sites, shows that human sacrifice may have taken place there. Around the funeral enclosures of kings buried in Abydos were a number of subsidiary graves. Outside the enclosure of King Aha, for example, six people were buried with food and wine for the journey to the afterlife. One was a child of four or five buried with a bracelet made from ivory and lapis beads. Outside his tomb 35 more people are buried in graves next to several sacrificed lions. Some have suggested that these graves belonged to people who were sacrificed, perhaps poisoned. [Source: John Galvin, National Geographic, April 2005 +++]

Matthew Adams of the University of Pennsylvania told National Geographic: “The graves were dug and lined with bricks, then roofed with wood and capped with mud brick masonry. Above the masonry cap, a plaster floor extended from the enclosure and covered all the graves." The conclusion that one draws from this is that all the people were buried at the same time. It seems unlikely that they all died of natural causes at the same time, or their bodies were stored and then buried. This suggests that there is a strong possibility that they were all sacrificed at the same time — at around the time of King Aha's funeral. +++

Pre-Dynastic burial

Brenda Baker, a physical anthropologist at Arizona State, looked at all the skeletons that had been found around Aha's tomb and enclosure. She told National Geographic she found no evidence of trauma. “The method of their demise is a mystery. My guess is they were drugged." Another possibility is that were strangled. Some blood has been found in the enamel of the teeth (when someone is strangled blood cells burst inside the teeth). +++

Interest in human sacrifice appears to have been a passing fashion, There were 41 subsidiary grave at Aha's tomb and enclosure, 569 around the tomb and enclosure of his successor Djoer but only 30 beised the tom (is enclosure has not been located) of Djoer's successor, Qaa. By the 2nd dynasty around 2800 B.C. the practice stopped. A few years later the first pyramids were built. +++

Possible Scenario for Human Sacrifice in Abydos?

John Galvin wrote in National Geographic, “On the day of Aha's burial a solemn procession made its way through the sacred precincts of Abydos, royal necropolis of Egypt's first kings. Led by priests in flowing white gowns, the funeral retinue included the royal family, vizier, treasurer, administrators, trade and tax officers, and Aha's successor, Djer. Just beyond the town's gates the procession stopped at a monumental structure with imposing brick walls surrounding an open plaza. Inside the walls the priests waded through a cloud of incense to a small chapel, where they performed cryptic rites to seal Aha's immortality. [Source: John Galvin, National Geographic, April 2005 +++]

“Outside, situated around the enclosure's walls, were six open graves. In a final act of devotion, or coercion, six people were poisoned and buried along with wine and food to take into the afterlife. One was a child of just four or five, perhaps the king's beloved son or daughter, who was expensively furnished with ivory bracelets and tiny lapis beads. +++ “The procession then walked westward into the setting sun, crossing sand dunes and moving up a dry riverbed to a remote cemetery at the base of a high desert plateau. Here Aha's three-chambered tomb was stockpiled with provisions for a lavish life in eternity. There were large cuts of ox meat, freshly killed waterbirds, loaves of bread, cheese, dried figs, jars of beer, and dozens of wine vessels, each bearing Aha's official seal. Beside his tomb more than 30 graves were laid out in three neat rows. As the ceremony climaxed, several lions were slain and placed in a separate burial pit. As Aha's body was lowered into a brick-lined burial chamber, a select group of loyal courtiers and servants also took poison and joined their king in the next world.” +++

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Egypt sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Tour Egypt, Minnesota State University, Mankato, ethanholman.com; Mark Millmore, discoveringegypt.com discoveringegypt.com; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated July 2024