Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lisbeth S. Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

There were a couple of articles on the subject in either
BAR or BR a while back. One was by Stager. From what
I remember of the articles there is no archaeological
evidence of child sacrifice anywhere, not even in Carthage.
There is evidence of child burials which received some sort
of sacred dimension beyond the ordinary burial in Carthage,
but there is no evidence the children died of anything
other than natural causes.

Liz Fried

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Kevin L. Barney [mailto:klbarney AT yahoo.com]
> Sent: Thu, August 23, 2001 11:05 AM
> To: Biblical Hebrew
> Subject: Re: Child Sacrifice - off topic
>
>
> Karen,
>
> Regarding child sacrifice in Canaan and thereabouts, you might find of
> interest Alberto Ravinelli Whitney Green, _The Role of Human Sacrifice in
> the Ancient Near East_ (Missoula: Scholars Press, 1975), although IIRC
> Green focuses more on Mesopotamia in this volume.
>
> Perhaps of more immediate relevance for your friend would be John Day,
> _Molech: A God of Human Sacrifice in the Old Testament_ (Cambridge:
> University of Cambridge Oriental Publishers, 1989).  Day gives an appendix
> containing 19 quotations from classical and patristic sources attesting to
> Canaanite/Phoenician practices of child/human sacrifice.
>
> Child sacrifice is also recorded in Sakkunyaton's "Phoenician Theology,"
> preserved in fragments in Eusebius, _Praeparatio Evangelica_, i.10.21, 34,
> 44.  See the discussion in Cross's article on 'el in TDOT 1:248.
>
> The literary evidence has also been supported by archaeolical discoveries
> of tophets in Carthage and elsewhere.  I believe you will find a reference
> to these discoveries in John Day's article on "Canaan, Religion of" in the
> Anchor Bible Dictionary, around 1:834.
>
> Kevin Barney
> klbarney AT yahoo.com
> Hoffman Estates, IL
>
> PS Thanks to all who helped me with my Isaiah text question.
>
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