04-23-2013, 03:16 AM
stanc Wrote:Hey, this is rather off topic, but I've been watching History Channel's new dramatic series, Vikings. Am wondering if any of you with Scandinavian ancestry know if Vikings actually practiced human sacrifice, particularly to the degree shown in last night's episode?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQFQN3-Pm8E
I'm only very distantly Nordic, but spent 5 years in Iceland, and had Viking studies as a class. Prior to Christianity, the Vikings had both ritual sacrifice for offerings, and retainer sacrifice, where children or slaves were sacrificed for funerals of chiefs or other leaders. They also had animal sacrifice.
How widespread and prolific the sacrifice was is debatable, but there have been plenty of "bog bodies" that were obviously strangled and thrown in bogs and even some eye witness accounts of later sacrifices. They had no problem slaughtering large groups in war, either, but I'm not sure that classifies as sacrifice.
You seek escape from pain. We seek the achievement of happiness. You exist for the sake of avoiding punishment. We exist for the sake of earning rewards. Threats will not make us function; fear is not our incentive. It is not death that we wish to avoid, but life that we wish to live. - John Galt