The Open court . nd women were not regarded assufficient. In Giinthers Sagenbuch des deutschen Volkes (Vol. I,pp. 33 fif.) we read that the Strassburg cathedral required the sacri-fice of two human lives, and that two brothers lie buried in itsfoundations. The excavations in Palestine have brought to light such sacri-fices in the foundation stones of ancient walls, and we here repro-duce a drawing after Schrmaker in his description of Tell el-Mute-sellim. It is the site of the Biblical Megiddo where the fatal battle FOUNDATIONS LAID IN HUMAN SACRIFICE. 499 with King- Nechoh was fought in 609 B
The Open court . nd women were not regarded assufficient. In Giinthers Sagenbuch des deutschen Volkes (Vol. I,pp. 33 fif.) we read that the Strassburg cathedral required the sacri-fice of two human lives, and that two brothers lie buried in itsfoundations. The excavations in Palestine have brought to light such sacri-fices in the foundation stones of ancient walls, and we here repro-duce a drawing after Schrmaker in his description of Tell el-Mute-sellim. It is the site of the Biblical Megiddo where the fatal battle FOUNDATIONS LAID IN HUMAN SACRIFICE. 499 with King- Nechoh was fought in 609 B. C. in which King Josiahfell. In the foundations of a wall lying meters under groundwas found above the lowest layer of stones a jar meters longand .40 in diameter, which was partly crushed by the second layerof stones. It contains the skeleton of a child and three clay vessels,presumably offerings made to the spirit of the victim, as it wascustomary even in the Middle Ages whenever persons were buried. HUMAN SACRIFICES BURIED IN THE FOUNDATION STONES OF AWALL OF THE ANCIENT MEGIDDO IN PALESTINE. (After Schumakers Tell el-Mutesellim, Vol. I, p. 25.) alive, to give them rations of water and bread which were placedin their tomb. The top of the wall was covered by a carefully madelayer containing a canal to draw oft the water lest the foundationstones be washed away. In the same place at Megiddo a wholecemetery of infants has been discovered, and it is not impossiblethat we have here the horrible instance of the offering of the first-born, which is alluded to in Exod. xxii. 29: Thou shalt not delay 500 THE OPEN COURT. to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors: the firstbornof thy sons shalt thou give me. The request of the firstborn as belonging to God is presupposedin Ex. xi. 4 ff., where Yahveh takes the firstborn of the Egyptians,and also in the story of Abrahams sacrifice, where the offering ofIsaac, his firstborn, is not completed, but a ram is subs
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade188, booksubjectreligion, bookyear1887
