- [b] https://face2faceafrica.com/article/a-look-at-dahomeys-gory-history-of-human-sacrifices-on-a-large-scale # The Relationship between Suttee, Sacral Kingship, and Human Sacrifice Was the point of sati (suttee) to follow one's husband, in his social role as head of the household, related at all to the [[The Civilizations of Africa by Christopher Ehret#ch04p158 Human Sacrifice|Sudanic notion of sacral kingship]]? If there's no clear linkage in terms of literal diffusion of culture (and I don't expect there would be), what does that say about humans as a species? Does this relate at all to the Terracotta Army in [[China]]? I feel like there's a very strong similarity between this idea, the [[Scythian]] burial practices where [[2020-09-07 Tombs|tombs]] would involve the bodies of the dead as well as the sacrifice of the deceased's favorite horse(s). Does this relate to things like survivor's guilt and American soldiers feeling like they should die with their friends who died in war?[^examples] The more I think about this, the more it feels like a weirdly common phenomenon in humans and in retrospect as weird as this sort of self-sacrifice seems on the face of it to a modern Westerner like me, it actually doesn't surprise me *that* much that different cultures codified this sort of tradition to deal with that sort of emotion? Like, elderly spouses who are particularly close sometimes die within weeks of each other even now, so it's not *that* weird that ancient societies might have noticed something similar and associated it with close bonding and ritualized it? [^examples]: https://ecommons.luc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4176&context=luc_diss & https://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/doi/abs/10.1176/ajp.148.5.586?journalCode=ajp How does this relate to human sacrifice among the Aztecs? What about the way [[Haegemans on Elissa of Carthage|Elissa of Carthage]], according to legend, escaped an unwanted marriage by literally burning herself to death and was lauded for it by Christians because of her "loyalty" to her first husband (although I'm pretty sure she suicided mostly to protect her own people from the implications of a dynastic marriage to an outsider, which is actually *more* laudable, in my view...)? Are the [[Brotherhood of Kings by Amanda Podany#Sacral Queenship in Bronze Age Iraq]] sacrifices of young attendants for the tombs of powerful *women* unique under this system? ## References > Sati or suttee was a historical Hindu practice, in which a widow sacrifices herself by sitting atop her deceased husband's funeral pyre. The extent to which sati was practised in history is not known with clarity. > <div></div> > <cite>-- <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sati_(practice)">Wikipedia</a></cite> - [[2021-09-27 Sacrifice]] - [[child sacrifice in the Punic world]] - [this email about suttee in India](https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGlkPWDwcxCSCHTRLnpKFThLSPC) ## Notes - Argentina [recommends](https://discord.com/channels/686053708261228577/700466324840775831/826855407469330542) ["he Night Face Up by Julio Cortazar](https://www.medina502.com/classes/ml260_2017/readings/Cortazar_The_Night_Face_Up.pdf) as an excellent short story that might be on topic. https://www.reddit.com/r/mesoamerica/comments/oqfx7d/why_does_it_feel_like_aztec_human_sacrifice_is_a/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share