Jubilant Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Does anyone have any sources? I've been typing in search engines to no avail trying to find out whether scientific evidence support the Canaanites engaging in human sacrifice. I realize that some interpretations of the Ugarit say so, but I'm looking for actual physical evidence. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted December 18, 2007 Share Posted December 18, 2007 Does anyone have any sources? I've been typing in search engines to no avail trying to find out whether scientific evidence support the Canaanites engaging in human sacrifice. I realize that some interpretations of the Ugarit say so, but I'm looking for actual physical evidence. Thanks! Off the top of my head I can't think of anything. It really depends on the "when" and "where" but for the most part they didn't really engage in such practices that we know of (I'm infering a time of around 1000-1400BCE from your Ugarit mention...now prior to that...say 2000 or 3000 BCE human sacrifice was much more common in all areas...but even "common" doesn't mean "common" like it was in something like the Mayan culture who really managed to go a little overboard with the whole thing). mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amanda Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 I know Jubilant and MWC have a lot of knowledge and insights. May I humbly ask where this is going? Is there some biblical significance to this... or just curious as to the Cananites cultural history? Just interested and curious... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazy-tiger Posted December 19, 2007 Share Posted December 19, 2007 I know Jubilant and MWC have a lot of knowledge and insights. May I humbly ask where this is going? Is there some biblical significance to this... or just curious as to the Cananites cultural history? Just interested and curious... How about both? Biblically, the Cananites were the Bad Guys mainly due to Human Sacrifices... Of course, since the only evidence I've ever heard of for them doing that is from the Bible, I'm inclined to take such claims with a pinch of salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I know Jubilant and MWC have a lot of knowledge and insights. May I humbly ask where this is going? Is there some biblical significance to this... or just curious as to the Cananites cultural history? Just interested and curious... She managed to get involved with a real class act on another website and this question relates to that. The whole discussion really goes nowhere because he lectures and then dismisses all counter arguments with some propaganda-esque slight of hand and then lectures some more. He'd be quite good if this were 30 or so years ago since he basically ignores all modern scholarship. He had some "evidence" with the Judges period and the Phoenicians. It's disputed. But, as usual, it's not in his mind. Nope. No debate in there. Anyhow, the Judges period is right after the unproven conquest of Joshua so it depends on when that's dated but roughly 1300-1000BCE. The Phoenicians start to spread ~1200BCE. There's a reason for this. The Aegean Apocalypse. Basically all established nations that were around the Mediterranean (starting up around Turkey and going clockwise), except Egypt (since they stopped things), were wiped out by the Sea People. If Israel had a decent foothold in the region by then they would have been long gone. But the bible mentions absolutely nothing about these Sea People. Nada. Zip. Zilch. Nor does it mention the void left by them all over the region. The conquest of Joshua was nothing by comparison of what these guy did across the region and yet the bible is silent. If the Israelites had any population at all they could have simply walked into these countries and occupied them...but no. The Phoenicians come into being. As do the evil Philistines. And so do all the rest of the "bad guys" we hear about. They all pop up at this time. The void left AFTER this apocalypse is what the Israelites are aware of...not the before. I guess I should also add that I am throw the term "Israelite" around fast and loose right now too. Israel and Judah are two separate places at this time and the best archaeology of TODAY reflects it (as does the bible but who cares about all this if it doesn't fit your point of view). So, with all that said, the people that were there during the "before" period, the "Canaanites" and not the "Phoenicians," are the ones supposedly accused of child sacrifice. To which this guy answers with charges against the Phoenicians. Well, these two are not the same folks. The Canaanites, to our knowledge, did NOT perform these rituals. The Phoenicians, MAY HAVE, performed these rituals in SMALL doses but there is no academic consensus on the matter. The thing is by this time an "Israel" was coming to be and they too performed these rituals along with their "evil" neighbors. This is the condemnation the bible is going on about many (perhaps hundreds) of years after the fact when its written down. The comeback is that this is why "god" is all upset because the people have lost their way but the Sea People, not Joshua, obliterated the "evil" that was in the land. Hell, "god" did what he said. These aren't the same folks and so how is this even happening in the "land of milk and honey" if they were all driven out as per the agreement? Seems something isn't lining up here. Seems little Judah is jealous of big Israel and the others in town. And you know what? That's what ALL modern research is showing. Judah sucked. It had a shitty temple and was rather backwards and ALL of its neighbors were more advanced and had nicer stuff (including the Philistines who the bible makes out to be the backwards ones...sweet irony). These guys were jealous and until they got Cyrus the Great to rebuild their crappy pagan temple when they returned from Babylon many years later this is the stuff they wrote. But you won't convince someone who thinks modern researchers are all liars or "loonies" of any of this so I don't waste my figurative breath. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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