Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/357

 SACRIFICE

311

SACRIFICE

years. As the "Son of Heaven" and the head of the State religion, the Emperor of China is also the high-priest who alone may offer sacrifice to heaven. The chief sacrifice takes place annually during the night of the winter solstice on the "altar of heaven" in the southern section of Peking. On the highest terrace of this altar stands a wooden table as the symbol of the soul of the god of heaven ; there are in addition many other "soul tables" (of the sun, moon, stars, clouds, wind, etc.), including those of the ten immediate predecessors of the emperor. Before every table are set sacrificial offerings of soup, flesh, vegetables, etc. To the ancestors of the emperor, as well as to the sun and moon, a slaughtered ox is offered; to the planets and the stars a calf, a sheep, and a pig. Meanwhile, on a pyre to the south-east of the altar, a sacrifice of an ox lies ready to be burned to the highest god of heaven. While the ox is being consumed, the emperor offers to the soul-table of heaven and the tables of his predecessors a staff of incense, silk, and some meat broth. After the per- formance of these ceremonies, all the articles of sac- rifice are brought to special furnaces and there con- sumed. Similarly the emperor sacrifices to the earth at the northern wall of Peking, the sacrificial gifts being in this case not burned, but buried. The gods of the soil and of corn, as well as the ancestors of the emperor, have also their special places and days of sacrifice. Throughout the empire the emperor is represented in the sacrifices by his state officials. In the classical book of ritual, "Li-ki", it is expressly stated: "The son of heaven sacrifices to the heaven and the earth; the vassals to the gods of the soil and of corn." Besides the chief sacrifices, there are a number of others of the second or third rank, which are usually performed by state officials. The popu- lar religion with its innumerable images, which have their special temples, is undisgui.sed idolatry.

(6) Among the Egyidian^. — The ancient religion of the Egyptians, with its highly developed priest- hood and its equally extensive sacrificial system, marks the transition to the religion of the Semites. The EgjTDtian temple contained a dark chapel with the image of the deity; before it was a pillared hall, (hypostyle) faintly lit by a small window under the roof, and before this hall a spacious court-yard, enclosed by a circular series of pillars. The ground- plan proves that the temple was not used either for assemblies of the people or as the residence of the priests, but was intended solely for the preservation of the images of the gods, the treasures, and the sacred vessels. To the sanctuary proper only the priests and the king were admitted. The sacrifices were offered in the great court-yard, where also the highly popular processions, in which the images of the gods were borne in a ship, took place. The rites of the daily service of the temple, the move- ments, words, and prayers of the officiating priest, were all regulated down to the smallest detail. The image of the god was entertained daily with food and drink, which were placed on the sacrificial table. At the laying of the foundation-stone of a new tem- ple human sacrifices were offered, being abolished only in the era of the Ramassides; a trace of this repulsive custom survived in the later ceremony of impressing on the sacrificial victim a seal bearing the image of a man in chains with a knife in his throat. To the favourite god of the Egj-ptians, Ammon-Ra, the rulers of the New Empire made such extraordinarily numerous and costly votive offerings that the state became almost bankrupt. The Egj-ptian religion, which finally developed into abominable bestiolatry, fell into decay with the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria by the Eastern Emperor, Theodosius I (391).

(7) Among the Semites. — Among the Semites the Babylonians and Assyrians deserve first mention.

The Babylonian temple contained in the sanctuary the image of the god to whom it was consecrated, and in adjoining chambers or chapels the images of the other gods. The Babylonian priests were a private caste, the mediators between the gods and man, the guardians of the sacred literature, and the teachers of the sciences. In Assyria, on the other hand, the king was the high-priest, and offered up sacrifice. According to the Babylonian idea, sac- rifice (libations, offerings of foods, bloody sacrifices) is the due tribute of mankind to the gods, and is as old as the world; sacrifices are the banquets of the gods, and the smoke of the offerings is for them a fragrant odour; a joyous sacrificial banquet unites the sacrificers with their divine guests. Both burnt and aromatic offerings were common to the Baby- lonians and the Assyrians. The sacrificial gifts included wild and tame animals, fowl, fish, fruit, curds, honey, and oil. Sacrificial animals were usually of the male sex; they had to be without defects, strong and fat, for only the unblemished is worthy of the gods. Only in the rite of purification were female animals allowed, and only in the lesser ceremonies defective animals. The offering of bread on tables (showbread) was also usual. To the sac- rifices was attributed a purifying and atoning force, and the idea of substitution, the sacrificial victim being substituted for man, was clearly expressed. In the Babylonian penitential psalms especially, the deep consciousness of sin and guilt often finds touch- ing expression. Men were slain only with lamenta- tions for the dead.

The demonstration that the Chanaanites origi- nally came from Arabia (that ancient home of the races) to Palestine, and there disseminated the cul- ture of the ancient Arabians, is an achievement of modern investigators. While the Babylonian reli- gion was governcfl by the course of the stars (astrol- ogy), the s])ir:tuul horizon of the Chanaanites was fixed by the periodical changes of dying and reawak- ening nature, and thus depended secondarily on the vivifying influence of the stars, especially of the sun and the moon. Wherever the force of nature revealed evidence of life, there the deity had his seat. At fountains and rivers temples arose, because water brings life and drought, death. Feeling themselves nearest to the deity on mountains, hill-worship (mentioned also in the Old Testament) was the most popular among the Chanaanites. On the height stood an altar with an oval opening, and around it was made a channel to carry off the blood of the sacrificial victim. To the cruel god Moloch sacri- fices of children were offered — a horrible custom against which the Bible so sternly inveighs. The kindred cult of the Phoenicians originated in a low idea of the deity, which inclined towards gloominess, cruelty, and voluptuousness. We need only men- tion the worship of Baal and Astarte, Phallism and the sacrifice of chastity, the sacrifice of men and children, which the civilized Romans vainly strove to abolish. In their sacrificial system the Phoe- nicians had some points in common with the Israel- ites. The "sacrificial table of Marseilles", which, like the similar "sacrificial table of Carthage", was ol Phoenician origin, mentions as sacrificial victims, steers, calves, stags, sheep, she-goats, lambs, he- goats, fawns, and fowl, tame and wild. Sick or emaciated animals were forbidden. The Phoenicians were also acquainted with holocausts (kalil), wfiich were always supplicatory sacrifices, and partial offerings, which might be sacrifices of either sup])li cation or thanks. The chief efficacy of the sacrifice of men and animals was regarded as lying m the blood. When the victim was not entirely consumed, the sacrificers participated in a sacrificial banquet with music and dancing.

Concerning pagan sacrifice in general see Cbeuzer, SymboUk u.