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The Mimetic Theory (MT) of René Girard promises a new landscape for the humanities. In this paper I will outline MT, giving a brief overview of the terrain and how the theory works, defend MT against criticisms made against it, and argue that MT ought to be evaluated by a wider academic audience. / Thesis (Master, Philosophy) -- Queen's University, 2013-06-03 14:15:30.176

This essay takes its start in the problematic situation concerning source material in the study of the Norse religion before the Christianization of Scandinavia. There is a lack of written sources from the time when the religion was still practiced. There are plenty of archeological sources economic situation than their religious beliefs. The Icelandic stories written in the 13th and 14th centuries give us a broad pictureof the Norse mythology, but the writers were Christians which makes their reliability questionable. The focus of this essay is therefore on two texts written during the time when the Norse religion was still in practice. The first source is the travel notes written in 922 by the Muslim scholar Ahmad ibn Fadlan who met a group of the Rus’ people. The Rus’ were mainly Scandinavians (possibly from Sweden) and their religious practices hence falls under the category of Norse religion. Ibn Fadlan showed a great interest in the Rus’ and describes their ritual sacrifices and a funeral of theirs in great detail. The second source is the description of the heathen cult in the Swedish town of Uppsala written in 1076 by the Christian scholar Adam of Bremen. He describes Uppsala as the last outpost of the religion and among other things he describes their practices, their ritual sacrifices and a golden temple. I’ve used a comparative method as well as a historical critical method in order to findcredible similarities between the two sources. The focus is placed on the descriptions of the ritual sacrifices in both of the texts and how they can be understood in their context. This is done to find a common ground within the religion in order to construct a framework from which further research may find its foundation. With the help from earlier research on these two texts, on other written material, such as thethe Icelandic stories, and on archeological findings I’ve found many similarities between my two sources which can be considered as real parts of the Norse religion. These are the sacrifice to images of the gods, the sacrifice of different animals, the sacrifice in sacred groves and the hanging of scarified animals in trees and on treelike poles, the central role of sacrificing heads of animals and different ritual practices in order to experience a higher reality. Human sacrifice can be strongly questioned and both of the texts point to hanging as a mean of execution instead of sacrifice.

Soixante auteurs latins, du troisième siècle avant JC jusqu’au cinquième siècle de notre ère, sont convoqués dans ce travail pour contribuer comme annalistes, historiens, généraux ou Césars à démêler l’écheveau des mythes, légendes, faits historiques attestés relatant un sacrifice humain à Rome et dans l’Empire. Bien peu de ces faits furent eux-mêmes reçus comme sacrifices humains par les Romains toujours prompts à les interdire dans les provinces conquises, affirmant ainsi la supériorité de leur civilisation. Notre regard de penseurs modernes, soutenu par la rémanence toujours actuelle de véritables sacrifices humains dans le monde, nous conduit à explorer la littérature latine et, nous appuyant sur les textes dans une approche comparative, à tenter de distinguer les meurtres, assassinats, châtiments, des pratiques rituelles de mises à mort sacrées d’êtres humains. Le recensement de ces sacrifices, au sens où notre conscience actuelle nous enjoint de les définir comme tels, aboutit à une typologie dans laquelle sacrifiés, sacrificateurs, divinités allocutaires prennent la place que des siècles de respect absolu de la Loi, de la tradition, de la religion ont désignée comme nécessaire à la pérennité des institutions et de l’imperium romains. Au cœur de ces pratiques, souvent maintenues pendant des siècles, la puissance du sacré émerge comme un fondement consubstantiel à l’Urbs, le substrat de croyances générées par l’époque archaïque et consolidées par une fidélité indéfectible aux prescriptions des patres conscripti. L’angoisse des Romains affrontés aux peuples italiques puis aux barbares du nord et du sud, le constat amer que leurs légions ne sont pas invincibles et furent souvent vaincues, génèrent au fil des siècles une psychose de pérennité et de domination imposant un recours constant aux dieux protecteurs. Confortés par l’enseignement des mythes, généreux dans la transmission des légendes et l’admiration des héros, tout imprégnés de la cruauté de récits sanglants, les auteurs latins ne conçoivent les sacrifices humains que comme la mise en œuvre de rites religieux légaux à valeur expiatoire ou propitiatoire dans les situations de danger extrême pour la Cité. Il faut attendre l’apparition des premiers apologistes chrétiens pour qu’émerge une condamnation définitive de toutes les pratiques sacrificielles tant animales qu’humaines, en parallèle au rejet des divinités et croyances ancestrales. Une ère nouvelle s’annonce pour Rome, ère qui ne verra pas la disparition totale de tout sacrifice humain dans l’Empire. / Sixty latin writers, over the period from 3rd century b.c, to the 5th of our era are summoned in this work to contribute as annalists, historians, generals or caesars to untangle the skein of myths, legends, historical facts reporting a human sacrifice in Rome and in the Empire.Very few of these facts have been received as human sacrifices by the Romans, always eager to forbid them in the conquered provinces, thus maintaining the superiority of their civilization. Our look as modern thinkers, sustained by the present perpetuation of true human sacrifices in the world, leads us to investigate the latin litterature and, learning on texts with a comparative approach, to try to differentiate murders, assasinations, punishments, from ritual practices of sacred executions of humain beings. The census of such sacrifices, in the sense our present consciousness binds us to define them, results in a typology in which sacrified ones, sacrificators, adressed divinities, take the place that centuries of absolute respect of law, tradition, religion have appointed as necessary for the permanence of roman institutions and imperium.In the heart of these practices, often maintained during centuries, emerges the power of sacerty as a foundation consubstantial with Urbs, the substratum of beliefs generated by archaic times and strengthened by an indefective loyalty to prescriptions of patres conscripti.The anxiety of the Romans facing italic peoples and then northern and southern barbarians, the bitter acknowledgement that their legions are not invincible and had often been defeated, generate along centuries a psychosis of permanence and domination requiring a constant turn to protective gods.Strengthened by the lesson of myths, generous in the transmission of legends and heros admiration, wholly filled with the cruelty of bloody stories, the latin writers do not conceive the human sacrifices but as the realization of legal religions rites with either an expiatory or propitious value. One has to expect the appearance of the first christian apologists so that emerges a definitive condemnation of all sacrificial practices as much animal ones as human, at the same time as ancient beliefs and gods are thrown out. A new era is on the way for Rome, era which will not see the total disappearance of human sacrifice in the Empire.

Xipe Totec is an Aztec god often associated with agriculture and fertility. It is a deity type that is common in ancient societies dependent on agriculture but what sets him apart is his link to a rather brutal set of rituals. Known as ‘Our Lord, the Flayed One’ he is depicted in a flayed skin from a sacrificed victim, and the act of flaying is a central part of his mythology and worship. The study aims to investigate the reasoning behind the symbolism that connects brutal acts such as flaying with agriculture and fertility; and what the symbolism can tell us about the Aztecs’ mindset and worldview. To bring a successful conclusion to the study, Xipe Totec’s functions and roles are analysed from a social context. The study hopes to contribute to the study and interpretation of Aztec society and culture, especially concerning religion.

Yes / The lake-dwellings of the Circum-Alpine region have long been a rich source of detailed information about daily life in Bronze Age Europe, but their location made them vulnerable to changes in climate and lake level. At several Late Bronze Age examples, skulls of children were found at the edge of the lake settlement, close to the encircling palisade. Several of the children had suffered violent deaths, through blows to the head from axes or blunt instruments. They do not appear to have been human sacrifices, but the skulls may nonetheless have been offerings to the gods by communities faced with the threat of environmental change. / Swiss National Science Foundation

The aim of this essay is to discuss the double graves existence, content and meaning during the Swedish Iron Age. Being buried in pairs seems to have been relatively rare. Is the double grave a family grave or was one of the individuals a human sacrifice? The focus of this essay will be to discuss the possible relationship the people in the double graves may have had, but also to see how rare the grave type is with the help and inspiration of theories by Sarah M. Nelson. Are the graves family style graves such as husband and wife or parent and child? Are there any other possibilities for the existence of double graves? The most common interpretation of the double graves is that they are family graves. I will try to answer these questions by examining four Iron Age burial grounds in Sweden. I do not rule out that double graves may be family graves, however, if they were family graves, why are they so uncommon and where is the rest of the family? Why is it only two people in the grave? This makes me question if the double graves are something else but pure family graves. It is more likely that the double graves have been the results of accidents or disease where two people lost their lives at the same time.

This thesis examines the wetland sacrifices that were performed in Northern Europe in the Iron Age. Skedemosse on central Öland is the largest wetland sacrifice in Sweden and was the site of a cult which sacrificed animals and humans. Between the late second century and well into the fifth century the place was also used for large sacrifices of military equipment. New radiocarbon dates has shown that the place functioned as a ritual place from the Pre Roman Iron Age and into the Late Viking Age. Both in the Iron Age and later wetlands seem to have been both venerated and feared and the thesis discusses why this came to be, and how it can be seen in the archaeological material. A smaller part of the sacrificial site of Skedemosse was selected for a closer study and it was possible to establish several depositions which appear to have been treated slightly different from each other. The investigations of the animal sacrifices have focused on the horses as they are the most common animal. The horse was an important mythological animal in the Iron Age and they were equally important in the cult. The horses in Skedemosse were eaten in ritual meals, and it is possible that some of them took part in ritual races along the ridge east of the former lake.  Such races were called skeið and the name Skedemosse may be derived from this word. Skedemosse is also rare because the remains of ca 38 people have been found in it. Some of these people have suffered a violent death. They are compared to other bog bodies from northern Europe and the follow a similar pattern to those; In the Pre Roman Iron Age mainly women and children were sacrificed and after the first century AD mainly men ended up in the lake.

Ce travail propose de questionner un manque apparent de référents iconographiques à la pratique sacrificielle en Colombie préhispanique, alors que les récits du XVIe siècle l’évoquent aussi vigoureusement que dans d’autres aires panaméricaines. Deux axes de recherche ont été menés : une étude de cas pluridisciplinaire sur les Muiscas des hauts plateaux de Bogotá a permis d’étudier le lien existant entre l’acte et l’image, puis notre recherche s’est étendue à un ensemble iconographique macroscopique, pour en définir les modélisations socio-culturelles. Une définition et une interrogation des limites chronologiques, linguistiques, territoriales et politiques d’un tel travail ont été entreprises. Le récolement muséographique et iconographique, élargi à l’ensemble de la Colombie préhispanique, en forge l’essence même. Au sein du groupe muisca, un corpus ethno-historique des sacrifices humains a été compilé, et ses traces archéologiques ont été réévaluées, au sein de classements typologiques respectifs.L’étude des rites sacrificiels muiscas, associée à celle de leurs mythes cosmogoniques, a permis de définir un ensemble de symboliques, confirmées par les schèmes funéraires et l’iconographie. L’élargissement de cette analyse à d’autres productions iconographiques, au sein des frontières actuelles de Colombie, a permis de concevoir l’image à la fois comme une source d’information sur des rituels précis, en tant que support de représentation, mais également comme un vecteur de concepts symboliques et une écriture codifiée, un objet d’étude en lien à son support fonctionnel. Cette approche iconographique renouvelée permet à la fois de comprendre que le réalisme n’est pas le seul biais de compréhension d’une image, mais également que derrière d’apparentes dissemblances culturelles, il existe une unité conceptuelle et symbolique définissant les productions mythologiques, funéraires, architecturales, politiques, et enfin iconographiques des groupes étudiés. / This research enquires the apparent lack of iconographical display of sacrificial practices in Pre-Hispanic Colombia, while its ethno-historical depictions in the 16th century are as vivid as in the other parts of the continent. The proposed methodology consists of two lines of investigation. The first part offers a multidisciplinary case study on the Muisca culture in the highlands of Bogotá. Their sacrificial images and practices allowed to investigate the link between the sacrificial act and its representation. The second part extends its pattern to a macroscopic iconographical study, with the aim of modelling socio-cultural applications to a wider framework. We presented the chronological, linguistic, territorial and political limits of such work. An inventory of iconographical sources and museum collections, enlarged to the whole Pre-Hispanic Colombian productions, forms the essence of this work. For the Muisca culture itself, an ethno-historical corpus of sources was compiled allowing the revaluation of its archaeological traces, providing a typological classification for each.The study of Muisca sacrificial rituals, in association with their cosmogonical myths, allowed the investigation of a whole symbolic system, supported by both archaeological and iconographical data. By widening our frame of investigation to other iconography production within the frontiers of present day Colombia, we came ton conceive those images as a representative source on specific rites, but also as the vehicle of conceptual symbolisms and as a codified writing system, an object of study in relation to its functional support. This renewed iconographical approach proved that realism is not the only approach to our understanding of images, but also that beyond apparent cultural dissimilarities, the unity of the symbolism stands and governs the cultural productions in various ways, may it be mythological, funerary, architectural, political or iconographical.

73 Abstract The first part of my dissertation deals with the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel. It begins with the basic information about the philosopher as well as with his thinking placed within the context of the philosophy's history. Next step is Mr. Marcel's ideas about the feeling of the essence of life which is significant to experience in one man's life in order to set off the journey of englightenment. The feeling of the essence of life is unfortunately being silenced in nowadays people. After that I introduce the philosopher's conception of the imprisonment of a human being. This imprisonment is the cornerstone of his explanation of the metaphysics of hope. At the end of the first part I submit the power and the importance of hope in a human's state of mind which can be so stable that even the death of the beloved doesn't mean the end of hope. As mentioned before, the second part begins with the information about Mr. Albert Camus and I also put his philosophy in the context of the history. The most important step is to introduce his feeling of the futility without which the philosophy of Mr. Camus cannot be understood. The next vital part is his understanding and asking of one man's life relevance and also the philosopher's perception of a suicide. The cost of human life is the focal point of...