Among the forms of human sacrifice must be reckoned reli gious suicide, mainly found in India but not unknown in Africa and other parts of the world.
Both on the mainland of Greece and in the Greek colonies human sacrifice was practised, usually as a means towards expulsion of evil. (See GREEK RELIGION.) At Rome the scapegoat did not suffer death ; but in the Satur nalia a human victim seems to have been slain till the 4th cen tury A.D. Many forms of animal sacrifice were found. (See ROMAN RELIGION.) Sacrifice in Egypt.—Of Egyptian ritual little is known. (See EGYPT : Religion.) Sacrifice in India.—Among human sacrifices may be men tioned the suttee, or custom of immolating a widow on the funeral pyre of the husband, and the Khond sacrifice of the Meriah, who was either purchased or the son of a victim father. Some days before the sacrifice, the victim, who was often kept in captivity for long periods, was devoted and his sanctity was increased; finally he was put to death by strangulation or pressure. The remains were dismembered and distributed among the fields, ex cepting the portion offered to the earth goddess, which was buried.
Especially in West Africa, many forms of sacrifice are found. Three main forms of human sacrifice ex isted : (I) the scapegoat; (2) the messenger ; and (3) the expia tion; but combinations were not infrequent. On the Congo, if a man committed a murder, the community voted whether he should die or be expelled; if the latter, a victim was killed, of which all partook; this is not a piaculum for re-establishment of the tribal bond, for the criminal is driven out of the community.
The Pawnees had an elaborate ritual, in which a human victim was sacrificed to the Morning Star; the blood of the victims was sprinkled on the fields, and the details of the rite are not unlike those of the Khond custom. The Iro quois sacrifice of the white dog bore in later times the character of a scapegoat festival. In Mexico human sacrifices were very common, the number being estimated at 20,000 a year.