Tea at Trianon: Human Sacrifice in Minoan Civilization

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Sunday, February 4, 2024

Human Sacrifice in Minoan Civilization

Most pagan cultures have some form of human sacrifice. From The Greek Reporter:

New archaeological discoveries on Kastelli Hill in the Old Town of the city of Chania, Crete, relating to the Minoan period provide the first piece of undisputed evidence for human sacrifice in the Minoan civilization. Ongoing excavation research being carried out on Kastelli Hill in the Old Town of Chania under the direction of Dr Maria Andreadaki-Vlazakis, and with support from the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania, has uncovered the site of an ancient Minoan sacrifice.

The excavation work is taking place in Katre Street, Chania, where the uncovering of the large – mostly damaged apart from intact column bases – hypostyle room-hall of the 14th century BC is in progress. The area forms part of the palace complex of Kydonia, from the Creto-Minoan period, which was destroyed by an earthquake midway through the 13th century BC. The earthquake was followed by the sacrifice of a girl along with 43 goats, a number of sheep, four pigs and two oxen, which is believed to be a unique find of great importance for archaeology, because it presents the first undisputed evidence of human sacrifice in the Minoan period.

It is understood that in the years following the destruction of the hypostyle hall, the area was converted to an outdoor space, where in the Geometric period (8th century BC) large accumulations of broken pithos and sizeable vessels accrued – part of which was discovered in this latest excavation. (Read more.)