Reasons for Female Child Sacrifice: A Historical, Mythological, and Religious Investigation
Reasons for Female Child Sacrifice: A Historical, Mythological, and Religious Investigation

Author(s): Ayşe Akinci Ambaroğlu
Subject(s): Cultural history, Customs / Folklore, Comparative Study of Literature
Published by: Scientia Moralitas Research Institute
Keywords: sacrifice; girl child sacrifice; Iphigenia; primitive religions; pre-Islamic Arabia; African societies;
Summary/Abstract: This study explores the phenomenon of female child sacrifice as represented in mythology, ancient African and Arabian societies, and sacred texts. Anchored by the myth of Iphigenia—immortalized in a mosaic unearthed in Perge, Antalya—the research traces how war, religion, and patriarchal control converge to justify and ritualize the killing of young girls. By examining archaeological, scriptural, and mythological data, this paper argues that the sacrifice of girls often functioned as both a political-religious tool and a mechanism of social control. It also questions the historical normalization of war and why girls, in particular, became its sacrificial symbols.

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