this post was submitted on 11 Nov 2025
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Explanation: The Sibylline Books were a series of cryptic and sacred verses that were left unread, except in times of extreme crisis. When the Senate called for the Sibylline Books to be read, they would be carefully taken from storage, a random page chosen, and verses read as prophecy. How those cryptic verses are interpreted is, of course, much more flexible.
During the Second Punic War, when the Republic seemed on the edge of destruction by the Carthaginian military genius Hannibal, the conclusion from reading the Sibylline Books was to commit human sacrifice by burying four foreigners alive - two Greek slaves, and two Gallic slaves. Traditionally, human sacrifice was regarded as odious and offensive to the gods by the Romans - and the incident never quite sat well with later Roman writers, who tended to gloss over it with obvious discomfort.
Its always interesting to me how much human sacrifice does happen in ancient western/European cultures.
Especially considering how much judgement modern history puts against it while also simping for Rome endlessly.
As I said, the Romans themselves regarded the practice as odious - I don't know that I would regard this incident as indicative of a broader Roman trend so much as I would point to it as proof that cultural taboos can become weakened in times of extreme crisis. The taboo would later be formally codified into a law banning human sacrifices under all circumstances.
On the other hand, it is often pointed out that, though the Romans themselves did not regard it as human sacrifice, that there is a strong religious element in the gladiator games. For that matter, self sacrifice as a religious devotion was not unknown.
You are correct, though, that human sacrifice in general is widespread in ancient 'Western' cultures. The Gauls, the Britons, the Germanics and Norse, other Italic cultures, Greece, Thrace, Scythia...