MAN FROM THE FARTHEST PAST 
threatening calamity. Certain peoples during the Bronze 
Age seem to have substituted animals for human beings 
on such occasions; but there remained a sort of latent 
feeling that in so doing they were cheating the gods out 
of their just dues. Even in the early centuries of the his- 
torical period, in times of great national danger or dis- 
“ aly, i — ~ Bad he = --* 
Fic. 100. Sacrifice of a slave, Congo region, Africa. After Frobenius 
aster, terrified tribes sometimes sacrificed their children, 
their most precious possessions. 
Thus we are told in the Old Testament that the 
King of Moab, as a last resort, “took his eldest son that 
should have reigned in his stead, and offered him for 
a burnt offering upon the wall.” Again, when the 
Greek fleet destined for the siege of Troy was, according 
to the legend, wind-bound at Aulis, King Agamemnon 
sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to secure a 
favoring wind. 
The custom of burying or cremating with the important 
dead their wives and slaves and close companions also 
began to assume prominence, it seems, in the early Bronze 
Age. The victims sometimes freely offered themselves 
to accompany their beloved lord beyond the grave, to 
lead with him in the next world the life to which they had 
been accustomed in this. More often, in all probability, 
they had little choice, but followed their master to the 
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