536 Proceedings of the Boyal Society 
there is no clear proof that one human sacrifice was ever offered 
up in G-reece during the historical period. We have, on the con- 
trary, abhorrence of such sacrifices frequently expressed. Herodotus 
denounces human sacrifices as an unholy deed (jrprjyfxa ovk 
octlov). iEschylus and Euripides * employ language of utmost 
detestation against it. The Delphic oracle calls it a foreign 
practice. Pausanias and Porphyrius deem it barbarous. And 
Sextus Empiricus, contrasting the different feelings of mankind in 
regard to the same acts, says of the G-reeks, — “ But we think that 
the temples are polluted by human blood.”t The same Greek 
detestation of human sacrifices is embodied in the tradition that 
Heracles gained renown by doing away with human sacrifice in 
various parts of the world .J 
5. That there is no satisfactory proof that the G-reeks at any time 
or in any place were in the habit of offering up human sacrifices. 
Certain rites may find an explanation in the supposition that 
human sacrifices were at an early period offered up ; but there is 
no historical testimony to show that the practice ever existed. 
And even in the cases where the practice may by some be regarded 
as the best explanation of the rite, we have not a genuine 
Greek race. The ceremonial on Mount Lycseus was Pelasgic. And 
the Agrionia and the sacrifices of the Athamantidse are connected 
with the Minyan Orchomenos, the seat of Pelasgic worship. So 
that we should have in these three cases the traditions of the wor- 
ship of the race which preceded the Hellenes, if we were to base 
any conclusion on the unsatisfactory information which we have 
in regard to them. And there are really no other decided cases of 
what can be regarded as survivals. 
6. That the writers of the third period, influenced by the belief 
that the ordinary gods of the G-reeks were demons of savage pro- 
pensities, lent a ready ear to any tale of horror connected with their 
worship, and that it is in these writers that we hear of the human 
sacrifices of the G-reeks ; but if we place the evidence for these 
* Welcker thinks that human sacrifices were attacked by Sophocles in his 
Athamas, by Achseus in his Azanes, and possibly by Xenocles in his Lycaon. 
— Die Griechischen Tragodien > vol. iii. p. 965. 
t Hyp. iii. 24, p. 209. 
t Welcker . — Griechische Gotterlehre, ii. p. 769. 
