• diegooooooo@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I think I half remember accounts that the roman resorted to human sacrifice by burying some guys alive to gain the gods favor.

    • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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      2 months ago

      They did! The Sibylline books, a series of cryptic poetic verses, which were consulted only in times of crisis and largely left unread otherwise, supposedly told them to do it. They buried four slaves, two Gauls and two Greeks if memory serves, despite the fact that Roman cultural norms regarded human sacrifice as odious and offensive to the gods. It was an episode that later Roman writers were always deeply uncomfortable with.

        • PugJesus@lemmy.worldOPM
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          2 months ago

          Rome is an obsession of mine. I gave up most of my basic life and social skills at character creation for this talent. :p

          And I’m still nowhere near real academics. Man, speaking with someone who can outright quote and translate sources from the top of their head? It’s like being a Catholic meeting the Pope.