Wang Ping Methods of Human Sacrifice in Shang New Edition

8/19/2019 Wang Ping Methods of Human Sacrifice in Shang New Edition

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Methods of killing Human Sacrifice in Shang-dynasty Oracle-bone Inscriptions

Wang ping

Abstract

Records on human sacrifice have been revealed by the oracle-bone inscriptions of

Shang Dynasty. Human sacrifices carry special symbolic significance in Shang

Dynasty for worshipping spirits. Different methods of killing were used in worship

rituals. As the inscription reveals, some words are used as the methods of killing of

human beings in general. n the meantime, some special characters are used to refer

to specific killing methods through analysis of the characters and structures of the

language. !he lecture will focus on "# different methods of killing human sacrifice.

!he methods include beheading, splitting the body into halves, dismembering

bodies, beating to death, chopping to death, e$tracting blood, burying alive,drowning, burning to death, boiling, corpse displaying, e$posing body part to hot

sun. %ith the analysis of the different methods of human sacrifice, it is easy to

conclude that human sacrifice was a very common religious practice in Shang

dynasty. !hese practices reflect the cruelty of the rulers to their sub&ects and their

piety towards the spirits they worship.

1 Introduction:

Records centered on human sacrifice are called rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 in Shang

dynasty oracle-bone inscriptions. Ré njì 人祭 refers to the ritual of killing living

human individuals to worship spirits. Accordingly, the term r é nshē ng 人牲 refers to

living human individuals offered to the spirits as a sacrificeA. Actually, during the

process of the ritual of rénjì人祭 , the human sacrificial victims 'rénshēng 人牲( had

a special symbolic significance and were considered the best medium . !he methods

of killing human sacrifice refer to the way of killing living human individuals for

worshipping spirits. According to our study, though yòng 用 was used to designate

methods of killing human sacrifice in general), the use of special terminology

referring to the different methods of killing living human sacrifice was more

common. !he specific characters and structures used in the pictograms of these

terms allow us to infer information about the process of killing living humanvictims. *n the basis of Jiǎgǔwén Héjí 《甲骨文合集》+, we have selected " terms,

e$emplifying "# different methods of killing human sacrifice. !hese methods are

beheading, splitting the body into halves, dismember bodies, beating to death,

chopping to death, taking blood, burning, burying alive, drowning, e$posing and

drying.

Methods of killing human sacrifice：

!1 "eheading

ASee Hung h/nyu0. 黄展岳. Zhōngguó gǔdài dē rénshēng rénxùn中国古代的人牲人殉 ')1i&2ng3 %4nw5+h6b7nshè, !""#, $% !&%)'(( ()*+$( -é./ 0"1,232%+'(( 456 78958:;&% ?@ABCDén -é./% 甲骨文合集 [email protected] 'hK.L MNnBOìnPFn 中QRSTUV, !"W#X!"W1&%

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)eheading means to cut off a human sacrifice8s head and then offer it to the spirits.

!he technicalterms to record this method include !" Y and x# D.!he character of !" Y in Shang-dynasty oracle bone inscriptions depicts a dagger put

on the neck of a person. t was not only used to designate a method of killing living

human victims, but also as the name of a sacrificial ritual

9

. !he character of !"Y

shows the specific operational process of killing living human sacrifice, i.e. using a

dagger to cut off human sacrifice8s head for worship. !his method of killing human

sacrifice was :uite common in the sacrificial activities. Human sacrifices killed this

way were mostly male victims from alien tribes and they were offered mainly to

worship male ancestors;. !he officiant used the !" Y method to kill human victims to

show piety to the spirits and at the same time scare the alien tribes. Since this method

was used in the sacrificial activities very fre:uently, !" Y was also used for the name

of the sacrifice. ;or e$ample,

Z[Y


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?

&"ng'( jk was the name of recipients of sacrificial act.

According to our study, the method of !" Y was mainly used for worshipping male

ancestors8 spirits, but rarely for female ancestors8 and natural spirits. !he reason for

this may be that the generals who fought the wars were usually male.

Another point of interest is, that from the number of the human sacrifices killed in the

sacrifice, we can deduce the status of a recipient of a sacrifice during his live-time.

!hus, for e$ample the high status of the former emperors ZǔyN y] , )àji* z甲 ,

+hàngji* {甲 , when they were alive, is evident since they were usually offered ten

human sacrifices by !" Y sacrifice at each sacrifice.

!he character of x# consists of x# | and yu }. -# like !" Y means to cut off

human sacrifice8s head for worship@. -# | was a kind of servant, yu } was a kind of

weapon in ancient times, similar to an a$eH. !his kind of a$e was unearthed in manyShang dynasty archaeological sites and tombs. n rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 , x#

designates the same method of killing human sacrifice as !" Y. both of them imply

the use of a weapon, dagger or a$e, to cut off a human sacrifice8s head for the

sacrificial act.

! Splitting the body into hal#es

Splitting the body into halves refers to killing human sacrifice by splitting it into

halves for worshipping spirits. !he word /*0 a was used for recording this method

of killing human sacrifice in rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 . !he character /*0 a looks like a

circle split by two verticals. Hng BiCy thought the meaning of /*0 a , to split

human sacrifice8s body into halvesB, could be deduced from its character clearlyE .

;or e$ample,

a~•€fg a•~fg =-é./ 10#"1& =l@B59( 1&%

@n,!"W0H!03&H'(( I†nB „èhé *n> ‰JnB Ž/nB% 'h56 Dén .@Fì ˆGn>GnB [email protected] Ih6nBh5J 'hK.L, 0##0HW2!&… ”\‘’ %'(( ()*+$( -é./ 32,W#Wvwx,W#"vwx%B'(( ()*+$( -é./ 10!#W%E '(( -ƒnB ?@†Oì% ‚ìnB+ìnB >ē lēnh5% “>@o(> PO ML ˆŒnBDL %?@*B” Dénì BK,/n % [email protected] 'hK.L,!""H 122#X1220%&

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spirits> Should 'we( split five 1i2ng • human sacrifices and three cattle and then

offer them to spirits>?

1i2ng • here refers to the captives used as sacrifice from 1i2ng • tribe. !he human

sacrifices killed by this method mainly were male victims and were offered to male

ancestors8 spirits.

!$ %ismember "odies

Dismember bodies means to dismember human sacrifice8 s body to kill them for

worshipping. %ords for recording this kind of method include suì – and 32 .

!he character of suì – in oracle-bone inscriptions depicts an a$e. !he word suì – in

rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 is used like the word guì — in the written recordsG. !he character

of 32 in oracle-bone inscriptions is composed of 32 ˜ and 45 ™ . t refers to

dismember human sacrifice for worship.

n oracle-bone inscriptions, the human sacrifice killed by this method were

predominantly 1i2ng • , but also sometimes 45 š etc.;or e$ample,

›卜,œ： •žŸg=-é./ 21W& =l@B59(

2&%

?

Zhēng œ is the name of a man who held the office of oracle priest under Eing

9:d(ng ¡¢ during the first period of oracle-bone inscriptions. 6;g ‰JnB Ž/nB % 'h56 Dén .@Fì ˆGn>GnB [email protected] Ih6nBh5J 'hK.L, 0##0H0uW& …—, ¦§’% ¨

”©–ª % '(( l9 ()*+$( -é./0032W \ 003u0\003u1%='(( -é./ 1#3,W0"\"u2u%

J'(( 7« ?ìlJn , …'h†nB>*ì h6nB¬G >( 9én.ì hì> OJn.@K OŒ hènBh65 )@«sh5†nB¬@Jsh†nB>*ì O/hŒ >ē 9én.ì O/pLn Dé@ìŠ, ‹nH h6nBOL*n DénD =0##2H1&%

K


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!he character of 3óu consists of dòu ® and +h5 ¯ in oracle-bone inscriptions. sh5

¯ was also written as ° sometimes. According to the structure of 3óu , >u#

H é ngshēng ±²³ thinks the method of 3óu was using sticks to beat human sacrifice

to death for worshipping spirits*. !he human sacrifices killed by this method were

mainly captives from LiCng•

tribes and female slaves

M

. !he character of 3"nconsists of gōng ́ and 45 °, 45 ° was written also as yòu µ sometimes. 7ōng ´ is

like a point on the bowN 45 ° is like a hand beating something with a stick. hOo

+héng e$plained 3"n as 3"n ¶. He thinks 3"n is the original character of 3"n ¶L.

!he methods of 3"n and 3óu were alike, in both of them the human sacrifice

was beaten with sticks to death for worshipping spirits. According to the rénjì bǔcí 人

祭卜辞 , the number of human sacrifice killed by 3"n sacrifice was large. ;or

e$ample,

€·人[ g~·人\z¸g=-é./ 0u#!u& =l@B59(

3&%

@«n =ºnh5G% ºnh5G ?@O phKP«nshè , 0##!H3!W&%M '(( -é./ 0"3 ,131!%L'(( Ih thénB% ?@ABCDén ?@An+/nB t/>@An [email protected] 'hK.L,!"WWH02!&%R See PQ IngwQ. Ji*g: wén'ì g5@ín.')i&2ng3 hTnghu Sh6&Q."UUV3#UV-#UVW(.SSee Héjí WWV\U"X\###F"\#VUFV\F#"W#\F#"V#\KXU"K.

Y


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»：¼勿父乙十十，十。 =-é./ u#0& =l@B59( &

n rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 , the number of human victims killed by this method was the

largest one. ;or e$ample, there is a record in Héjí "X# 3


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ÀÁ[


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3 %ill there be ensuing rain if we sacrifice a ci female human sacrifice on

b(ngx5 丙戌 d ay by burning >?

;rom the inscriptions about this method of sacrificial killing we know that in thesacrificial activities aimed at praying for rain, female victims were considered most

efficientP. n ancient +hina, people8s livelihood depended on agriculture, so climate

was of utmost importance. Drought and floods would be a fundamental threat to

people8s lives. n ancient +hina, people relied on agriculture for a living. !hus, the

weather had a great influence on people8s lives. Droughts or floods could create

deathly threats. !herefore, the ji20 Ã sacrifice, aimed at praying for rain and avoiding

the drought, was a very important sacrificial activity in Shang dynasty. According to a

statistic by HQ H^u$uCn and HQ h0ny_, in the oracle-bone inscriptions there are "#W

records, which refer to sacrifices of praying for rain. !he victims killed by this

method were usually female. !he purpose of this kind of sacrificial act was to worship

natural spirits, especially the river and rain deities. ;emale victims were offered to

river deities to prevent floods and to rain deities to induce timely rain. !he fact, that

the Shang people used female victims so fre:uently indicates that female victims were

considered the best medium to communicate with the river and rain deities.

!he character @i"0 in oracle bone inscriptions depicts putting a person on a pyre. n

rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 , the specific way of killing human sacrifice by this method was

to put human sacrifice on a pyre to worship spiritsAA. Ci"0 was written as @i"0 Í in

the written recordsA). n ancient people8s mind, the deities lived above the sky, the

smoke rosed up there and then could be received by them easily. !o burn humanvictims originated under such kind of thought. At the first beginning of the sacrificial

act, the human victims mainly were the people who held the sacrificial activities A+ .

!he self-devotion indicated the worshipper8s great piety with a kind of solemn

atmosphere on the original meaning. Seeing from rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 , the human

victims killed by this method were mainly w5 ÎÏBi2ng • and nD Ð. Ji20 Ã and @i"0 sometimes were used together in rénjì bǔcí AD人祭卜辞 . )oth of the methods of

ji20 Ã and @i"0 were important ways of killing human sacrifice in the time of

Shang. Although there were similarities, the two methods were essentially different.

*ne of their similarities is that both of them were related to farming. !he main

difference is the gender of the victimsN the ji20 Ã sacrifice used mainly female

victims while the @i"0 sacrifice used male victimsA9. ;urthermore, their purpose

was different. !he ji20 Ã sacrifice had a specific purpose of praying for rainN the

PSee Héjí ""#"vwx, FX"VU\F##WU , F##UX.See HQ H^u$uCn and HQ h0ny_. A#n sh2ngsh( 'ShOngh7i. ShOngh7i r4nm\n ch6b7nsh0.#XXF3"F(. Apart from

praying for rain, there are records about conducting ji20 sacrifice which aimed at prevent floods. See e$amplein H4&\ F##UU. AASee PQ IngwQ. Ji*g: wén'ì g5@ín. ')i&2ng3 hTnghu Sh6&Q,"UUV3"KV(.A)See Cng E0h4 and %ng M\ng . +huō wén ji8'ì -#nd#ng ')1i&2ng3 hTnghu Sh6&Q, #XX#3VVK(3…Í\Ñ祭Ò

”’g A+See Héjí ""#"\""FX\""F#.ADSee Héjí FX"VU.A9See Héjí #FYKX, "XFU.

W


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purpose of @i"0 sacrifice was to pray for rain or for a good harvest year.

!, "oiling

)oiling refers to boil human sacrifice for worshipping spirits. !he special word for

recording this method is Er Ó which e:uated with Er Ô in the books been handed

down from the ancient times

A;

.

ÕÕ貍羌,隻二十五而二。v-é./ 2"" x =l@B59(

!#&%

hén Ö is e:uivalent to chén × in the books been handed down

from the ancient timesA@. n rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞 , chén Ö sacrifice was used very

fre:uently, the sacrifices including both of animals and human sacrifices. ;or

e$ample,

A;See PQ IngwQ. Ji*g: wén'ì gǔ@ín. ')i&2ng3 hTnghu Sh6&Q,"UUV3FKKY(. Also u`huOn IuCngTng 9rnin


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丁巳卜 , 其于河牢 ,沈。v- é./ 10!! x =l@B59(

!!&%


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for rain.

;or e$ample,

甲› ðå人 .ÅñÇ%v-é./ !#u" x =l@B59(

!0&%


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ø^卜, , Hò,h# ú was

used as a method of killing human sacrifice refers to carve open human victims8

bodies and then e$pose the body to become like dried meatA=.

û ú. v Héjí KX#Yx 'figure "K(.


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sacrifices and the rulers8 great piety toward spirits. +oncluded from the rénjì bǔcí 人

祭卜辞, the methods of killing human sacrifices had the following characteristics3

;irst, the methods of killing human sacrifices not only had various categories but also

were very cruel and barbarous. !he most common way of killing human sacrifice was

beheading since among all the words we have studied, !"Y

was used most fre:uently.Archaeologist had found many signs of beheading for worship at Ii7o ShuCng:io

and An Png relics of Pin dynasty. =any skulls were found separated from the bones.

!his might indicate that the human victims had been killed for sacrificial activities.

!he victims killed by beheading mostly were captives, many of them were from the

1i2ng • tribe. At the time of Shang, the 1i2ng • tribe lived in the northwest of

Shang lands, leading a nomadic life. !he people of the 1i2ng • tribe rebelled against

the Shang Dynasty from time to time. !herefore, the Eing %uding declared wars

against the 1i2ng • tribe many times. According to the records of rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜

辞 , the largest war against the 1i2ng • tribe included more than "F,XXX warriors

from Shang Dynasty. Since Shang people often fought with the 1i2ng • people, theycaptured a lot of captives from them, which were mainly used as human sacrifices.

Second, !he selecting of killing methods was dependent on the recipients and the

purpose of the worship. +ommon methods of killing human sacrifices for

worshipping ancestral spirits were beheading, dismembering, beating, cutting off feet,

taking blood, boiling, displaying, drying etc. !he purpose mainly was to pray for

blessings and support from ancestral spirits and ward off misfortunes. !he methods of

killing human sacrifices for worshipping natural spirits were burning, burying,

drowning etc. !he main purpose was to pray for a good harvest year and timely rain.

Ancestral worship originated under specific social conditionsN in the mind of the

Shang people, the blessing of their ancestors8 spirits alone could guarantee that the

whole clan would last forever. Ancestors were holy and unreachable. 9specially the

ancestors8 protection for their country and family8s dignity were valued and highly

thought of. !herefore, when they were worshipping their ancestors, they selected

various drastic killing methods. Ancient +hina was an agricultural society, timely rain

was of ma&or importance. !o satisfy the natural spirits who were in charge of rain, the

people selected appropriate methods, such as burying, burning, drowning.

;urthermore, the methods of killing human sacrifices for worshipping ancestral spirits

were many more than those for worshipping natural spirits. !his indicates that the

reverence for their ancestors was much higher than the veneration of natural spirits.!hird, the methods of killing female victims were not as cruel as male victims. !he

killing methods of female victims mainly were c sacrifice and 32 sacrifice.

;urthermore, the number of female victims was much smaller than the number of

male victims, since the ma$imum number of the former was up to FX while the latter

amounted to hundreds.

;ourth, the words recording the killing methods also were used as the name of the

sacrifice. )ecause of the fre:uent use of killing human sacrifice in sacrificial

activities, it had been a custom with a fi$ed name. ;or e$ample, !" Y refers to cutting

victiming heads down, apart from this, it was used as the name of sacrificial activity

means killing human sacrifice by way of cutting their heads down for worship. !he

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former one was the way of killing human sacrifice while the latter one was the name

of sacrificial act. !his indicates that the sacrificial name and the method were closely

connected.

n conclusion, to kill living human beings and offer to spirits was the cruelest custom

in rénjì bǔcí 人祭卜辞

Jearly all the methods to kill animals could be applied also tohuman sacrifices. !his reflected the low status of slaves and the rulers8 great despise

toward the common people. !he e$tremely cruel sacrificial activity showed the rulers8

great piety towards the spirits too. t was the specific representation of religion beliefs

at that time. !his is a worldwide religious phenomenon.

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Wang Ping Methods of Human Sacrifice in Shang New Edition

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