Horse sacrifice
Horse sacrifice is the ritual killing and offering of a
Many
Context
Horses are often
Some scholars, including
Mythology
This section includes a
White horse (mythology) The reconstructed myth involves the coupling of a king with a identity of the hero or king with the horse.Comparative ritualsVedic (Indian)Ashvamedha was a political ritual that was focused on the king's right to rule. The horse had to be a stallion and it would be permitted to wander for a year, accompanied by people of the king. If the horse roamed off into lands of an enemy then that territory would be taken by the king, and if the horse's attendants were killed in a fight by a challenger then the king would lose the right to rule. But if the horse stayed alive for a year then it was taken back to the king's court where it was bathed, consecrated with butter, decorated with golden ornaments and then sacrificed. After the completion of this ritual, the king would be considered as the undisputed ruler of the land which was covered by the horse.[3]
RomanThe Roman
IrishFollowing the 12th-century Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland, Norman writer Gerald of Wales wrote in his Topographia Hibernica that the Irish kings of Tyrconnell were inaugurated with a horse sacrifice. He writes that a white mare was sacrificed and cooked into a broth, which the king bathed in and drank from:[11]
This has been seen as propaganda meant to paint the Irish as a barbaric people and thus justify Anglo-Norman conquest.[13] However, there may be some truth in the account, because there are mentions of similar horse sacrifices associated with kingship in India (the ashvamedha) and Scandinavia.[11] GermanicHorse sacrifice played a central role in England and Scandinavia showing deposits of horses that have been eaten.[15]
Archaeology
The primary archaeological context of horse sacrifice are burials, notably Turkic tribes .
See also
Notes
References
Further reading
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