# Did they really sacrifice virgins to volcanos?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 18, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643 "2011-12-18T16:40:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/21 "2011-12-19T21:26:49Z")
IIRC, there are only about six or seven permanant… I forgot what the term was. Those craters full of magma you see in movies. Right, so there are only a handful of those in the world.
---
### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/22 "2011-12-19T21:27:53Z")
> **[Baal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal#Ba.CA.BFal_of_Carthage)**
>
> Baal (/ˈbeɪ.əl, ˈbɑː.əl/),\[a\] or Baʽal\[b\] (Hebrew: בַּעַל baʿal), was a title and honorific meaning 'owner', 'lord' in the Northwest Semitic languages spoken in the Levant during antiquity. From its use among people, it came to be applied to gods. Scholars previously associated the theonym with solar cults and with a variety of unrelated patron deities, but inscriptions have shown that the name Ba'al was particularly associated with the storm and fertility god Hadad and his local manifesta The He...
“Classical sources relate how the Carthaginians burned their children as offerings to Ba’al Hammon.”
> **[Moloch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moloch)**
>
> Moloch, Molech, or Molek\[a\] is a name or a term which appears in the Hebrew Bible several times, primarily in the book of Leviticus. The Bible strongly condemns practices which are associated with Moloch, practices which appear to have included child sacrifice.
> Traditionally, the name Moloch has been understood as referring to a Canaanite god. However, since 1935, scholars have debated whether or not the term refers to a type of sacrifice on the basis of a similar term, also spelled mlk, which m...
“As a god worshipped by the Phoenicians, Moloch had associations with a particular kind of propitiatory child sacrifice by parents.”
In both cases by fire.
Also in both cases, there are modern scholars that argue against child sacrifice being commonly practiced.
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/23 "2011-12-19T21:33:45Z")
> [@DocCathode](#):
>
> Never the less, at least some cultures did practice human sacrifice. Why did the Maya throw virgins into wells? Because the gods demanded it. The gods of the Aztec, Olmec, Toltec, Maya and Inca were just nuts for human sacrifice.
… Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens.
---
### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/24 "2011-12-19T21:35:59Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#):
>
> … Some believe that there may yet be brothers of man who even now fight to survive somewhere beyond the heavens.
I don’t catch the reference. The game Inca? Cthulhu?
---
### Author:  [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/25 "2011-12-19T21:45:10Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#):
>
> IIRC, there are only about six or seven permanant… I forgot what the term was. Those craters full of magma you see in movies. Right, so there are only a handful of those in the world.
All right, I found the [wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lava_lake). There are four active lava lakes, and three that are “intermittent”. Judging from the pictures provided, a real lava lake doesn’t look like in the cartoons.
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/26 "2011-12-19T21:48:25Z")
> [@DocCathode](#):
>
> I don’t catch the reference. The game Inca? Cthulhu?
The very sophisticated [Battlestar Galactica](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHD1uPVkyk0)intro.
---
### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/27 "2011-12-19T21:58:04Z")
> [@Lukeinva](#):
>
> Why on this green earth would any civilization want to throw their young virgins in a well or a volcano or anything? That thinking is beyond comprehension.
Better than sacrificing the sluts! (I loved that Drawn Together episode)
---
### Author:  [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/28 "2011-12-19T22:04:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> (I think Frodo was pretty damned fortunate in _Lord of the Rings_.
No luck was involved in Frodo’s case. Sauron used Orodruin (Mount Doom, the volcano, for you movie-only types) for his own purposes, so it was only natural that there’d be an entrance.
---
### Author:  [@Geek\_Mecha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geek_Mecha)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/29 "2011-12-19T22:10:34Z")
> [@Arkcon](#):
>
> the most _manu_
Mana.
---
### Author:  [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/30 "2011-12-19T22:11:46Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> No luck was involved in Frodo’s case. Sauron used Orodruin (Mount Doom, the volcano, for you movie-only types) for his own purposes, so it was only natural that there’d be an entrance.
And let me guess, Gandalf’s magic socks protected Frodo from the intense heat, meaning no luck involved there either? 🙂
---
### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/31 "2011-12-19T22:15:09Z")
Could we please not turn this into a Tolkien thread?
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [December 19, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/32 "2011-12-19T22:16:29Z")
> [@Geek\_Mecha](#):
>
> > [@Arkcon](#):
> >
> > had the most _manu_
>
> Mana.
[Manamana](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8N_tupPBtWQ#t=5s)!
---
### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/33 "2011-12-20T00:53:43Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#):
>
> No luck was involved in Frodo’s case. Sauron used Orodruin (Mount Doom, the volcano, for you movie-only types) for his own purposes, so it was only natural that there’d be an entrance.
It’s not the entrance that I’m saying his was “lucky” about – it was that there existed a sheer drop right into the lava. _That_ wasn’t required for Sauron’s purposes. (And, even if it was, you’d expect that in a few millennia things would change)
---
### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/34 "2011-12-20T00:56:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> It’s not the entrance that I’m saying his was “lucky” about – it was that there existed a sheer drop right into the lava. _That_ wasn’t required for Sauron’s purposes. (And, even if it was, you’d expect that in a few millennia things would change)
What did I say in post 31?
---
### Author:  [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/35 "2011-12-20T01:17:57Z")
The burning question I have is, **How would the volcanoes know?**
---
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/36 "2011-12-20T01:24:57Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#):
>
> The burning question I have is, **How would the volcanoes know?**
The volcanoes are perfectly capable of reading post 31. They’ve been literate for a millennia.
---
### Author:  [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/37 "2011-12-20T01:27:47Z")
Re: other cultures
I would say the myth of Iphegnia at Aulis and possibly others indicate times when the Greeks practiced human sacrifice.
I’ve also read – I can’t remember where – that the Romas sacrificed four people after Cannea.
---
### Author:  [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/38 "2011-12-20T01:33:12Z")
Re Other Cultures
Some of the peat bog mummies of the UK are definitely human sacrifice. They show signs of ritual killing. They were either royalty or treated like it.
---
### Author:  [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/39 "2011-12-20T01:52:34Z")
The real question is “What would a volcano do with all of those Star Trek fans anyway?”
---
### Author:  [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)
#### Post date: [December 20, 2011, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643/40 "2011-12-20T01:54:21Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#):
>
> Beats me, but that’s a good reason to start having sex young. 😉
My first thought was…so this is what pedophile preists did to keep the kids quiet back before candy. Don’t tell anyone, or you will get selected to appease Vol/pele/whatever.
[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643.md?page=1)
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-really-sacrifice-virgins-to-volcanos/606643.md?page=3)