Ancient Mysteries: Human Sacrifice (1997)
*** (out of 4)
Two decades after hosting "In Search Of...", Leonard Nimoy returned to television with this similar themed series that originally aired on A&E. The series took a look at various mysteries across the world and featured Nimoy and is excellent voice serving as narrator. Each episode would tackle a new subject and would feature any video or audio evidence that had been captured and there's also interviews with experts, witnesses and of course non-believers.
The practice of human sacrifice is the subject of this episode as we talk about the various forms and religion that used the matter. We start off about the meanings behind Genesis 22:1 in which a child was to be sacrificed and how it involved both Abraham and Issac. From here we learn about a Danish practice where humans were sacrificed and we learned about this in the 1950s when many bodies began to be discovered. Most of them had their heads beaten in, throats slashed and they were also hanged. Also discussed are the Aztecs of Mexico who killed over a thousand people in one day in 1487 when their temple was first opened. We also hear of a practice where the high priest would wear the victims face and another about a Hindu Goddess. The subject here is certainly a very fascinating one and it was refreshing to hear the experts say that these people weren't doing some good or brave but instead it really wasn't anything other than murder. As one expert points out, it was never the high priest who sacrificed himself for the cause but instead the ones in power went untouched while the lower people were killed. Children being killed is also discussed and it is interesting hearing people talk about the connection a parent has with their child and question how on Earth anyone could just give their baby over to be killed.
*** (out of 4)
Two decades after hosting "In Search Of...", Leonard Nimoy returned to television with this similar themed series that originally aired on A&E. The series took a look at various mysteries across the world and featured Nimoy and is excellent voice serving as narrator. Each episode would tackle a new subject and would feature any video or audio evidence that had been captured and there's also interviews with experts, witnesses and of course non-believers.
The practice of human sacrifice is the subject of this episode as we talk about the various forms and religion that used the matter. We start off about the meanings behind Genesis 22:1 in which a child was to be sacrificed and how it involved both Abraham and Issac. From here we learn about a Danish practice where humans were sacrificed and we learned about this in the 1950s when many bodies began to be discovered. Most of them had their heads beaten in, throats slashed and they were also hanged. Also discussed are the Aztecs of Mexico who killed over a thousand people in one day in 1487 when their temple was first opened. We also hear of a practice where the high priest would wear the victims face and another about a Hindu Goddess. The subject here is certainly a very fascinating one and it was refreshing to hear the experts say that these people weren't doing some good or brave but instead it really wasn't anything other than murder. As one expert points out, it was never the high priest who sacrificed himself for the cause but instead the ones in power went untouched while the lower people were killed. Children being killed is also discussed and it is interesting hearing people talk about the connection a parent has with their child and question how on Earth anyone could just give their baby over to be killed.