Editor: Chiara Petrolini
Candrahasa sacrifices himself cutting off pieces of his own flesh and putting them on the fire [1598]
from: Razmnāmah by Abhinanda, India (The last volume of the Persian translation of the Mahābhārata commissioned in 990 by Akbar)
London, British Library, Or 12076 folio: 90v
Chased from Chapultepec, the Aztecs, led by their chief Tenoch, offer gifts to the king of Colhuacan and settle in the city; above, a group witnessing a sacrifice ceremony (ca 1596)
from: Tira de Tepechpan [Ms Mexicain 13–14, planche 4]
Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris
Coutume des Sacrifices chez les Angolais (The practice of sacrificing among the Angolans) (1729)
from: Aa, Pieter van der, Galerie agreable du monde, Leiden. Pierre vander Aa, 1729
The Library Company of Philadelphia
Emperor Jahangir and Prince Khurram at the gathering for the Feast of the Sacrifice (1615-1625)
from: India
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Islamische Kunst
Examination of Simon’s body after its discovery (1475)
from: Historie von Simon zu Trient [Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, 2 Inc.s.a. 62#Beibd], fol. 8v
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Execution of Jews in Trent (1475)
from: Historie von Simon zu Trient [Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, 2 Inc.s.a. 62#Beibd], fol. 10v
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Execution of the baptized Jews in Trent (1475)
from: Historie von Simon zu Trient [Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, 2 Inc.s.a. 62#Beibd], fol. 12v
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
German broadsheet showing pilgrims visiting the relics of Simon, in a position known as victima. Bound with the account of Matthia Tiberino [description provided by Magda Teter] (1475)
from: Bayerische StaatsBibliothek, Rar. 338
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Munich
Giant snake eats a lion while a man is attacked by beasts with sharp teeth. Includes the bodies of other victims or sacrifices. Description of a temple in the Yucatan discovered by Francisco Fernandez de Córdoba and Cristobal Morantes. The temple is described as being a theater of marble with huge figures carved on the top. People were daily executed within the bars and their bodies thrown down on the ground below (1671)
from: Arnoldus Montanus, De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld, Amsterdam, Jacob Meurs, 1671, p. 73
John Carter Brown Library
Horse sacrifice (Asvamedha) (1712)
from: Ramayana, Bala Kanda, Ms Add. 15295, fol. 33
British Library, London [from Udaipur]
Human sacrifice in the forest (1660)
from: Johan Picardt, Korte beschryvinge van eenige vergetene en verborgene antiquiteten ... in het antiquiteet-rijcke landschap Drenth, Tymon Houthaak, Amsterdam, 1660, fol. 67
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Human sacrifice. Native American plunges a knife into another's chest. Two bodies hang, a statue of an idol or devil on a pillar stands at left (1554)
from: Pedro Cieza de León, Parte primera de la chronica del Peru, Antwerp, Iuan Steelsio, 1554, pag. 48
Ibrahim Preparing to Sacrifice Isaac (17th)
from: Ishaq b. Ibrahim al-Nayshaburi, Qisas al-Anbiya (Tales of the Prophets), ms, fol. 43 Turkey
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Edwin Binney, 3rd Collection of Turkish Art at the Harvard Art Museums Object Number 1985.275.43
Immolation of a Hindoo Widow (1814)
from: Lester. The Gallery of Nature and Art, 1814
London, Wellcome Collection
In left background the death of Samson among the pillars of the temple (1625-1630)
from: Icones Biblicae', published by Merian in Frankfurt
The British Museum, London
In the palace, Rāvaṇa and his remaining brothers and sons are bowed down by grief and Rāvaṇa wonders how he can ever be victorious in this conflict, when so many demon champions have been slain. Another son, Indrajit, boasts that he will overcome Rāma and Lakṣmaṇa and sets out in his chariot, surrounded by other demons on elephants, horses and in chariots. In a separate chamber (the text actually says on the battlefield), he prepares offerings, seizing a young black goat by the neck, to the god of Fire in order to conjure up his most magical weapons and to make himself invisible. (ca 1653)
from: Ramayana [ms Add. 15297(1), fol. 97]
British Library, London [from Udaipur]
Interior of a temple with an idol which has horns and faces on its chest. Also includes torches and lamps. Includes a scene of sacrifice, bones or skeleton, knife, and European soldiers. (1671)
from: Arnoldus Montanus, De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld, Amsterdam, Jacob Meurs, 1671, p. 82
John Carter Brown Library
Jephte sacrifices his daughter (1493)
from: Cest le mirouer de la redempcion humaine (GW M4304210), Fol, f4r [Paris]
Stabi, Berlin