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Female human sacrifice in Shang-dynasty oracle-bone inscriptions
Author(s)
Date Issued
2015
ISSN
2384-3152
Citation
The International Journal of Chinese Character Studies, 2015, Vol.1(1), pp.49-84.
Type
Peer Reviewed Journal Article
Abstract
Human sacrifice is a religious practice in which living human individuals are consumed to worship natural and ancestral spirits. Ample evidence of this practice during the Yin-Shang period is furnished by oracle-bone inscriptions, which are extant from ca. 1200 B.C.E. This paper addresses the issue of female human sacrifice in Shang-dynasty oracle-bone inscriptions both from the point of view of religious studies and from a socio-historical perspective. Proceeding from a systematic overview of the various categories of female human sacrifice in the inscriptional record, the paper analyzes the social status and origins of the victims in order to better understand the specific functions and peculiarities of female human sacrifice under the Shang.
人祭是以人作為祭品祭獻神靈的宗教儀式.甲骨文作為一種特殊的文字載體,記錄了殷商時期人祭這一宗教現象.本文從社會歷史學和宗教學的角度, 以殷商甲骨文為研究材料,對其中有關女性人牲辭例進行了整理,歸納女性人牲的種類,分析女性人牲的身份和來源,研究女性人牲在殷商人祭活動中的作用與特徵.
人祭是以人作為祭品祭獻神靈的宗教儀式.甲骨文作為一種特殊的文字載體,記錄了殷商時期人祭這一宗教現象.本文從社會歷史學和宗教學的角度, 以殷商甲骨文為研究材料,對其中有關女性人牲辭例進行了整理,歸納女性人牲的種類,分析女性人牲的身份和來源,研究女性人牲在殷商人祭活動中的作用與特徵.
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