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An ancient Zeus sacrifice skeleton was found in Greece.
An ancient Zeus sacrifice skeleton was found in Greece. The 3,000-year-old artefact belongs to a teenage boy and it was found in Mount Lykaion, in Greece, on the grounds of an ancient altar for Zeus.
The finding was revealed by the Greek Ministry of Culture, Education, and Religious Affairs. Archaeologists have excavated the skeleton from the site of a temple dedicated to Zeus, the Greek god of sky and thunders. It appears the skeleton belongs to a male teenager.
Ever since 2007, experts have revealed a massive altar with remains of drinking cups, human and animal figurines, vases, coins and many animal sacrifices, most of which were sheep and goats.
Some ancient literature sources mention that human sacrifices took place at the site. Until recently, no one had any idea whether that was true or not. But after human bones being discovered at the site, the perspective has changed – according to David Gilman Romano – professor of Greek archaeology.
The ancient writer Pausanias mentioned a legend about a king named Lycaon who got turned into a wolf while sacrificing a child.
The story goes like this: “Lycaon brought a baby to the altar of Zeus and sacrificed it. The blood poured over the altar, and right after the sacrifice, the man became a wolf.”
The legend further suggests that those who sacrificed animals and humans and cooked human flesh along with animal meat and ate the resulting concoction would be turned into wolves for nine years.
Archeologists don’t yet know if the teenager was sacrificed. A lot of the altar has not been excavated yet. The site looks more like an altar than a cemetery, according to scientists.
Mount Lykaion is situated in the Peloponnese area. That’s an early worshipping site for Zeus. It could also have been the scene of a massive slaughter.
From the 16th century b.c. until the time of Alexander the Great, thousands of livestock were sacrificed in Zeus’ name.
Zeus started out as a weather god but went on to become the ruler of the Greek Pantheon. The pottery and human remains date back to the 11th-century b.c., at the end of the Mycenaen era.
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