ABSTRACT
Sacrifice in Relation to Torture THE birth of the gods signified an advance from the can· cept of hatred as a subject concerned with purely private vengeance to a wider and more comprehensive· system in which sacrifice was a potent factor. Sacrifice may be considered to represent the first step towards the use of torture not only as a religious but also as a patriotic embellishment.. Into the mouths of the various deities were put demands for sacrifices. These sacrifices involved, in many cases, physical torture; and where the victim did not offer to immolate himself masochistically as a tribute to the omnipotence of the gods, they invariably involved psychological torture.
