My interest in this subject stems from my studies in the area of History of Medicine and specifically during the ancient Egyptian period. In this contest the arguement centres round two slabs from the First Dynasty (v.i.).

Some Egyptologists considered these two slabs as representing human sacrifice, however, Vikentiev was the first to point out that this representation is for the operation of tracheostomy (v.i.). Those who support the view of human sacrificies in ancient Egypt used some depictions of paintings on tomb walls as further evidence to support thier view without solid foundation.

Accusations that the Copts practised human sacrifice are widespread among certain quarters.

To study this subject we will tackle it through the following angels:

Did the ancient Egyptians had such practices?
Was any such practices known or being reported by foreign visitors to ancient Egypt?
When was the accusation that the Copts practised human sacrifice first surfaced in literature?
The reliability of those who first mentioned such practise.
Does this accusation serve any purpose?
Does such accusation still circulate till now?
 

1.      Did the ancient Egyptians practice human sacrifice?

Here we need to discuss this question in two parts:

a)      Pre-History and the early first dynasty period.

b)      The subsequent periods following the above.

Some Egyptologists were of the opinion that such practise did exist in the very early days of the ancient Egyptian (AE) history[1] namely in pre-history and the very first dynasties (first dynasty and perhaps the second). That takes us to around 3000 BCE.

The evidence they provide is circumstancial as there are no solid facts to support such theories.

One reason for such theories is the arrangements and findings in the tombs of the first kings of the first dynsaty. It was found that the king's tomb is surrounded by several tombs with young inhabitants in their twenties (Figure 1). However, there was no evidence of violent deaths nor that of torture and it is very likely that these courtiers were soldiers who possibly died defending their king. It is to be noted that during these periods the societies were not that ordered and the system of ruling the country was not that established with many fights and wars between local rulers before the establishment of a united kingdom with one king governing all Egypt.

Hence it is save to say that in the absence of clear evidence of human sacrifice, violent deaths or torture we can not accuse those ancients of restoring to this practise. These tombs were in Saqqara and studied by Emery and others in Abydos studied by Reisner and Petrie and both sets of tombs dates to before 2890 BCE.

The second reason provided is the presence of certain slabs showing what on first superficial examination can be construed as "throat cutting'. Still these slabs dates to the very early history of AE.

Professor Vladimir Vikentiev the Egyptologist who taught in the Egyptology Institute of Fouad I University (changed to Cairo University after the officers' movement of 1952) presented a thorough study on the subject to the Institute D'Egypte in January 1950. He proved that what was shown on the slabs (Figures 2-4) were tracheostomy performed during the celebrations of the Jubilee of the monarch[2] (Vikentiev, 1951). I studied this subject and came to the same conclusion as presented in my PhD thesis[3] (Pahor, 2006). These slabs are known as King Aha and King Djer slabs referring to two kings of the first dynasty going back to before 2890 BCE as well.

It is apparent from the discussion above that the answer to the question under item 1a above is at worst perhaps, may be, or not sure, though the author gave and has enough evidence to give a no answer. Hence there is no proven evidence of human sacrifice in the early AE history.

During the later periods of AE history (item 1b above), there were annual celebrations for the ocassion of the Nile innundation. In these, the Pharaoh used to throw in the Nile a poem praising the generosity of the Nile and the god "Habi" to the land of Egypt. Never has been any record for any humans being thrown in the Nile on such ocassions. However we need to mention two points for the purpose of completion:

i.                    In the tomb of Ramses VI is depictions of beheadings which was considered by some (Ghalioungui) as possible human sacrifice. But if we consider the state of the country during this time, these illustrations should be considered as what the enemies of the Pharaoh would expect to receive if captured in war. Even today similar "slogans" are branded against the enemies of a country.

ii.                  At some period during the history of AE, criminals would be thrown in the Nile for the crocodiles as punishment. This should be seen as one of the practises of capital punishment at that part of history.

It is thus apparent from the above that after the first dynasty there is no prove of any human sacrifice in AE of any form or shape, and definitely not during any celebrations including those of the Nile innundation.

To answer point 1 above: there is no prove that the ancient Egyptians resorted to human sacrifice after the first dynasty. Even during the pre-history and first dynasty period, any such practise is questionable.

2.      Was any such practices known or being reported by foreign visitors to ancient Egypt?

All foreign visitors who visited AE did not report any such practise. Of special importance are the following visitors:

a.       Herodotus: He reported human sacrifices practised in Scythia but did not mention any in Egypt.

b.      Strabo: reported human sacrifices by the Druids but not by the Egyptians.

c.       Diodorus Siculus: reported such practises among the Celts but not among the Egyptians.

d.      Julius Caesar: was appauled to notice such practices among the Celts and worked to stop it, but he mentioned no such observations about the Egyptians; he had the power to order its cesation if he would have known of any.

It is quite clear that visitors to Egypt who visited other lands and commented on human sacrifices in these parts of the world did not have any reason to include Egypt among the nations that practised such acts; and there was nothing to stop them from mentioning this if they knew of any.

3.      When was the accusation that the Copts practised human sacrifice first surfaced in literature?

The first ever to mention this accusation was Ibn Abd Al-Hakam[4], borne AH187 died AH257 (AD 802-870) in his book: Futuh Misr (The Conquest of Egypt).

The story is recited in his book pages 149-151 and in summary:

He claims that the Copts had the habit of throwing a young virgin in the Nile so that it innundates. They had this habit for many years and asked the head of the invading Arab army, Amr Ibn Al-Ass to permit them to carry on their custom which they were practising for many years. Amr asked them to wait till he sends to the Caliph in Madina in Arabia to seek his advice. Amr duly sent a massage to the Caliph Omar who replied:

In short: Do not permit them to do such an act. Throw this paper which I send you into the Nile with these words: If you (ie the Nile) flow from your self so we do not need you but if you flow from Allah then flow.

The story goes on to say that the Nile water  level  rose overnight by 16 Cubits = 8 meters = 27 feet.

Analysing this story we see:

a.       The Copts were accused of a practise that history shows their ancestors did not practise for at least 3700 years, and it is doubtful that they ever practiced it.

b.      Normal flooding takes weeks to reach the usual level of innundation; but for such a level to be reached overnight must have caused a mini-tsunami with loss of many lives especially that the population was not warned against such a tremendous surge of Nile water. There is no record of any such calamaties from the Nile during the period of the Arab invasion.

c.       Nothing is mentioned in this story concerning how long it took the massanger to go to Madina and come back with the piece of paper from the Caliph.

d.      No record of any of the above in the book of Youhanna Al-Nekusey the Coptic Bishop who recorded the events of the Arab invasion of Egypt.

e.       Not to mention that such a practise would go contrary to the religious believes of the Christian Copts.

4.      The reliability of those who first mentioned such practise?

The same author who wrote this accusation has in his book the following statements in one and the same page:

a.       One of the Queens of Egypt was named "Daloukka" and she ascended the throne when she was 160 years old; none such Queen is known in the whole history of Egypt.

b.      Moses killed "Auf" and the later had a bed that was 800 cubits in length (= 400 meters=1333 feet) and a wedth of 400 cubits. Moses then made of "Auf" a bridge over the Nile for people to cross over.

Reading the book of Abd Al-Hakam one will find many stories that have the same flavour as the above two.

The question that thrust itself: can the same author be trusted with other stories?

5.      Does this accusation serve any purpose?

The conquering Arab armies and the Arab rulers of Egypt came from the Arab Penincula to a country that had the greatest civilisation of the world. It was also known that before Islam some Arab tribes had the habit of killing their new borne girls. It is thus understandable that some writers can resort to invent stories that compensate for such obvious differences.

6.      Does such accusation still circulate till now?

It is sad to notice that these accusations still are circulating in the 21st century.

Examples of propagating this myth can be seen on searching the net in May 2012 (extracts taken from some of these sites):

http://ghyoom.com/ib/lofiversion/index.php/t48156.html

انتشرت ظاهرة (( عروس النيل ))

التي تقضي بالقاء فتاة شابة مزينة بالحلي في النيل

ليفيض وقد توقف العمل بذلك على يد القائد المسلم " عمرو بن العاص "

عندما توقف النيل عن الجريان لمدة ثلاث أشهر

فأرسل لعمر بن الخطاب رضي الله عنه ليستشيره في الأمر ورد عليه

برسالة طالباً إلقائها في النيل بدلاً عن العروس وقال فيها :

((هذه رسالة من عمر بن الخطاب إلى نيل مصر أما بعد ،

فإن كنت تجري من لدن الله فنسأل الله أن يجريك ...

وإن كنت تجري من لدنك ، فلا تجري فلا حاجة لنا فيك ))

فجرى النيل وفاض .

http://alfikra.org/chapter_view_a.php?book_id=10&chapter_id=6

والتاريخ يخبرنا أن المسلمين ، لدى فتح مصر ، قد وجدوها ) التضحية الحسية بالفرد البشري (تمارس في صورة عروس النيل ، فإنه قد قيل أن عمرو بن العاص ، فاتـح مصر وأميرها يومئذ ، قد انتبه ذات يوم على جلبة عظيمة ، فسأل عنها ، فأخبر أن القـوم قد جرى عرفهم بأن يتخيروا بنتا، من أجمل الفتيات ، ومن أعرق الأسر ، يزفونها كل عام إلى النيل ، يلقـونها في أحضانه فداء لقـومها من القحـط ، لأنها تغـري النيل بأن يفيـض عليهـم باليمن والبـركات ، فطـلب إليهـم عمرو بن العاص أن يستأنـوا بهـا ، حتى يستأمر عمـر بن الخطاب في ذلك ، فكتب إلى عمـر ، فـرد عمـر بجوابه المشهـور الذي قال فيه:

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
من عبد الله عمر بن الخطاب ، أمير المؤمنين ، إلى نيل مصر .
السلام عليك ورحمة الله تعالى وبركاته .
أما بعد ، فإن كنت تفيض من عندك فلا تفض ، وان كنت إنما تفيض من عند الله ففض .

وأمر عمرو بن العاص أن يلقيه في النيل ، ففعل ، وفاض النيل ، وأبطلت من يومئذ تلك العادة ، وتم بالعلم فداء جديد للفرد البشري

The following site is an official Egyptian govermnet site and during a search at May 2008 this myth was utilized in producing a "Fatwa" against any celebrations for the annual event of the innundation of the Nile:

http://www.dar-alifta.org/ViewFatwa.aspx?ID=3242

The government before this Fatwa used to organise a big Nile show with boats joining and a statue of a young girl being thrown in the river. The fatwa stopped that. In a search during May 2008 the following Fatwa was on the site:

الموضوع:الموضوع (1308) الاحتفال بوفاء النيل ليس من الدين فى شىء.
الـمـفـتـــي:فضيلة الإمام الأكبر الشيخ جاد الحق علي جاد الحق

نشرت جريدة الأهرام بتاريخ 6/8/1981

ولم يكن العرب وحدهم هم وأدة البنات ، بل شاركهم فى ذلك المصريون القدماء، فقد روى التاريخ أن المصريين كانوا يحتفلون بيوم وفاء النيل فى شهر توت أو مسرى كل عام ،

، وقد كان هذا الحفل ينتهى بإلقاء عروس فى النيل

، وقال أيها النيل إن كنت تجرى باسم الله ومن الله فإن الله مجريك ، وإن كنت لا تجرى إلا بهذه العروس فلا تجر

، فهل يجوز بعد أن مضى على وأد هذه العادة المصرية الجاهلية قرابة أربعة عشر قرنا من الزمان أن نعود إليها ونخالف حكم الله  

The author is very glad that a search on 21st May 2012 failed to reveal the same.

It is also of note that the celebrations by the innundiation returned and was attended by Dr Ali Gomaa the Grand Mufti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAur3YypgdI

[Date: 18th October, 2010]

The following site refutes this myth and is worth visiting:

http://adab.niceboard.com/t3632-topic

In summary:

There is no solid prove that the ancient Egyptians practised human sacrifice.
There is no evidence to support Abd Al-Hakam's story that the Copts were of the habit of throwing a young girl in the Nile to cause it to innundate; such a story is a pure myth.
 

This paper is based on the following two presentations:

A presentation in May 2008 to the Conference entitled: Coptic Culture: Past, Present and Future held in Stevenage, England. This presentation was published in:
            Coptic Culture: Past, Present and Future. Editor Mariam Ayad. The Coptic            Orthodox Church Centre, Stevenage, UK, pp.69-74, 2012.

            The paper was entitled: Did The Copts Practice Human Sacrifice?

A presentation in October, 2010 to the 42nd World Congress of the International Society for the History of Medicine held in Cairo and appeared in the CD proceedings of the conference.
            The paper was entitled: Did The Ancient Egyptians Perform Tracheostomy?

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[1] Manley, Bill, Editor (2003). The seventy great Mysteries of Ancient Egypt. Thames and Hudson, London, pp. 35-37.

[2] Vikentiev, Vladimir (1951). Bulletin de L’Institut d’Égypte Tomb XXXII: 171-228     (Session1949-1950), Cairo, Egypt.

[3] Pahor, Ahmes Labib (2006). Oto-Rhino-Laryngology in Ancient Egypt. PhD Thesis. Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands, November, 2006.

[4] Ibn Abd Al-Hakam, Futuh Misr, Madboully Library, Cairo, Egypt. No 10 in series: Pages in the History of Egypt.

Ahmes Labib Pahor, PhD

Consultant Oto-Rhino-Laryngologist, England