Europe’s Pagans Imported Horses to Sacrifice… and They Got Them From Christians
<div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="schema:primaryImageOfPage og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Pagan-horse-sacrifice.jpg?itok=PbP9m-LR"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Pagan-horse-sacrifice.jpg?itok=PbP9m-LR" width="610" height="326" alt="New research has thrown into doubt long-held assumptions about the origin and the gender of horse sacrifices by the last European pagans. Source: Aljabakphoto / CC BY-SA 4.0." /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="schema:description content:encoded"><p>Horse sacrifices were a mainstay of pagan rituals across the Baltic. The archaeology leaves no doubt: from the 1st to 13th centuries AD this pagan belief scarcely wavered in popularity: even the loss of such an important animal was worth it to please your Dark Age gods.</p>
<p>Obviously, the ancient Baltic tribes needed a constant supply of horses for their ceremonial sacrifices. And, according to a new study published in the journal <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado3529" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">
Science Advances[/url], we now know where they got them. The last of the pagan Balts were buying their horses from Christian
Scandinavia.</p>
<ul>
<li>
King Aelle and the Blood Eagle: Ritual Sacrifice in Viking Age Britain</li>
<li>
Horses as Symbols of Power in History and Mythology</li>
</ul>
<p align="center"><img alt="The new research is based on multiple pagan sites of horse sacrifice, in Lithuania and beyond (French et al / Science Advances)" class="media-image" style="width: 610px; height: 476px;" typeof="foaf:Image" src="
https://www.ancient-origins.net/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/pagan.jpg?itok=cHkDpuTn" width="610" height="476" /></p>
<p align="center">
The new research is based on multiple pagan sites of horse sacrifice, in Lithuania and beyond (<a href="
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ado3529" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">
French et al / Science Advances[/url]
)</p>
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