3. Victims offered to the gods are immediately going up into the sky, where the gods are dwelling, and there they become new 'star-fishes'. I believe that is the reason why human sacrifices were called īka. "In ancient Mexico they used to strike a hard physical blow to the body of the victim, and then the soul of the victim was believed to ascend directly to the heavens, sidestepping the perils of the underworld." (Hancock) Another example of the belief of dead people being 'fishes' is a face-powder palette in slate from old Egypt. The wavy lines on the body of the fish are not scales, they illustrate waves and symbolized water.
But these waves are written vertically in the hieroglyph for water pools:
The fish is therefore swimming upwards. This type of fish has its eggs in its mouth and it therefore symbolized rebirth - when the small fish were leaving its mouth. The Egyptians believed that a dead person in his afterlife would arise from the water like the sun in the east. (Wilkinson) |
