Witch hunts and witchcraft processes for religious or political reasons have forever remained one of the darkest chapters in human history.
A huge number of innocent people, mostly women, were interrogated, tortured and executed. The processes in the city of Salem became especially famous. Torture and punishment were the most ingenious and bizarre and invariably cruel. For a long time, millions of people have possessed the most incredible prejudices and superstitions. Witch trials have a long history dating back to incredibly ancient times.
Witchcraft in prehistoric times
In the days leading up to the establishment of monotheistic religions, witchcraft was a common and constant practice. Almost everyone did it, since belief in the supernatural was ubiquitous. Witchcraft and magic have existed since about the time that a person had developed speech and ways of artistic depiction. Witchcraft existed long before civilization. The rock carvings show various rituals, primarily designed to attract good luck while hunting. Also, based on the analysis of the drawings, it becomes clear that even at that time shamans were considered to have a special connection with gods or other supernatural beings. Shamans ruled over the spirits and forces of nature.
Witchcraft in Ancient Babylon
Like so much else in the history of civilization, from beer to sexual rituals and prostitution, the history of witchcraft in its modern form begins in Ancient Babylon. We know about this from the Codex of Hammurabi, one of the oldest written documents that have survived to our times. It was created during the reign of King Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC. The Code contains 282 laws. Among them is one of the earliest laws regarding witchcraft.
Promotional video:
It said that if anyone brought charges of witchcraft against a person, then the accused should go and jump into the river. If he drowns, then the accused has the right to take his house and everything in it. But if the accused floats out, that is, the river proves that he is innocent, then the accused must be killed and all his property will go to the accused. This is not the oldest known water test. Both earlier and later, witches and sorcerers were often obliged to pass the test of water. The ancient Sumerian code of Ur-Nammu contained a similar law, and this was only the beginning of legal provisions concerning witchcraft.
Witchcraft in Ancient Rome
In 331 BC in ancient Rome, about 170 women were accused of witchcraft and found guilty. In those days, Rome was still far from being the capital of the world, and was full of superstitions. More than a hundred years earlier, in 450 BC, the Laws of the Twelve Tables were created, the first known recorded code of laws of Ancient Rome. It was the beginning of the legal system that would become the foundation of the Roman Empire, and contained the laws regarding witchcraft. They were also used in 331 BC. after an epidemic of strange deaths swept through Rome. In those days, the craft of a healer involved the use of various herbs and other natural ingredients, and experiments with them often did not end in the best way. In one of the first known trials of witches, 170 women were accused of mass poisoning and executed.
GUSAKOVA IRINA YURIEVNA