Cultures that Practiced Human Sacrifice

Canaanites - 3500 - 1100 B.C. - "Canaanite" is an ancient term for what we now know as Israel, Lebanon, and parts of Syria and Jordan. Children were supposedly sacrificed to the god Moloch.

Aztecs - 500 A.D. - 1500 A.D. Sacrifice was an integral part of the religion of this Central Mexican group as well as others in Mesoamerica.

Etruscans - 800 - 100 B.C. Etruscans belonged to an ancient civilization in Italy between Florence and Rome. Their writings no longer exist, but their artwork shows evidence of human sacrifice.

Romans - 753 - 510 B.C. - A century before Julius Caesar, the Romans sacrificed criminals. Laws were considered handed down from the gods, so anyone who broke them was doomed to death.