Hmm, Gehenna. That’s a biblical expression, isn’t it?
One Google search later…
Ah, it’s Hell. Lovely.
Yeah… I think I’ll wait for all the chapters to be uploaded before trying out this one.
To be exact, Gehenna is a valley in modern day Israel. Place was used to burn children that were sacrificed in religious rituals to deity Moloch.
Which sort of makes this even more creepy.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_of_Hinnom_(Gehenna))
The Hebrew Bible describes Gehenna as the place where King Ahaz of Judah sacrificed his children, though
Debate remains as to whether the phrase "cause his children to pass through the fire" referred to a religious ceremony in which the Moloch priest would walk the child between two lanes of fire, or to literal child sacrifice wherein the child is thrown into the fire.
In certain usage, the Christian Bible refers to it as a place where both soul and body could be destroyed in unquenchable fire.
Yikes.
To fill out this discussion, because it's relevant to the story.
First, lets clarify technical specifics:
Gehenna refers to the valley "Gai Ben Hinnom" between Mt. Zion and Abu Tor, and is split in half by the current day Israel/West Bank border. "Gai Ben Hinnom" roughly means "valley of the son of Hinnom". Many take this name to be a reference to child sacrifice and translate the name as "valley of the children/sons of Hinnom", but it likely predates this. In the middle ages both Jewish and Christian scholars started circulating a series of claims about Gehenna being a constantly burning trash dump, valley of slaughter, etc. as a substitute "Hell" on earth. This claim seems to have originated from a specific person (Rabbi David Kimchi) around 1200CE, and has been widely debunked.
Notable aspects of the religious entanglements:
Biblically Gehenna was a place of child sacrifice "to Moloch" and or Baʽal-Zephon (Baal), and makes claims about many non-Christians bringing children there (direct mention of "Jewish idolaters" even)... Except historically Moloch (also written Melek) wasn't a deity at all, but a reference to the practice of sacrifice (lit. destruction) by fire, and Baal doesn't refer to a single deity, but major deities like Hadad (��) from a variety of local religions including the ancient Ugaritic deity actually named Baal (���) (Baʽal-Zephon also just means "Lord"). All of this is somewhat clearer in Hebrew texts but completely lost in most post Greek translations, but it's important to remember that most descriptive language used in surviving texts from the region is heavily politically "colored", especially when used in reference to religious practices and deities.
After the wall of text how does this relate to the story?
For anyone who has made it through a few chapters it should be clear we are talking about child sacrifice on several levels. One being the birth/miscarriage and subsequent enshrinement. Another being the girl sacrificed to her father, but also the subtext of children being sacrificed to society with abandoned children given heavy performance expectations only growing up to treat their children the same way.
... well that was depressing, I hope you find this informative. (edit: apparently the forum hates cuneiform)
last edited at Jan 23, 2025 11:52PM
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