1. Hebrew Bible, Genesis, 40.19 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 40.19. בְּעוֹד שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים יִשָּׂא פַרְעֹה אֶת־רֹאשְׁךָ מֵעָלֶיךָ וְתָלָה אוֹתְךָ עַל־עֵץ וְאָכַל הָעוֹף אֶת־בְּשָׂרְךָ מֵעָלֶיךָ׃ | 40.19. within yet three days shall Pharaoh lift up thy head from off thee, and shall hang thee on a tree; and the birds shall eat thy flesh from off thee.’" |
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2. Hebrew Bible, Psalms, 11.5 (9th cent. BCE - 3rd cent. BCE)
| 11.5. יְהוָה צַדִּיק יִבְחָן וְרָשָׁע וְאֹהֵב חָמָס שָׂנְאָה נַפְשׁוֹ׃ | 11.5. The LORD trieth the righteous; but the wicked and him that loveth violence His soul hateth." |
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3. Hebrew Bible, 1 Samuel, 17.46, 17.51, 31.9 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 17.46. הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה יְסַגֶּרְךָ יְהוָה בְּיָדִי וְהִכִּיתִךָ וַהֲסִרֹתִי אֶת־רֹאשְׁךָ מֵעָלֶיךָ וְנָתַתִּי פֶּגֶר מַחֲנֵה פְלִשְׁתִּים הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה לְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם וּלְחַיַּת הָאָרֶץ וְיֵדְעוּ כָּל־הָאָרֶץ כִּי יֵשׁ אֱלֹהִים לְיִשְׂרָאֵל׃ 17.51. וַיָּרָץ דָּוִד וַיַּעֲמֹד אֶל־הַפְּלִשְׁתִּי וַיִּקַּח אֶת־חַרְבּוֹ וַיִּשְׁלְפָהּ מִתַּעְרָהּ וַיְמֹתְתֵהוּ וַיִּכְרָת־בָּהּ אֶת־רֹאשׁוֹ וַיִּרְאוּ הַפְּלִשְׁתִּים כִּי־מֵת גִּבּוֹרָם וַיָּנֻסוּ׃ 31.9. וַיִּכְרְתוּ אֶת־רֹאשׁוֹ וַיַּפְשִׁיטוּ אֶת־כֵּלָיו וַיְשַׁלְּחוּ בְאֶרֶץ־פְּלִשְׁתִּים סָבִיב לְבַשֵּׂר בֵּית עֲצַבֵּיהֶם וְאֶת־הָעָם׃ | 17.46. This day will the Lord deliver thee into my hand; and I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee; and I will give the carcass of the camp of the Pelishtim this day to the birds of the sky, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Yisra᾽el." 17.51. Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Pelishtian, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and slew him, and with it he cut off his head. And when the Pelishtim saw that their champion was dead, they fled." 31.9. And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Pelishtim round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people." |
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4. Hebrew Bible, 2 Samuel, 16.9, 20.22 (8th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 16.9. וַיֹּאמֶר אֲבִישַׁי בֶּן־צְרוּיָה אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ לָמָּה יְקַלֵּל הַכֶּלֶב הַמֵּת הַזֶּה אֶת־אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶעְבְּרָה־נָּא וְאָסִירָה אֶת־רֹאשׁוֹ׃ 20.22. וַתָּבוֹא הָאִשָּׁה אֶל־כָּל־הָעָם בְּחָכְמָתָהּ וַיִּכְרְתוּ אֶת־רֹאשׁ שֶׁבַע בֶּן־בִּכְרִי וַיַּשְׁלִכוּ אֶל־יוֹאָב וַיִּתְקַע בַּשּׁוֹפָר וַיָּפֻצוּ מֵעַל־הָעִיר אִישׁ לְאֹהָלָיו וְיוֹאָב שָׁב יְרוּשָׁלִַם אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ׃ | 16.9. Then said Avishay the son of Żeruya to the king, Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head." 20.22. Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. And they cut off the head of Sheva the son of Bikhri, and cast it out to Yo᾽av. And he blew on the shofar, and they retired from the city, every man to his tent. And Yo᾽av returned to Yerushalayim to the king." |
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5. Herodotus, Histories, 3.79, 4.64-4.65, 4.103, 7.238, 9.78-9.79 (5th cent. BCE - 5th cent. BCE)
| 3.79. When they had killed the Magi and cut off their heads, they left their wounded there because of their infirmity and for the sake of guarding the acropolis, while five of them carrying the Magi's heads ran outside with much shouting and commotion, calling all Persians to aid, telling what they had done and showing the heads; at the same time they killed every Magus that came in their way. ,The Persians, when they learned what had been done by the seven and how the Magi had tricked them, resolved to follow the example set, and drew their daggers and killed all the Magi they could find; and if nightfall had not stopped them they would not have left one Magus alive. ,This day is the greatest holy day that all Persians alike keep; they celebrate a great festival on it, which they call the Massacre of the Magi; while the festival lasts no Magus may go outdoors, but during this day the Magi remain in their houses. 4.64. As to war, these are their customs. A Scythian drinks the blood of the first man whom he has taken down. He carries the heads of all whom he has slain in the battle to his king; for if he brings a head, he receives a share of the booty taken, but not otherwise. ,He scalps the head by making a cut around it by the ears, then grasping the scalp and shaking the head off. Then he scrapes out the flesh with the rib of a steer, and kneads the skin with his hands, and having made it supple he keeps it for a hand towel, fastening it to the bridle of the horse which he himself rides, and taking pride in it; for he who has most scalps for hand towels is judged the best man. ,Many Scythians even make garments to wear out of these scalps, sewing them together like coats of skin. Many too take off the skin, nails and all, from their dead enemies' right hands, and make coverings for their quivers;the human skin was, as it turned out, thick and shining, the brightest and whitest skin of all, one might say. ,Many flay the skin from the whole body, too, and carry it about on horseback stretched on a wooden frame. 4.65. The heads themselves, not all of them but those of their bitterest enemies, they treat this way. Each saws off all the part beneath the eyebrows, and cleans the rest. If he is a poor man, then he covers the outside with a piece of raw hide, and so makes use of it; but if he is rich, he covers the head with the raw hide, and gilds the inside of it and uses it for a drinking-cup. ,Such a cup a man also makes out of the head of his own kinsman with whom he has been feuding, and whom he has defeated in single combat before the king; and if guests whom he honors visit him he will serve them with these heads, and show how the dead were his kinsfolk who fought him and were beaten by him; this they call manly valor. 4.103. Among these, the Tauri have the following customs: all ship-wrecked men, and any Greeks whom they capture in their sea-raids, they sacrifice to the Virgin goddess as I will describe: after the first rites of sacrifice, they strike the victim on the head with a club; ,according to some, they then place the head on a pole and throw the body off the cliff on which their temple stands; others agree as to the head, but say that the body is buried, not thrown off the cliff. The Tauri themselves say that this deity to whom they sacrifice is Agamemnon's daughter Iphigenia. ,As for enemies whom they defeat, each cuts his enemy's head off and carries it away to his house, where he places it on a tall pole and stands it high above the dwelling, above the smoke-vent for the most part. These heads, they say, are set up to guard the whole house. The Tauri live by plundering and war. 7.238. Having spoken in this way, Xerxes passed over the place where the dead lay and hearing that Leonidas had been king and general of the Lacedaemonians, he gave orders to cut off his head and impale it. ,It is plain to me by this piece of evidence among many others, that while Leonidas lived, king Xerxes was more incensed against him than against all others; otherwise he would never have dealt so outrageously with his dead body, for the Persians are beyond all men known in the habit of honoring valiant warriors. They, then, who received these orders did as I have said. 9.78. There was at Plataea in the army of the Aeginetans one Lampon, son of Pytheas, a leading man of Aegina. He hastened to Pausanias with really outrageous counsel and coming upon him, said to him: ,“son of Cleombrotus, you have done a deed of surpassing greatness and glory; the god has granted to you in saving Hellas to have won greater renown than any Greek whom we know. But now you must finish what remains for the rest, so that your fame may be greater still and so that no barbarian will hereafter begin doing reckless deeds against the Greeks. ,When Leonidas was killed at Thermopylae, Mardonius and Xerxes cut off his head and set it on a pole; make them a like return, and you will win praise from all Spartans and the rest of Hellas besides. For if you impale Mardonius, you will be avenged for your father's brother Leonidas.” 9.79. This is what Lampon, thinking to please, said. Pausanias, however, answered him as follows: “Aeginetan, I thank you for your goodwill and forethought, but you have missed the mark of right judgment. First you exalt me and my fatherland and my deeds, yet next you cast me down to mere nothingness when you advise me to insult the dead, and say that I shall win more praise if I do so. That would be an act more proper for barbarians than for Greeks and one that we consider worthy of censure even in barbarians. ,No, as for myself, I would prefer to find no favor either with the people of Aegina or anyone else who is pleased by such acts. It is enough for me if I please the Spartans by righteous deeds and speech. As for Leonidas, whom you would have me avenge, I think that he has received a full measure of vengeance; the uncounted souls of these that you see have done honor to him and the rest of those who died at Thermopylae. But to you this is my warning: do not come again to me with words like these nor give me such counsel. Be thankful now that you go unpunished.” |
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6. Anon., 1 Enoch, 91.12, 95.3, 95.7, 96.1, 98.11-98.12 (3rd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 91.12. And after that there shall be another, the eighth week, that of righteousness, And a sword shall be given to it that a righteous judgement may be executed on the oppressors, And sinners shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous. 95.3. Fear not the sinners, ye righteous; For again will the Lord deliver them into your hands, That ye may execute judgement upon them according to your desires. 95.7. Woe to you, sinners, for ye persecute the righteous; For ye shall be delivered up and persecuted because of injustice, And heavy shall its yoke be upon you. 96.1. Be hopeful, ye righteous; for suddenly shall the sinners perish before you, And ye shall have lordship over them according to your desires. 98.11. Woe to you, ye obstinate of heart, who work wickedness and eat blood: Whence have ye good things to eat and to drink and to be filled From all the good things which the Lord the Most High has placed in abundance on the earth; therefore ye shall have no peace. 98.12. Woe to you who love the deeds of unrighteousness: wherefore do ye hope for good hap unto yourselves know that ye shall be delivered into the hands of the righteous, and they shall cut |
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7. Polybius, Histories, 21.38 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 21.38. 1. Chiomara, the wife of Ortiagon, was captured with the other women when the Asiatic Gauls were defeated by the Romans under Manlius.,2. The centurion into whose hands she fell took advantage of his capture with a soldier's brutality and did violence to her.,3. The man was indeed an ill-bred lout, the slave both of gain and of lust, but his love of gain prevailed; and as a considerable sum had been promised him for the woman's ransom, he brought her to a certain place to deliver her up, a river running between him and the messengers.,4. When the Gauls crossed and after handing him the money were taking possession of Chiomara, she signed to one of them to strike the man as he was taking an affectionate leave of her.,5. The man obeyed and cut off his head, which she took up and wrapped in the folds of her dress, and then drove off.,6. When she came into the presence of her husband and threw the head at his feet, he was astonished and said, "Ah! my wife, it is good to keep faith." "Yes," she replied, "but it is better still that only one man who has lain with me should remain alive.",7. Polybius tells us that he met and conversed with the lady at Sardis and admired her high spirit and intelligence. (Cp. Livy XXXVIII.25) |
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8. Septuagint, 1 Maccabees, 7.47, 11.17 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 7.47. Then the Jews seized the spoils and the plunder, and they cut off Nicanors head and the right hand which he so arrogantly stretched out, and brought them and displayed them just outside Jerusalem. 11.17. And Zabdiel the Arab cut off the head of Alexander and sent it to Ptolemy. |
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9. Septuagint, 2 Maccabees, 1.16, 15.13 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
| 1.16. Opening the secret door in the ceiling, they threw stones and struck down the leader and his men, and dismembered them and cut off their heads and threw them to the people outside.' 15.13. Then likewise a man appeared, distinguished by his gray hair and dignity, and of marvelous majesty and authority.' |
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10. Septuagint, Judith, 13.8, 13.18, 14.15 (2nd cent. BCE - 0th cent. CE)
| 13.8. And she struck his neck twice with all her might, and severed it from his body. 13.18. And Uzziah said to her, "O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to strike the head of the leader of our enemies. 14.15. But when no one answered, he opened it and went into the bedchamber and found him thrown down on the platform dead, with his head cut off and missing. |
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11. Septuagint, 3 Maccabees, 7.10 (2nd cent. BCE - 2nd cent. BCE)
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12. New Testament, Hebrews, 10.26 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 10.26. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins |
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13. New Testament, John, 3.19 (1st cent. CE - 1st cent. CE)
| 3.19. This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil. |
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14. Ps.-Philo, Biblical Antiquities, 31.9 (1st cent. CE - 2nd cent. CE)
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