Editing Human sacrifice (section)

====Ancient Egypt====
{{Further|Ancient Egyptian retainer sacrifices}}

There may be evidence of retainer sacrifice in the [[Early Dynastic Period (Egypt)|early dynastic period]] at [[Abydos, Egypt|Abydos]], when on the death of a King he would be accompanied by servants, and possibly high officials, who would continue to serve him in eternal life. The skeletons that were found had no obvious signs of trauma, leading to speculation that the giving up of life to serve the King may have been a voluntary act, possibly carried out in a drug-induced state. At about 2800&nbsp;BCE, any possible evidence of such practices disappeared, though echoes are perhaps to be seen in the burial of statues of servants in [[Old Kingdom of Egypt|Old Kingdom]] tombs.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jacques |last=Kinnaer |title=Human sacrifice |website=Ancient-egypt.org |url=http://www.ancient-egypt.org/index.html <!-- retrieved 12 May 2007 --> |access-date=25 May 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Abydos – life and death at the dawning of Egyptian civilization |magazine=National Geographic |date=April 2005 |url=http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0504/feature7/ |access-date=12 May 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070509215457/http://www7.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0504/feature7/ |archive-date=9 May 2007}}</ref>

Servants of both royalty and high court officials were slain to accompany their masters into the next world.<ref>Spencer, A.J. ''Death In Ancient Egypt''. 1st. Great Britain: Penguin Books Ltd, 1982. 68:139. Print.</ref> The number of retainers buried surrounding the king's tomb was much greater than those of high court officials, however, again suggesting the greater importance of the pharaoh.<ref>Trigger, B.G., B.J. Kemp, D. O'Connor, and A.B. Lloyd. ''Ancient Egypt: A Social History''. 1st. Great Britain: University Press, Cambridge, 1983. 52–56. Print.</ref> For example, [[Djer|King Djer]] had 318 retainer sacrifices buried in his tomb, and 269 retainer sacrifices buried in enclosures surrounding his tomb.<ref>Morris, Ellen F. "Sacrifice for the State: First Dynasty Royal Funerals and the Rites at Macramallah's Rectangle." 15–37. Print.</ref>