L94C. The sacrificed son or daughter .12.15.17.27.
If a deity grants victory, a person promises to sacrifice whoever comes first to meet him at home. A son or daughter comes out.
Yoruba, Latins, Old Testament, Ancient Greece.
West Africa. Yoruba [after a quarrel between Oduduva and Obatala, the latter was expelled from Ife; after many years, Obatala returned to the city, but some of his supporters stayed in the forest; the place where they camped, called Igbo Igbo, and they themselves became Igbo; they dressed from head to toe in bark armor and began regular raids on Ifa as they approached the city near the stream Esinmerin and killing residents with batons; Moremi decided to save Ile Ife from an annual disaster; the oracle Ifa blessed her to a feat with one condition: if her mission is successful, she must sacrifice The gods are the first living creature that will meet her when she returns home from Igbo Igbo; M. went to the forest, let herself be kidnapped, and inherited as military loot by the Igbo leader; captivated With the beauty of M., he told her that the Igbo army could not resist attacking him with burning torches that would burn the warriors' wooden armor; after finding out this secret, M. ran away and reached her home in Ifa, where her only son Al was the first to meet her; M. was so happy that she did not remember her oath; thanks to her instructions, the Igbo army was defeated; the Esinmerin Creek came out of the shores, threatening to flood the city; the gods were angry because M. did not keep her oath; the oracle Ifa said that M. should sacrifice his son Al to the deity of the stream; after the sacrifice was made, Esinmerin entered the former shores; in memory of M. and her victim, Ile-Ifa hosts the second most important and large-scale holiday of the annual traditional holiday cycle; it stops during the holiday work on agricultural land, market trade and all business activity are declining; drumming is prohibited these days as a sign that the people of Ife mourn the untimely death of their son M.]: Kochakova 2008:20-21.
Southern Europe. Latins {this motive does not seem to appear in Greek sources about Idomel}: Serv. Aen. III. 121, XI. 264 [comments by Moor Servius Honorath (end of 4th century) on Virgil's Aeneid: 1) "Idomeneo, originating from the seed of Deucalion, the king of the Cretans, returning from the destruction of Troy, gave during the storm a vow to sacrifice what comes first on his way. It so happened that he met his son first of all. When he sacrificed him (as some say) or when he just wanted to sacrifice him (as others say), then the plague began. Exiled from the kingdom by his citizens, he occupied Cape Sullentin in Calabria, near which he founded the city..." (trans. A.F. Losev); 2) the Cretan king Idomeneo swore to Neptune during the storm that he would sacrifice the first thing he met; his son was the first to meet him; according to some, he sacrificed him, and according to others, wanted to do it]; I Myth. Vat. II. 93. 1-3 ["The First Vatican Mythograph" (compiled at the turn of the I-II millennium by an unknown medieval compiler): "When Idomeneo, king of the Cretans, returned from the ruin of Troy, he swore an oath during the storm To sacrifice the first thing you meet. And so it turned out that his son was the first to meet him. When, according to some, he sacrificed him and, according to others, wanted to sacrifice him, he was expelled by citizens from the kingdom and headed to Cape Salenta in Calabria. He founded a city near it and "captured the Salentine Plain with his army" (taken from Serv. Aen. III. 121; lane. V.N. Yarkho)].
Western Asia. The Old Testament [Jephthah, turning to God, promised that if he defeated the Moabites, he would offer a burnt offering what would come out first to him from the gates of his house; first to leave only daughter; she asked permission to mourn her virginity in the mountains with her friends, after which I. fulfilled his promise; and it became a custom that every year the daughters of Israel went to mourn Jephthah's daughter Gileadian, four days a year]: Judges 11:30-40.
The Balkans. Ancient Greece ["On Rivers" by False Plutarch (2nd century): "The Meander is a river in Asia; it used to be called the Rising River because it is one of all rivers, starting from its origins, and flows back there. She was named Meander because of Meander, the son of Kerkaf and Anaxibia. Fighting against the people of Pessinunte, he vowed to the Mother of the Gods that if he were victorious, he would sacrifice the first to greet him, returning with trophies. When he returned, he was first greeted by his son Archelaus with his mother and sister. Remembering his vow, Meander was forced to bring his family to the altars. Desperate, he rushed into the Rising River, which is why he became known as Meander, as Timolay says in the first book of his book On Phrygia. Agathocles of Samos also mentions this in "Pessinunto Politics" (trans. D.O. Torshilova)]: Ps. -Plut. De fluv. IX. 1.