I’m not an expert on the region or period, but I believe they were usually war captives. The Aztecs ritually made war on their vassals, with those captured in combat sacrificed afterwards. The Aztecs believed being sacrificed like this was a great honor, but it apparently was not quite so popular amongst the vassals.
I think human sacrifice in general was a common practice of the region (and, honestly, of many regions of the world - even the Romans noted, with distaste, a history of human sacrifice in Italy), but basically no one around them even came close to the scale or regularity of Aztec human sacrifice, which was done to the tune of thousands of victims yearly.
Were sacrifices ever willing? Movies always show them as captives but i can see people getting into it and offering themselves.
I’m not an expert on the region or period, but I believe they were usually war captives. The Aztecs ritually made war on their vassals, with those captured in combat sacrificed afterwards. The Aztecs believed being sacrificed like this was a great honor, but it apparently was not quite so popular amongst the vassals.
Now i realize how ignorant of history i am. Did more peaceful civs have human sacrifice too, or was it a “war tribe” thing?
I think human sacrifice in general was a common practice of the region (and, honestly, of many regions of the world - even the Romans noted, with distaste, a history of human sacrifice in Italy), but basically no one around them even came close to the scale or regularity of Aztec human sacrifice, which was done to the tune of thousands of victims yearly.