Death, War and Sacrifice

As an internationally renowned classic book, the author uses etymology, semantics and other disciplines as tools to examine the literary and historical texts, vocabulary, myths, rituals, social organizational structures, legal procedures and material remains of ancient India, Iran, Greece, Rome, Celtic, Germanic and other peoples. At the same time, it elucidates the Indo-European people's behavior on war and sacrifice and the view of life and death it implies; discusses the layout of death and funerals in Indo-European mythology, and debates conflicting views; it points out that the common mythology and religious beliefs of the Indo-European people are not generated by a common language or a common ancestry, but by a common social structure and a common historical situation, and determine the way they live and die.