Moloch

Moloch, or Molech, was a god to whom some cultures of the ancient Near East sacrificed children. Some scholars have identified Moloch with Melqart, a god worshiped in the city of Tyre on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Roman sources state that a sculpture of Moloch stood in Carthage, a city in northern Africa. The people who performed the sacrifices there placed children on the outstretched hands of the statue, and the children fell through to fire below. According to the Bible, the law given to Moses by the supreme god Yahweh prohibited the Jews from sacrificing children to Moloch. Nevertheless, King Solomon introduced the cult of Moloch into Israel, but a later king banned worship of the god. Moloch's shrine was located at a site outside Jerusalem named Gehenna, which some Christians used as another name for hell.