Tophet

From Freepedia

Tophet is a location near Jerusalem where according to the Bible the Canaanites sacrificed children to the god Moloch by burning them alive. It is thought to be a specific geographic location within the valley of Gehenna.

The name is possibly derived from the Hebrew toph = drum, because drums were used to drown the cries of children; or from the Hebrew taph or toph = to burn.

The practice of child sacrifice was outlawed by King Josiah. The valley became a refuse site where animal carcasses, waste and the bodies of criminals were dumped, with fires permanently burning to keep disease at bay.

Tophet became a synonym for hell. Tophet as the name of the Gehenna site was transferred to the child cemetery in Carthage; the assumption that child sacrifice was also practiced in Carthage is not unanimously accepted by modern scholars and the debate is continuing.

Example of the metaphorical use of "Tophet" in literature

'And more than that - a furlong on - why, there!
What bad use was that engine for, that wheel,
Or brake, not wheel - that harrow fit to reel
Men's bodies out like silk? With all the air
Of Tophet's tool, on earth left unaware
Or brought to sharpen its rusty teeth of steel.'

From Robert Browning's poem, Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came, stanza 24.