Editing Tophet (section)

{{Short description|Carthaginian child sacrifice sites and cemeteries}}
In the [[Hebrew Bible]], '''Tophet''' or '''Topheth''' ({{langx|hbo|תֹּפֶת|Tōp̄eṯ}}; {{langx|grc|Ταφέθ|taphéth}}; {{langx|la|Topheth}}) is a location in [[Jerusalem]] in the [[Valley of Hinnom (Gehenna)]], where worshipers engaged in a ritual involving "passing a child through the fire", most likely [[child sacrifice]]. Traditionally, the sacrifices have been ascribed to a god named [[Moloch]]. The Bible condemns and forbids these sacrifices, and the tophet is eventually destroyed by king [[Josiah]], although mentions by the prophets [[Jeremiah]], [[Ezekiel]], and [[Isaiah]] suggest that the practices associated with the tophet may have persisted.

Most scholars agree that the ritual performed at the tophet was child sacrifice, and they connect it to similar episodes throughout the Bible and recorded in [[Phoenicia]] and [[Carthage]] by Hellenistic sources. There is disagreement about whether the sacrifices were offered to a god named "Moloch". Based on Phoenician and Carthaginian inscriptions, a growing number of scholars believe that the word ''moloch'' refers to the type of sacrifice rather than a deity. There is currently a dispute as to whether these sacrifices were dedicated to [[Yahweh]] rather than a foreign deity.

Archaeologists have applied the term "tophet" to large cemeteries of children found at Carthaginian sites that have traditionally been believed to house sacrificed human children, as described by Hellenistic and biblical sources. This interpretation is controversial: some scholars argue that the tophets may have been children's cemeteries and reject Hellenistic sources as anti-Carthaginian propaganda. Others argue that not all burials in the tophet were sacrifices.

The tophet and its location later became associated with divine punishment in [[Jewish eschatology]].