Symbolic Origin: Sacrifice and Innocence

In every culture, the victim is sacred:

• Abel killed by Cain,
• Jesus on the cross,
• Iphigenia immolated,
• the martyrs, the saints, the righteous.

The victim reveals the evil of the world. It becomes a mirror and a warning signal.

But it also sometimes becomes:

• an object of worship,
• a means of control,
• an absolute moral compass.