Ancient ✦ Wisdom ✦ Atlas

Motif family

Sacred Combat and Ritual Warfare

Warfare, raiding, or single combat as a sacred or ritually significant activity. Includes cattle raids as cosmic catalysts, single combat at fords, and battles that determine cosmic order.

55 traditions

2,535 occurrences

2,455 mapped motifs

9 sub-families

  • afro caribbean
  • ainu
  • akan
  • amazonian
  • andamanese
  • arctic inuit
  • arthurian
  • australian aboriginal
  • biblical
  • buddhist
  • caucasian
  • celtic
  • celtic irish
  • celtic welsh
  • christian apocrypha
  • comparative
  • egyptian
  • estonian
  • filipino
  • finnish karelian
  • georgian
  • germanic
  • greek
  • greek roman
  • hawaiian
  • hindu
  • inuit
  • islamic
  • islamicate folklore
  • japanese
  • jewish christian
  • khoisan south african
  • maya
  • maya quiche
  • mesopotamian
  • mongol
  • nahua
  • nahua maya inca
  • native american great lakes
  • native american northeast woodlands
  • native american northwest coast
  • native american plains
  • native american plateau
  • native american southeast
  • native american southwest
  • navajo
  • norse
  • persian
  • roman
  • romanian
  • shan
  • slavic
  • sufi
  • zoroastrian
  • zuni

Conserved neighbors: divine warrior · sacrifice · divine judgment · conditional invulnerability hidden weakness

Sub-families · the next landing down

Cattle Raid and Livestock War

44 motifs

Aftermath and Spoils

65 motifs

Battle Preparation and Ritual

57 motifs

Vengeance and Blood Feud

57 motifs

Causes of War

54 motifs

Treachery and Forbidden Kin Combat

62 motifs

Cosmic and Supernatural Combat

61 motifs

Host Battle and Siege

127 motifs

Champion Combat and Duel

169 motifs

Not yet placed in a sub-family

1,759 motifs, showing the 60 most attested

Each motif link opens its evidence page: every tagged passage with its quote, and a path into the book where the passage lives.