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The ancient Greeks, Chinese, and Romans all traditionally gave the condemned man a final meal. The Aztecs fed their human sacrifices for up to a year before killing them.
In pre-modern Europe, granting the condemned a last meal has roots in superstition: a meal was a highly symbolic social act. Accepting freely offered food symbolized making peace with the host. The guest agreed tacitly to take an oath of truce and symbolically abjured all vengeance. Consequentially, in accepting the last meal the condemned was believed to forgive the executioner, the judge, and witness(es). The ritual was supposed to prevent the condemned from returning as a ghost or revenant to haunt those responsible for their killing. As a superstitious precaution, the better the food and drink, the safer the condemned's oath of truce. Last meals were often public, and all parties involved in the penal process took part.[citation needed]
There were practical side effects of a peaceful last meal as well. It was crucial for the authorities that a public execution was a successful spectacle.[citation needed] In the eyes of the contemporaries the violated law could only be restored by mirroring the crime via retaliative penalties (see lex talionis). However, if the mob believed something was wrong or the chief character of the show was reluctant to play their role, things could get out of hand and place the malefactor's guilt in doubt. Hence it was important for authorities that the condemned met their fate calmly.[citation needed] Apart from having been constantly coerced since the death sentence, the condemned's solemn last meal symbolized that they accepted the punishment.[citation needed] Additionally, prisoners were often served large quantities of alcoholic beverages to soothe them and bar them from execrating the authorities while ascending the scaffold.[citation needed] In Ancient Japan, samurai warriors would sometimes commit seppuku (ritual suicide) for a variety of reasons. Before the suicide, the Samurai would be served their favorite foods.[citation needed]