I'm pretty sure the scapegoat thing was practiced in some form by many cultures including pagan but I may be wronghttps://twitter.com/pnwshan/status/933014512755662848 …
Frazier, Nietzsche, The Bible. Scapegoating is very common and is especially noticeable in stories like “The Lottery” and the death and resurrection of the Divine King throughout cultures. Crowds & Power, mob phenomena, etc https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/René_Girard …