Ancient rituals on the Acropolis

As the main religious center of city life, the Acropolis was the scene of many ancient state rituals. The altar of Zeus was the scene of a curious annual sacrifice known as “the slaying of the ox”, which took place each year in late June or early July, when the threshing was almost finished. According to an ancient tradition, it was originally instituted to end a drought that had once afflicted the region, but the way it was carried out strongly suggests that early Athenians may have harbored some lingering doubts about the region’s morality. . common practice of animal sacrifice.

At the beginning of the ritual, barley cakes mixed with wheat were placed on the bronze altar, and then several oxen were repeatedly driven around it. The beast that first ventured to the altar to eat the offering was chosen for the sacrifice. The ancients would probably have said that the beast had “chosen itself” or was “destined” to die.

A double-headed ax and a knife, with which the beast was to be slaughtered, were first dipped in water by the girls specially chosen for that purpose, then sharpened, and finally handed over to the butchers. One of the butchers struck down the ox with the ax, while another cut its neck with the knife. As soon as the ox was dead, those who had killed it would flee the place. The corpse was flayed and its meat eaten. The skin of the ox was filled with straw and sewn up. Then, they put the stuffed animal on its legs and tied it to a plow, as if it were plowing.

After this, a solemn mock trial was held, presided over by a very important state official, the king-archon, to determine who had killed the ox. First, the maids who had brought the water to wet the ax and knife would be charged with the crime. They would accuse the men who had sharpened the instruments. These in turn would accuse those who had delivered the implements to the butchers. They would accuse the butchers themselves. Ultimately, the butchers would blame the ax and the knife. These objects would then be found guilty of the crime of the murder of the ox, formally condemned, sentenced and thrown into the sea.

Some experts in the history of religions have suggested that the foundation of this ritual is very ancient and can even be traced back to the customs and attitudes of prehistoric hunting tribes. There is some evidence that early hunters treated their game in some way like hunters themselves, and tried to appease the spirits of the animals they killed. Sometimes they formally and very politely apologized to their victims after death. At this ceremony in Athens, the community that offered the sacrifice ultimately blamed the animal’s death on the sacrificial instruments themselves. In this way it seems that they hoped to divert the ill will of the potentially dangerous spirit of the dead ox away from themselves and the city, and towards objects thrown into the sea.