20 ANCIENT ATHENS.
he substituted cakes (rreKavoi).1 These cakes, it appears, were still
offered in the time of Pausanias on the altar of Zeus Polieus—the same
as Hypatos—before the Erechtheium. We cannot, however, quite recon-
cile this account with another passage in the same author, where he
describes the sacrifice of an ox at this altar in the reign of Erechtheus.2
This was the first occasion, he says, on which the priest called Bou-
phonos (Bovfiovoi) slew an ox at the altar of Zeus Polieus; but leaving
the hatchet there, he fled from the place, and the hatchet was arraigned
in the court of the Prytaneium. This was therefore evidently an inno-
vation on the institution of Cecrops, and considered as a guilty one.
But then, what of the ireKavoi, or cakes, which Pausanias says, con-
tinued to be offered ? According to another account, they were the
cause of the crime. The story is thus told by Porphyrius.3 Sopatros,
an Attic farmer, was assisting at a sacrifice at Athens, when an ox
returning from labour ate some of the cakes on the sacrificial table,
threw others on the ground, and trod upon them. Hereupon, Sopa-
tros, in a rage, seized a hatchet and killed the ox. Stung with remorse,
he buried the hatchet, and fled to Crete. A drought ensued, and
the Pythian oracle being. consulted by the Athenians, answered, that
a Cretan fugitive must free them from it; the slayer must be punished,
the slain ox recalled to life, though all were to partake of it. Sopatros
was recalled, and invented the rites of the festival called Diipoleia ; in
which, after the ox had been slaughtered and divided, his skin was
stuffed, and he was put in a plough, to betoken his revival! Childish
as is this ceremony, it is but too typical of the slight varnish with
which superstition, in all ages, has sought to cover and atone for sin.
Such was the institution of the Buphonia, called also Diipoleia.
But, like all Attic legends, there are many versions of it. According
to Androtion, cited by the scholiast on the ' Clouds' of Aristophanes
(v. 981), the man who originally struck the ox was named Thaulon.
His descendants formed an hereditary priesthood called Bouphoni and
1 Pans. i. 20, 6; viii. 2, 1. Aglaophamus, p. 1083, is of opinion that
- i. 28, 11. all these bloodless sacrifices were of a late
3 De Abstinentia, ii. 29, sq. Lobcck, date, as Homer does not mention such.
he substituted cakes (rreKavoi).1 These cakes, it appears, were still
offered in the time of Pausanias on the altar of Zeus Polieus—the same
as Hypatos—before the Erechtheium. We cannot, however, quite recon-
cile this account with another passage in the same author, where he
describes the sacrifice of an ox at this altar in the reign of Erechtheus.2
This was the first occasion, he says, on which the priest called Bou-
phonos (Bovfiovoi) slew an ox at the altar of Zeus Polieus; but leaving
the hatchet there, he fled from the place, and the hatchet was arraigned
in the court of the Prytaneium. This was therefore evidently an inno-
vation on the institution of Cecrops, and considered as a guilty one.
But then, what of the ireKavoi, or cakes, which Pausanias says, con-
tinued to be offered ? According to another account, they were the
cause of the crime. The story is thus told by Porphyrius.3 Sopatros,
an Attic farmer, was assisting at a sacrifice at Athens, when an ox
returning from labour ate some of the cakes on the sacrificial table,
threw others on the ground, and trod upon them. Hereupon, Sopa-
tros, in a rage, seized a hatchet and killed the ox. Stung with remorse,
he buried the hatchet, and fled to Crete. A drought ensued, and
the Pythian oracle being. consulted by the Athenians, answered, that
a Cretan fugitive must free them from it; the slayer must be punished,
the slain ox recalled to life, though all were to partake of it. Sopatros
was recalled, and invented the rites of the festival called Diipoleia ; in
which, after the ox had been slaughtered and divided, his skin was
stuffed, and he was put in a plough, to betoken his revival! Childish
as is this ceremony, it is but too typical of the slight varnish with
which superstition, in all ages, has sought to cover and atone for sin.
Such was the institution of the Buphonia, called also Diipoleia.
But, like all Attic legends, there are many versions of it. According
to Androtion, cited by the scholiast on the ' Clouds' of Aristophanes
(v. 981), the man who originally struck the ox was named Thaulon.
His descendants formed an hereditary priesthood called Bouphoni and
1 Pans. i. 20, 6; viii. 2, 1. Aglaophamus, p. 1083, is of opinion that
- i. 28, 11. all these bloodless sacrifices were of a late
3 De Abstinentia, ii. 29, sq. Lobcck, date, as Homer does not mention such.