DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.800#0411
BOUPIIONIA. 389
subject the hatchet to a trial, which is acquitted.1 There was an
ancient law forbidding the labour ox to be slain.2 The sacrifice in
question was said to have been instituted in the reign of Erechtheus,
and an imitation of it was repeated yearly at the Diipolia, called also
Bouphonia (above, p. 26).
The priest called here bouphonos was no doubt the same as the
priest of Zeus Polieus, who, as we have seen, had a seat in the theatre.
He was of the race of Buzyges, who, as the founder of agriculture, and
consequently of civilization, was regarded at Athens as the guardian
and promoter of humanity, and his curse (?) /3ou£i/yjo? dpd) was sup-
posed to rest on the violators of it; on those who refused to others the
use of fire or water; or to put wanderers in the right way, or to assist
in burying a neglected corpse; in short, on those who did not to others
as they would be done by.3
Pausanias seems to have passed over a temple or shrine of Zeus and
Athena, in their character of saviours (Zew <rcorr)p /cat 'A0ijvd crwreipa)
which, there is reason to think, stood near the western front of the
Parthenon. It is alluded to by Lycurgus in his speech against
Leocrates.4 Some are of opinion that Lycurgus may be alluding to a
temple of those deities at Peirseeus.5 But we have seen that the priest
of such a temple had a throne in the theatre; and though the priests of
provincial sanctuaries were admitted to that honour, yet their locality
was recorded in the inscriptions on their seats; and as there is no such
record in that on the throne in question, we may safely conclude that
there must have been a shrine of Zeus and Athena, the saviours,
at Athens, and therefore, in all probability, the one alluded to by
Lycurgus. There is also reason to think that Plutus may have had an
1 dfjxieTj Kpt&i's. See ch. xxviii. s. 11, Str. ii. p. 181; JFA. V. H. v. 11, &c. See
where he adverts to this sacrifice again. O. Jahn, iu N. Mem. dell' Institute), 18G0,
But iElian, on the contrary, says that it p. 6.
was condemned.—V. H. viii. 3. * oure tt\v aKpoiroKiv <a\ to Upbv tou
2 Petit, Legg. Att. lib. v. tit. ii. 5; cf. Aios tov o-a>TTJpos rnu Trjs 'AOrjvas ttjs tjanu-
Plat. De Legg. p. 782 o (iii. ii. p. 471, pasd<popa>vKalirpo8ibovsi(pofi!jd7].—p. 148,
Bekk.); Varr. R. R. xi. 5, 4. Reiskc.
3 Schol. Soph. Ant. 255; Clem. Alex. 5 Vischer, in Neues Schweit. Mus. Ib(i3.
subject the hatchet to a trial, which is acquitted.1 There was an
ancient law forbidding the labour ox to be slain.2 The sacrifice in
question was said to have been instituted in the reign of Erechtheus,
and an imitation of it was repeated yearly at the Diipolia, called also
Bouphonia (above, p. 26).
The priest called here bouphonos was no doubt the same as the
priest of Zeus Polieus, who, as we have seen, had a seat in the theatre.
He was of the race of Buzyges, who, as the founder of agriculture, and
consequently of civilization, was regarded at Athens as the guardian
and promoter of humanity, and his curse (?) /3ou£i/yjo? dpd) was sup-
posed to rest on the violators of it; on those who refused to others the
use of fire or water; or to put wanderers in the right way, or to assist
in burying a neglected corpse; in short, on those who did not to others
as they would be done by.3
Pausanias seems to have passed over a temple or shrine of Zeus and
Athena, in their character of saviours (Zew <rcorr)p /cat 'A0ijvd crwreipa)
which, there is reason to think, stood near the western front of the
Parthenon. It is alluded to by Lycurgus in his speech against
Leocrates.4 Some are of opinion that Lycurgus may be alluding to a
temple of those deities at Peirseeus.5 But we have seen that the priest
of such a temple had a throne in the theatre; and though the priests of
provincial sanctuaries were admitted to that honour, yet their locality
was recorded in the inscriptions on their seats; and as there is no such
record in that on the throne in question, we may safely conclude that
there must have been a shrine of Zeus and Athena, the saviours,
at Athens, and therefore, in all probability, the one alluded to by
Lycurgus. There is also reason to think that Plutus may have had an
1 dfjxieTj Kpt&i's. See ch. xxviii. s. 11, Str. ii. p. 181; JFA. V. H. v. 11, &c. See
where he adverts to this sacrifice again. O. Jahn, iu N. Mem. dell' Institute), 18G0,
But iElian, on the contrary, says that it p. 6.
was condemned.—V. H. viii. 3. * oure tt\v aKpoiroKiv <a\ to Upbv tou
2 Petit, Legg. Att. lib. v. tit. ii. 5; cf. Aios tov o-a>TTJpos rnu Trjs 'AOrjvas ttjs tjanu-
Plat. De Legg. p. 782 o (iii. ii. p. 471, pasd<popa>vKalirpo8ibovsi(pofi!jd7].—p. 148,
Bekk.); Varr. R. R. xi. 5, 4. Reiskc.
3 Schol. Soph. Ant. 255; Clem. Alex. 5 Vischer, in Neues Schweit. Mus. Ib(i3.