BOS,
an Ox, a Beast, which the Ancients offered in Sacrifice to several of their Dei∣ties, as Jupiter the Chief of their Gods, and such an Ox according to Homer ought to be Five Years old. Yet Plutarch assures us, that Solon forbad by his Laws, that Oxen should be sacrificed; but Aelian explains it of Oxen used in plowing.
Oxen were also sacrificed to Cybele the Mother of the Gods, and those Sacrifices were for that reason called Tauropolia, to return Thanks to that Goddess of the Earth, for teaching Men the Art of taming those Creatures, and using them in tilling the Ground.
The Greeks also offered black Bulls to Nep∣tune, to denote the raging of the Sea when it is moved.
The Superstition of the Ancients proceed∣ed so far as to offer Hecatombs, or Sa∣crifices of an Hundred Oxen to Jupi∣ter.
Strabo teaches us, that these Hecatombs came from the Lacedemonians, who every Year offered a Sacrifice of an Hundred Oxen in the name of an Hundred Cities, which were under their Command and Go∣vernment.
But these Expences appearing too great to some Persons, they reduced these Sa∣crifices to Twenty five Oxen, and suppo∣sed through a Childish Distinction, that be∣cause these Oxen had each of them Four Feet, it was sufficient to make an Heca∣tomb, that there was the number of an Hundred found in those parts.
One of the Ancients finding himself in great Danger upon the Sea, through a Tem∣pest, promised to offer an Hecatomb, if he es∣caped; but being not able to discharge his Vow by reason of his Poverty, he contrived to make an Hundred small Oxen of Dough, and to offer them to the Gods that had delivered him. Some attribute this false Hecatomb to Pythagoras; for Diogenes Laertins tells us, that the Philosopher having found out a new Demonstration in his Trigonometry, offered an Hecat∣tomb of these Artificial Creatures to the Gods.