3.485. Athena came . . . / to attend her sacred rites: What happens in the following passage is a sacrifice to the gods that is also a feast for the human worshipers (this was the way meat was eaten in the ancient world). The animal is placed at the altar, and the sacrificers wash their hands to establish purity for the ritual. They scatter barley on the victim, then stun the animal with a blow on the head, pull back its head and cut its throat over the altar. The animal’s skin is taken off and a portion of the meat prepared for the gods. This is a choice portion, the meat of the thighbones: it is wrapped in a double fold of fat and the outside covered with small pieces of meat from different parts of the animal. This portion is burned over the fire —the smoke and savor go up to the gods above. Wine is poured over it, a libation. The sacrificers at last begin their meal —with the entrails, which they have roasted on forks over the fire.

Unknown, Homer, Robert Fagles_ Knox,…, loc. 4824