A solemn sacrifice of cattle to one god or to several gods. Menelaus is held in Egypt because he did not offer them complete before leaving; Telemachus has his mother promise all the gods perfect hecatombs, if Zeus grants him vengeance; and the heralds take to the grove of Apollo the hecatomb for the feast that postpones the trial of the bow. Tiresias orders Odysseus to offer them to all the gods, after the last journey.
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