priest and the helper have begun to cut it up then and there.  Certain bits of the fat and small pieces from each limb are laid upon the altar, and promptly consumed.  These are the goddess’s peculiar portion, and the credulous at least believe that she, though unseen, is present to eat thereof; certainly the sniff of the burning meat is grateful to her divine nostrils.  The priest and the helpers are busy taking off the hide and securing the best joint—­these are their “fees” for professional services.  All the rest will be duly gathered up by Phormion’s body servant and borne home,—­for Phormion will give a fine feast on “sacred mutton” that night.[+]

[*]If a larger animal—­an ox—­failed to bow its head auspiciously, the omen could be rectified by suddenly splashing a little water in the ears.

[+]As already suggested (section 159) a sacrifice (public, or, if on a large scale, private) was about the only occasion on which Athenians tasted beef, pork, or mutton.

Meantime, while the goddess’s portion burns, Phormion approaches the altar, bearing a shallow cup of unmixed wine, and flings it upon the flame.

“Be propitious, O Lady,” he cries, “and receive this my drink offering."[*]

[*]The original intention of this libation at the sacrifice was very clearly to provide the gods with wine to “wash down” their meat.

The sacrifice is now completed.  The priest assures Phormion that the entrails of the victim foretokened every possible favor in future athletic contests—­and this, and his insinuating smile, win him a silver drachma to supplement his share of the lamb.  Phormion readjusts the chaplet upon his own head, and turns towards the Parthenon.  After the sacrifice will come the prayer.

196.  The Interior of the Parthenon and the Great Image of Athena.—­The whole Acropolis is the home of Athena.  The other gods harbored thereon are only her inferior guests.  Upon the Acropolis the dread goddess displays her many aspects.  In the Erechtheum we worship her as Athena Polias, the ancient guardian of the hearths and homes of the city.  In the giant Promachus, we see her the leader in war,—­the awful queen who went with her fosterlings to the deadly grappling at Marathon and at Salamis; in the little temple of “Wingless Victory"[*] we see her as Athena the Victorious, triumphant over Barbarian and Hellenic foe; but in the Parthenon we adore in her purest conception—­the virgin queen, now chaste and clam, her battles over, the pure, high incarnations of all “the beautiful and the good” that may possess spirit and mind,—­the sovran intellect, in short, purged of all carnal, earthy passion.  It is meet that such a goddess should inhabit such a dwelling as the Parthenon.[+]

[*]The term “Wingless Victory” (Nike Apteros) has reference to a special type and aspect of Athena, not to the goddess Nike (Victory) pure and simple.

[+]There was still another aspect in which Athena was worshipped on the Acropolis.  She had a sacred place ("temenos"), though without a temple, sacred to her as Athena Ergane—­Athena Protectress of the Arts.