hecatomb
Sign in to savethumb | right | alt=Sculpture of sacrificial bull | Sculpture of sacrificial bull from the Parthenon Frieze. In ancient Greece, a hecatomb (; ; hekatómbē) was a sacrifice of one hundred cattle (hekaton "one hundred", bous "bull") to the Greek gods. In practice, as few as twelve could make up a hecatomb.
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thumb | right | alt=Sculpture of sacrificial bull | Sculpture of sacrificial bull from the Parthenon Frieze. In ancient Greece, a hecatomb (; ; hekatómbē) was a sacrifice of one hundred cattle (hekaton "one hundred", bous "bull") to the Greek gods. In practice, as few as twelve could make up a hecatomb.
Although originally the sacrifice of a hundred oxen in the religious ceremonies of the Greeks and Romans, later "hecatomb" came to describe a large number of any kind of animals devoted to sacrifice. Figuratively, "hecatomb" is used to describe the sacrifice or destruction by fire, tempest, disease, or the sword of any large number of persons or animals; and also of the wholesale destruction of inanimate objects, and even of mental and moral attributes.