An  inscription  from  Ceos  ^  ordains  that  at  some  local  feast  oxen
and  sheep  which  have  cast  their  milk-teeth  shall  be  slain,  and
swine  which  are  not  more  than  a  year  and  three  months  old.
To  the  greater  gods  adult  victims  were  a  fitting  sacrifice,  such  as
the  ox  and  the  swine  of  five  years  old,  of  which  Homer  speaks.
There  was  a  law  at  Athens  that  lambs  should  not  be  sacrificed
before  they  were  shorn,  nor  sheep  before  they  had  lambed.
Generally  tlie  sex  of  the  victim  followed  that  of  the  deity
to  whom  it  was  devoted,  and  its  age  corresponded  to  that
assigned  to  such  deity  :  a  young  lieifer  to  Artemis  and  an
adult  bull  to  Zeus  were  obviously  fitting  offerings.  As  to
colour,  there  was  a  fairly  constant  rule  that  white  animals  were
most  suitable  for  offering  to  an  Olympian  deity,  and  black  to  a
chthonic  deity  or  a  hero.
