Odyssey 3.4 · Book 3, lines 4–6
Landfall at Pylos, and Poseidon's black bulls
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οἱ δὲ Πύλον, Νηλῆος ἐυκτίμενον πτολίεθρον, ἷξον· τοὶ δʼ ἐπὶ θινὶ θαλάσσης ἱερὰ ῥέζον, ταύρους παμμέλανας, ἐνοσίχθονι κυανοχαίτῃ·
And they reached Pylos, the well-built citadel of Neleus; on the shore of the sea they were performing holy rites, jet-black bulls, to the dark-haired Earth-shaker.
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The setting
They put in at Pylos, the city of Neleus (Nestor's father). On the beach the whole population is at a great sacrifice — to Poseidon, the sea-god whose anger has kept Odysseus from home.
A note on this passage
The travelers make landfall at Pylos, the well-built city of old Neleus, and find its people already gathered on the beach at a vast sacrifice: jet-black bulls slaughtered to Poseidon, the dark-haired Earth-shaker, lord of the very sea they have just crossed.
There is a quiet irony the poem does not spell out. Telemachus has sailed here to learn news of Odysseus — and the first thing he meets is a whole city honoring the one god whose anger keeps his father from home. The black bulls match the sea-god's dark hair; the piety is real and total, and it is aimed squarely at his family's enemy.
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