Odyssey 3.444 · Book 3, lines 444–446
Nestor opens the rite
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Περσεὺς δʼ ἀμνίον εἶχε· γέρων δʼ ἱππηλάτα Νέστωρ χέρνιβά τʼ οὐλοχύτας τε κατήρχετο, πολλὰ δʼ Ἀθήνῃ εὔχετʼ ἀπαρχόμενος, κεφαλῆς τρίχας ἐν πυρὶ βάλλων.
Perseus held the blood-bowl. And old horseman Nestor began the rite with lustral water and barley, and prayed much to Athena, making the first offering, casting hairs from the head into the fire.
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The setting
With the attendants in place, the ceremony proper begins. Perseus holds the bowl to catch the blood; Nestor, presiding as king and priest, washes and sprinkles, prays to Athena, and burns the first hairs cut from the victim's head.
A note on this passage
The ceremony opens. Perseus holds the bowl that will catch the blood; Nestor begins with the lustral water and the barley, prays at length to Athena, and throws into the fire the first hairs cut from the heifer's brow. Each gesture is a fixed part of the Greek sacrificial order.
Those first hairs are the ἀπαρχή, the first-offering — the act that consecrates the animal and marks the point of no return. Once the forelock burns, the beast belongs to the god. Notice too who officiates: the same aged Nestor who has spent the book telling the long tales of the returns from Troy now presides at the altar. In this world king and priest are one office; the man who governs Pylos also stands between it and its gods.
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