slayer himself, individual consciences were assuaged and the polis was reaffirmed. The burden of guilt was doubly displaced, not only through the buck-passing of the trial, but also through the apparently "guilty" act of the oxen in selecting itself through the initial eating. Account by Pausanias In Pausanias’s description of the ritual, barley and wheat are mixed and left upon the altar. The ox that has been prepared for sacrifice is brought to the altar where it begins to eat the grain. A priest, referred to as the ox-slayer, kills the ox and runs away as he tosses away the murder weapon. The axe is then brought to trial. Account by Porphyry The description by Porphyry describes the founding of the ritual killing. A farmer from Attica by the name of Diomus was in Athens celebrating a common sacrifice. A working ox approached the table where the cakes and offerings had been laid out. When the ox had ate some and trampled upon the rest, Diomus killed the ox with an axe and proceeded to bury it. Perceiving the act to be an impious one, Diomus is said to have fled to Crete. Meanwhile the Attic land was struck by drought and sterility of fruit. When the people consulted the Pythian deity, the God said the murderer must be punished and a statue of the ox erected in the place. Diomus, seeking to be freed from the crime, determined that an ox should be slain by the city so that all the men would have the act in common. The people therefore take part in the slaughter with Diomus being the one to strike the ox. Porphyry describes the deed as follows. Virgins are to act as drawers of water. Three separate persons are respectively responsible for giving the axe, striking the ox, and cutting the throat of the ox. All who are present then eat of the ox. The ox hide is then stuffed with straw and yoked to a plow. The judicial process then proceeds in a ritual manner. The drawers of water accuse the knife sharpeners who then accuse the one who handed over the ax. That person then accuses the one who cut the throat, who in turn accuses the knife. In such a way the knife is found to be guilty and is cast into the sea. These events are repeated each year on the