to be the last. An alternative practice offered a libation from the first bowl to the Agathos Daimon and from the third bowl to Hermes. An individual at the symposium could also make an invocation of and libation to a god of his choice. Libation generally accompanied prayer. The Greeks stood when they prayed, either with their arms uplifted or in the act of libation with the right arm extended to hold the phiale. In animal sacrifice, wine is poured onto the offered animal as part of the ritual sacrifice and preparation, and then onto the ash and flames. Such scenes are commonly depicted in Greek art, including either the sacrificers or the gods themselves holding the phiale. The Greek verb (σπένδω), meaning 'pour a libation' or 'conclude a pact', derives from the Indo-European root , 'make an offering, perform a rite, engage oneself by a ritual act'. The noun form, (plural: ), simply means 'libation'. In the middle voice, the verb means 'enter into an agreement', in the sense that the gods are called to guarantee action. While blood sacrifice was performed to begin a war; marked the conclusion of hostilities and is often thus used to mean 'armistice, treaty'. The formula "we the polis have made libation" was a declaration of peace or the "Truce of God," which was observed also when the various city-states came together for the Panhellenic Games, the Olympic Games, or the festivals of the Eleusinian Mysteries. This form of libation is "bloodless, gentle, irrevocable, and final." Libations poured onto the earth were intended as offerings for the dead and the chthonic gods. In the Book of the Dead in the Odyssey, Odysseus digs an offering pit around which he pours in order honey, wine, and water. For the form of libation called (, , 'that which is poured'; from IE ), a larger vessel is tipped over and emptied onto the ground for the chthonic gods, who may also receive spondaic libations. Divined mortals might receive blood libations if they had participated in the bloodshed of war, for instance Brasidas the Spartan. In rituals of caring for the dead at their tombs, libations would include milk and honey. The Libation Bearers is the English title of the center tragedy from the Orestes Trilogy of Aeschylus, in reference to the offerings Electra brings to the tomb of her dead father Agamemnon. Sophocles gives one