in antiquity, an Athenian feast or ceremony, so denominated from a bullock being slain therein, with quaint formalities. From the origin of the buphonia, it may be concluded that by the laws of Attica it was forbidden to kill an ox; but it once happened, at the feast of the diipolia, that an ox ate the corn or cakes which had been dressed for the sacrifice, which so enraged Thaoulon the priest, that he presently killed the animal and fled. On this the Athenians, dreading the resentment of the gods, and feigning themselves ignorant who had committed the fact, brought the bloody axe before the judges, where it was solemnly arraigned, tried, found guilty, and condemned; and, in memory of this event, a feast was instituted under the denomination of buphonia, in which it was still customary for the priest to fly, and judgment to be given respecting the slaughter of the ox.