What is a hecatomb?
Depending on the translation that you read, the opening book of Homer’s Iliad often refers to the offering of a hecatomb (ἑκατόμβη). What is a hecatomb? It is the offering of one hundred victims in burnt sacrifice. In the case of the Iliad, the one hundred burnt offerings are bulls and goats.
The concept of massive sacrificial offerings is not foreign to the Bible. King Solomon the Wise offered 220 “hecatombs” of oxen (i.e. 22,000 oxen; 2 Chr 7:5) at one time. King Hezekiah also did something similar (cf. 2 Chr 29:32-33).
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