Definition of "hecatomb"
hecatomb
noun
plural hecatombs
(Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, historical) A great public sacrifice to the gods, originally of a hundred oxen; also, a great number of animals reserved for such a sacrifice.
Quotations
O be propitious, powerfull God of Arts, / I sheathe my weapons, and doe breake my darts, / Be then appeas'd, I'le offer to thy shrine, / An Heccatombe, of many spotted kine.
1599, W. Kinsayder or Theriomastix [pseudonyms; John Marston], “Satyre. V. Totum in Toto.”, in The Scourge of Villanie. […], London: […] I[ames] R[oberts]; republished as G[eorge] B[agshawe] Harrison, editor, The Scourge of Villanie (The Bodley Head Quartos; 13), London: John Lane, The Bodley Head […]; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Company, 1925, page 58
[B]oth the muſes and the graces are his hard Miſtriſſes, though he daily Invocate them, though he ſacrifize Hecatombs, they ſtil look a ſquint, […]
a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “[Characters.] The True Character of a Dunce.”, in Paradoxes, Problemes, Essayes, Characters, […], London: […] T. N. for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1652, page 68
But haſte, conſult vve quick ſome prophet here / […] that vve may learn / By vvhat crime vve have thus incenſed Apollo, / VVhat broken vovv, vvhat hecatomb unpaid / He charges on us, and if ſoothed vvith ſteam / Of lambs and goats unblemiſh'd, he may yet / Be vvon to ſpare us, and avert the plague.
1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., “[The Iliad.] Book I.”, in The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume I, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], pages 5–6, lines 74 and 76–81
[I]t is conceivable that if we were ancients some of us might be offering grateful hecatombs by mistake, and proving our honesty in a ruinously expensive manner.
, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], “[Impressions of Theophrastus Such.] The Wasp Credited with the Honeycomb.”, in Impressions of Theophrastus Such, Essays and Leaves from a Note-book, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, page 107
(by extension, religion, historical) A great public sacrifice in other religions; also, a great number of animals or people reserved for such a sacrifice.
Quotations
The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was the god of war. The great object of their military expeditions was, to gather hecatombs of captives for his altars. The soldier, who fell in battle, was transported at once to the region of ineffable bliss in the bright mansions of the Sun.
1843, William H[ickling] Prescott, chapter II, in History of the Conquest of Mexico, […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: Harper and Brothers, […], book I (Introduction—View of the Aztec Civilization), page 43
(figuratively, literary and poetic) A great number of animals, people, or things that are sacrificed or destroyed; any great sacrifice; also (generally), a large amount.
Quotations
O hecatombe! O catastrophe! / From Mydas pompe to Irus beggery!
1598, John Marston, “The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image and Certaine Satyres. Satyre V. Parva magna, magna nulla.”, in J[ames] O[rchard] Halliwell, editor, The Works of John Marston. […] (Library of Old Authors), volume III, London: John Russell Smith, […] , published 1856, page 232
[R]egard this Earth / Made multitudinous with thy slaves, whom thou / Requitest for knee-worship, prayer, and praise, / And toil, and hecatombs of broken hearts, / With fear and self-contempt and barren hope.
1818–1819 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Prometheus Unbound”, in Prometheus Unbound […], London: C[harles] and J[ames] Ollier […], published 1820, Act I, scene i, page 19
The tender word and Christian encouragement of an invalid, pitiful patience with his fears and the removal of them, are better than hecatombs of gushing theories, stereotyped borrowed speeches, and the doling of arguments, which are but so many parodies on legitimate Christian Science, aflame with divine Love.
1875, Mary Baker Eddy, “Christian Science Practice”, in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Boston, Mass.: The First Church of Christ, Scientist, published 1994, page 367
In [Robert] Conquest's opinion, the visceral reaction to Nazism entails a verdict that it was morally worse than Stalinism, even if its eventual hecatomb was a less colossal one.
2002 September, Christopher Hitchens, “Martin Amis: Lightness at Midnight: Stalinism without Irony”, in Michael Kelly, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, archived from the original on 2023-05-31
During the royal hunt, the Shang killed wild beasts with reckless abandon, and consumed hecatombs of domestic animals at a bin banquet or a funeral.
2006, Karen Armstrong, “The Axial Peoples (c. 1600 to 900 BCE)”, in The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions, Toronto, Ont.: Vintage Canada, published 2007, page 37