Again we learn that whoever would take counsel of the oracle of Amphiaraos[50] must first purify himself, and Pausanias himself adds the explanatory words, ‘Sacrificing to the god is a ceremony of purification.’ But the purification ceremony did not, it would appear, end with the actual sacrifice, for he explains, ‘Having sacrificed a ram they spread the skin beneath them and go to sleep, awaiting the revelation of a dream’; here again, though the name is not used, we have a δῖον κώδιον, a magic fleece with purifying properties. It is curious to note that Zeus made an effort to take over the cult of Amphiaraos, as he had taken that of Meilichios; we hear of a Zeus Amphiaraos[51], but the attempt was not a great success; probably the local hero Amphiaraos, himself all but a god, was too strong for the Olympian. * * * * * The results of our examination of the festival of the Diasia are then briefly this. The cult of the Olympian Zeus has overlaid the cult of a being called Meilichios, a being who was figured as a snake, who was a sort of Ploutos, but who had also some of the characteristics of an Erinys; he was an avenger of kindred blood, his sacrifice was a holocaust offered by night, his festival a time of ‘chilly gloom.’ A further element in his cult was a magical fleece used in ceremonies of purification and in the service of heroes. The cult of Meilichios is unlike that of the Olympian Zeus as described in Homer, and the methods of purification characteristic of him wholly alien. The name of his festival means ‘the ceremonies of imprecation.’ * * * * * The next step in our investigation will be to take in order certain well-known Athenian festivals, and examine the ceremonies that actually took place at each. In each case it will be found that, though the several festivals are ostensibly consecrated to various Olympians, and though there is in each an element of prayer and praise and sacrificial feasting such as is familiar to us in Homer, yet, when the ritual is closely examined, the main part of the ceremonies will be seen to be magical rather than what we should term religious. Further, this ritual is addressed, in so far as it is addressed to any one, not to the Olympians of the upper air, but to snakes and ghosts and underworld beings; its main gist is purification, the riddance of evil influences, this riddance being naturally prompted not by cheerful confidence but by an ever imminent fear.