[168\5: On the chthonic character of the deities of expiation see in gen. K. O. Müller, _Aesch. Eum._, p. 139 ff. (112 ff.). Chief among them is ~Zeu\s meili/chios~ (a euphemistic title; cf. above, n. 5), who is unmistakably a ~chtho/nios~. Hence, like all ~chtho/nioi~ he is represented as a snake on the votive tablet to ~Z. meil.~ discovered in the Peiraeus (certainly the Athenian god and not a foreign deity identified with this god whom all Athenians knew well from the feast of the Diasia): _BCH._ 7, 507 ff.; _CIA._ ii, 1578 ff. On a votive insc. from Lykia we have, side by side with the chthonic Hekate, ~Dii\ Meilichi/ô| kai\ Enodi/a|~, _BCH._ 13, 392. Other ~theoi\ meili/chioi~ in Lokris were worshipped with _nocturnal_ sacrifice (as regularly in the case of underworld deities): Paus. 10, 38, 8. The ~dai/mones meili/chioi~ as ~chtho/nioi~ are contrasted with the ~maka/ressin ourani/ois~ in the oracle verses ap. Phlegon, _Macr._ iv, p. 93, 5 Kel.: deis milicheis _Acta Lud. Saecul._ Tab. A l. 11 [= _CIL._ vi, 32, 323; see Mommsen, _Ges. Schr._ viii, 570].--Then come the ~apotro/paioi~: their nature can be guessed from the fact that they were worshipped together with the dead and Hekate on the thirtieth day of the month (see above, n. 88). After a bad dream offerings were made to the ~apotro/paioi~, to Ge and the Heroes: Hp., _Diaet._ 4, 8, vi, p. 652 L. ~Zeu\s apotro/paios~ must have been a ~chtho/nios~, but we have side by side with him an ~Athêna= apotropai/a~ (and an Apollo ~apotr.~ too): ins. from Erythrai, _SIG._ 600, 69; 115: the provinces of ~Olu/mpioi~ and ~chtho/nioi~ were not always kept absolutely distinct.--An ancient and hereditary service of the propitiation deities belonged to the Attic family of the Phytalids who had once purified and offered expiatory sacrifice for Theseus after the murder of Skiron and others (~hagni/santes kai\ meili/chia thu/santes~): Plu., _Thes._ 12. The gods to whom this family offered sacrifice were Demeter and Zeus Meilichios: Paus. 1, 37, 2-4.--Isoc. 5, 117, makes a clear distinction between the ~theoi\ Olu/mpioi~ and the gods to whom only an apotropaic cult, ~apopompa/s~, was offered; these being the gods of expiation (cf. ~apodiopompei=sthai~ in propitiatory sacrifices; ~apopompai=oi theoi/~: Apollod. ap. Harp. ~apopompa/s~. Cf. also ~apopompê/~ of evil daimones in contrast to the ~epipompê/~ of the same: Anon. _Vir. Herb._ xxii, 165. See Hemsterhuys, _Lucian_ ii, p. 255 Bip.; Lob., _Agl._ 984, ii).] [169\5: e.g. in the description of the ~hilasmo/s~ of Medea by Kirke in A.R. iv, 712 ff.] [170\5: K. O. Müller, _Dorians_, i, 328, 336; cf. the same ancient custom of flight for nine years and penance for the slaying of a man in the legend and cult of Zeus Lykaios; cf. H. D. Müller, _Myth. d. gr. St._ ii, 105. See below.] [171\5: _Cho._ 1055-60. _Eum._ 237 ff., 281 ff., 445 ff., 470.]