Bouzyges ("Ox-yoker"[1]) is aculture hero fromGreek mythology, credited with the invention of many agricultural practices; most notably, he was the first man toyokeoxen to aplough and introduced cultivation to Athens.[1][2] He has sometimes been identified[1] or confused[3] withEpimenides, who visited and purified Athens.
He appeared in Athenian literature in the 6th century BC, andLasus of Hermione, the 6th century BC poet, mentioned him.[4]
The only ancient depiction of him is on akrater, attributed to the painter of the Naples Hephaistos, showing a nude, bearded Bouzyges driving two bulls (or a bull and an ox) pulling the first plough.[5] The krater was part of a bequest ofDavid Moore Robinson[6] to the collection of the Fogg Museum, part of theHarvard Art Museums.[7]
The name was also used by an order of priests associated with theEleusinian Mysteries; these priests, collectively known as theBouzygai, were also the priests ofZeus at thePalladium andZeus Teleios.[8] They also served as priests elsewhere, such asIlissus.[9]
Bouzygai could also refer to the clan that claimed descent from Bouzyges.[10] At an annual festival celebrated in his honor at the foot of theAcropolis, a member of the family performed a sacred ploughing rite.[2][11] At a ceremony forDemeter in Athens, a member was tasked with cursing those who violated certain norms of "good-neighbourliness" that were not otherwise punishable by law.[10] It is said thatPericles may have been one of the Bouzygai.[4] However, some scholars dispute this, suggesting that this clan is an inferior counterpart of the Athenian statesman.[12]
^Markantonatos, Andreas; Zimmermann, Bernhard (2011).Crisis on Stage: Tragedy and Comedy in Late Fifth-Century Athens. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. p. 284.ISBN9783110269604.
