Buphonia is one name for an ancient Greek festival also known as Diipoleia. It was held on the 14th of the Athenian month of Skirophorion [see months of the Athenian calendar] on Athens' acropolis, in honor of Zeus Poleius. As the word Buphonia indicates, a bovine animal (bous) was involved. As an interesting site on etymologies points out, phon- phono- + not only refers to sound, but also to murder. [The Greek is not identical. There is a long vowel in one and a short in the other. This doesn't translate into the English.] The "phonia" in Buphonia relates to the Greek word for murder (phonos).

The story of the bovine murder (based on A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities) is that an ox was led towards the altar of Zeus Poleius, then released. On the altar was tempting feed. When the animal started eating, the priest designated as buphonos grabbed an axe, "murdered" the ox, dropped the ax and ran away. The ax was later convicted of the murder.

Without looking at the word information site, can you think of other words that relate to murder that have the Greek "phon-, phono-+" in them?

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Christianity hadn't been the dominant religion in the Roman Empire for long when the non-Christian philosopher Hypatia was attacked and killed in Alexandria, in A.D. 415, supposedly with the consent of the Bishop, Cyril, who was also instrumental in the schism between the Nestorians and the orthodox Christians following the Council of Ephesus. Attila the Hun and the Vandals were creating trouble for the Roman Empire and its Eastern Augustus, who was given an imperial title in 402, when he was less than a year old, and so was under the influence of one person after another, including his older sister Pulcheria. This eastern emperor was Theodosius II, one of the ancient law codifiers, who fell from a horse and died in the summer of 450.

Read a brief bio of Theodosius. Also see Emperors After Theodosius I.

A much smaller piece of law code than the 2.3 m high Code of Hammurabi has been found at Hazor, in northern Israel. A photo shows the Akkadian cuneiform fragment fits into a hand like a postage stamp. Archaeologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem announced the find on Monday. The piece of code is about the same age as the Code of Hammurabi, which dates to the first half of the 18th century B.C. in the Middle Bronze Age. The Hazor fragment deals with personal injury along the lines of "an eye for an eye". For more details, read History of the Ancient World: Ancient Law Code fragment found in Israel.