As the sun sprang up, leaving the brilliant waters in its wake,
climbing the bronze sky to shower light on immortal gods
and mortal men across the plowlands ripe with grain
the ship pulled into Pylos, Neleus’ storied citadel,
where the people lined the beaches,
sacrificing sleek black bulls to Poseidon,
god of the sea-blue mane who shakes the earth.
They sat in nine divisions, each five hundred strong,
each division offering up nine bulls, and while the people
tasted the innards, burned the thighbones for the god.
– Homer
The Odyssey, Book 3, lines 1-10. Telemachus arrives in Pylos, the land ruled by Nestor. He finds that the people are sacrificing bulls both to honor god of the sea Poseidon and to feed the people. Homer gives us a beautiful description of the ship pulling into the harbor at dawn to witness the religious rite.