πέλεκυς pelekys, εως, subst. m.: an axe, often with two blades
Etymology
Indo-European noun, related to, among others, the Sanskrit paraśú- "axe" (Beekes 2010: 1166-1167). In Mycenaean Greek attested in the compound pe-re-ku-wa-na-ka (Beekes 2010: 1166).
Construction and function of the object
The axe as a sacrificial tool was used in the sacrifice of the largest animals - cattle. It was used to deal a blow to the neck. The animal was probably at least sometimes previously stunned with a hammer. Sphyropelekeis are mentioned on the invention inscriptions of the Eleusinian epistatai (I.Eleusis 52 ➚, IG I3 386 ➚) - their name indicates that they were a combination of axe and hammer. However, it is difficult to say how widespread their use was outside Eleusis.
The axes depicted on Attic vase iconography were equipped with two blades (see Durand 1986: 104, fig. 24; 106, fig. 25). This probably served to increase the massiveness of the axe, which in turn translated into blow power.
Testimonies
Of necessity, pelekys are sometimes mentioned in the literature in descriptions of ox sacrifice (e.g. Hom. From. 3.442 ➚, Paus. 1.24.4 ➚) or in allusions to it (e.g. Porph. De abst. 2.29-31). Pelekys is also an important component of iconographic (Painter Brygos's sorcery, Painter Dokimasia's crater ➚; see also Taplin 2007: 49, note 4) and literary representations of Clytemnestra. Although the name of the murder weapon is not mentioned in the text of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, it cannot be excluded that it was visible to the audience of the play. On the other hand, in Choephoroi (889 ➚), Clytemnestra asks to be given a pelekys when she learns from a messenger that someone has murdered Ajgistos - so it seems that Aeschylus remained faithful to the existing iconographic tradition. While there is no reason to believe that before Aeschylus anyone thought about animal sacrifice when looking at images of Clytemnestra with an axe, the tragedy of Agamemnon clearly opens this context. As A. Henrichs (2012) has shown, Aeschylus plays an intertextual game with the description of Agamemnon's death from the Odyssey, the rules of which are determined by the logic of "perverted sacrifice". (perverted sacrifice), which Henrichs sees as the organizing principle of the use of the language of sacrifice in tragedy in general.
In the Odyssey, Agamemnon's ghost laments that he was killed deceitfully at a feast like an ox in a pasture (11. 411 ➚), thus evoking a Homeric simile using the image of an ox being knocked down with an axe (Il. 17.520-521 ➚).