Strangers Sacrificed

It is said that Busiʹris, King of Egypt, sacrificed to his gods all strangers that set foot on his territories. Diomed, King of Thrace, gave strangers to his horses for food. (See Diomedes.)

“Oh fly, or here with strangersʹ blood imbrued

Busirisʹ altars thou shalt find renewed:

Amidst his slaughtered guests his altars stood

Obscene with gore, and baked with human blood.”

Camoens: Lusiad, book ii.

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.