530 John Byron a type of impurity or sacrilege that brought an unforgivable curse upon the perpetrator(s) (15). Sometimes the murderous act was considered a[go" because it took place in a sacred space. For instance, Herodotus recounts that when the aristocrats of Aegina killed the peasants who revolted against them one of those to be slain escaped and seized the temple gates of Demeter. When they could not free him they cut off his hands and dragged him away with his hands still gripping the temple gates. For this act of sacrilege Herodotus says they received an incurable curse (a[go") and eventually were driven out of the city (6.91). Thucydides records how some Athenians seized the Acropolis with a view to making one of their own the city’s ruler. When the people got word of this they laid siege to the Acropolis while the insurgents were still inside. As the siege progressed, those locked inside began to run low on food and water. Under the pretense of safe passage, the besieged were led from the temple and then summarily executed. As in Herodotus’ account, those who took refuge at the altar were dragged away and killed. Thucydides says that for this act both the executioners and their descendants were considered to be impure (a[go") and driven out of Athens. Josephus uses the term only once. In Jewish War 4.163, he places the ago" term in a speech given by the high priest Ananus in which he comments [ on the actions of the Zealots in the temple. In the speech Ananus laments that he has lived long enough to see the day when the temple would be made impure by the murderers who perform their deeds in the temple precincts. Not all occurrences of a[go" were in the context of murder in a sacred space, however. In Oedipus Tyrannus, for instance, Creon commands the attendants, as kinsmen, to take Oedipus into the house rather than expose his pollution (a[go") to the world (ln 1425). In his account of the aftermath of Julius Caesar’s assassination, Appian records that some viewed the murder as a great act of impiety (a[go") and that those who participated were liable to the divine curse that accompanies such acts (Bell. Civ. 2.15, 124, 127). In the fourth oracle of the Sibyl, Nero’s murder of his mother is labeled as a[go" (Sib. Or. 4.121). While these references demonstrate the connection between certain murderous acts and the label of a[go", it is Philo of Alexandria that provides the most insight for our purposes. Of the nineteen times Philo uses a[go", seventeen are used in the context of murder and have some type of connection to sacred space, worship of a deity or ritual purity (16). In addition to discussing the need for the high priest not to become impure by coming in contact with the dead or other potential pollutants (Flight 113), Philo considers the abortion, exposure or ritual sacrifice of children and any other type of murder, premeditated or not, to be ago" (Confusion, 161; Abraham, 181; Spec. Laws, 3.89, 92, 112). Similar to [ Herodotus and Thucydides, Philo labels the killing of one’s fellow countryman as something that renders one impure. Thus the Levites who killed those who worshipped the golden calf as well as Phinehas and the army he led against the Midianites are all said to have become ritually impure (15) LSJ, 8. (16) Philo also considers transgender peoples who mutilate themselves to be a[go". But this is the only usage of the term not connected to murder or sacred ritual (Spec. Laws 3.42).