The worship of the Sacred Bull was widespread in the ancient world. It is perhaps most familiar to the Western world in the Biblical episode wherein an idol of the Golden Calf is made by Aaron and worshipped by the Hebrews in the wilderness of Sinai (Exodus). Etymology According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the word bible is from Latin biblia, traced from the same word through Medieval Latin and Late Latin The golden calf (עגל הזהב was an idol (a Cult image) made for the Israelites during Moses ' absence as he went up to Mount Sinai This article is about Aaron the Levite in the Hebrew Bible, the Qu'ran, and other sources Exodus ( Greek: έξοδος eksodos = "departure" is the second book of the Jewish Torah and of the Christian Old Testament. Young bulls were set as frontier markers at Tel Dan and at Bethel the frontiers of the Kingdom of Israel. Tel Dan ("Mound of Dan" תל דן in Hebrew) also known as Tel el-Qadi ( Mound of the Judge in Arabic, literal translation of the Hebrew Bethel (בֵּית אֵל also written as Beth El or Beth-El, meaning "House of God" (in general or " House of (the specific god named El The Kingdom of Israel ( ( KJV Israel in Samaria) was one of the successor states to the older United Monarchy (also often called the 'Kingdom of Israel' In other cultures, Marduk is the "bull of Utu" and the Hindu God Shiva's steed is Nandi, the Bull. Marduk ( Sumerian spelling in Akkadian: AMARUTU 𒀫 𒌓 "solar calf" perhaps from MERI This article refers to the Sumerian Deity. For other uses see Utu (disambiguation. Shiva:(pronunciation; Sanskrit: शिव Śiva, lit "Auspicious one" One of the Trimurtis Shiva is the supreme God in the Shaiva Nandi ( Sanskrit: नंदी is the bull which Shiva rides and the gate keeper of Shiva in Hindu mythology Nandi the bull can be traced back to Indus Valley Civilization, where dairy farming was the most important occupations. The Indus Valley Civilization (Mature period 2600&ndash1900 BCE abbreviated IVC, was an ancient Civilization that flourished in the Indus River basin Dairy farming is a class of agricultural, or an Animal husbandry enterprise for long-term production of Milk, which may be either processed on-site or The bull Nandi is Shiva's primary vehicle and is the principal gana(follower)of Shiva.
Aurochs are depicted in many Paleolithic European cave paintings such as those found at Lascaux and Livernon in France. The aurochs or urus ( Bos taurus primigenius) was a very large type of cattle that was prevalent in Europe until its Extinction in 1627 Lascaux is the setting of a complex of Caves in southwestern France famous for its prehistoric Cave paintings The original caves are located near Their life force may have been thought to have magical qualities, for early carvings of the aurochs have also been found. The impressive and dangerous aurochs survived into the Iron Age in Anatolia and the Near East and was worshiped throughout that area as a sacred animal. This article is about the archaeological period known as the Iron Age for the mythological Iron Age see Ages of Man. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh depicts the killing of the Bull of Heaven, Gugalana, husband of Ereshkigal, as an act of defiance of the gods. The Epic of Gilgamesh is an epic poem from Ancient Mesopotamia and is among the earliest known works of literary fiction. In Mesopotamian mythology, Gugalanna (lit "The Great Bull of Heaven" Sumerian gu "bull" gal "great" an In Mesopotamian mythology, Ereshkigal ( D EREŠ. KI. GAL, lit
From the earliest times, the bull was lunar in Mesopotamia (its horns representing the crescent moon), though we cannot recreate a specific context for the bull skulls with horns (bucrania) preserved in an 8th millennium BCE sanctuary at Çatalhöyük in eastern Anatolia. Mesopotamia (from the Greek meaning "land between the rivers" is an area geographically located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers largely corresponding Bucranium is also a spider genus ( Thomisidae) Bucranium (plural bucrania) is the Latin word for the Skull Çatalhöyük (ʧɑtɑl højyk in Turkish also Çatal Höyük and Çatal Hüyük, or any of the three without Diacritics çatal is Turkish The sacred bull of the Hattians, whose elaborate standards were found at Alaca Höyük alongside those of the sacred stag, survived in the Hurrian and Hittite mythologies as Seri and Hurri ('Day' and 'Night') — the bulls who carried the weather god Teshub on their backs or in his chariot, and who grazed on the ruins of cities. The Hattians were an ancient people who inhabited the land of Hatti in present-day central and southeastern parts of Anatolia, Turkey. Alacahöyük or Alaca Höyük (sometimes also spelt as Alacahüyük, Euyuk, or Evuk) is the site of a Neolithic and Hittite Deer have significant roles in the Mythology of various peoples The Hurrians (also Khurrites; cuneiform Ḫu-ur-ri 𒄷𒌨𒊑 were a people of the Ancient Near East, who lived in northern Mesopotamia The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people who spoke a language of the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family and established Teshub (also written Teshup) was the Hurrian god of sky and storm [1] In Cyprus, bull masks made from real skulls were worn in rites. Cyprus (Κύπρος transliterated: Kýpros,; Kıbrıs officially the Republic of Cyprus (Κυπριακή Δημοκρατία Kypriakī́ Dīmokratía Bull-masked terracotta figurines[2] and Neolithic bull-horned stone altars have been found in Cyprus.
In Egypt, the bull was worshiped as Apis, the embodiment of Ptah and later of Osiris. In Egyptian mythology, Ptah (also spelt Peteh) was the deification of the primordial mound in the Ennead Cosmogony, which was more literally Osiris ( Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously transliterated Asar, Aser, Ausar, Ausir A long series of ritually perfect bulls were identified by the god's priests, housed in the temple for their lifetime, then embalmed and encased in a giant sarcophagus. A sarcophagus is a Funeral receptacle for a Corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone A long sequence of monolithic stone sarcophagi were housed in the Serapeum, and were rediscovered by Auguste Mariette at Saqqara in 1851. A Serapeum is a Temple or other religious institution dedicated to the syncretic Hellenistic - Egyptian god Serapis, who combined aspects The French scholar and archaeologist François Auguste Ferdinand Mariette ( February 11, 1821 &ndash January 19, 1881) was the foremost Saqqara or Sakkara, Saqqarah ( Arabic: سقارة is a vast ancient burial ground in Egypt, featuring the world's oldest standing Step 1851 ( MDCCCLI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar (or a Common year The bull was also worshipped as Mnewer, the embodiment of Atum-Ra, in Heliopolis. In late Egyptian mythology, Mnewer (also spelt Mnevis) was a aspect of the of the chief god in the region of Heliopolis, Atum-Ra. Atum (alternatively spelled Tem, Temu, Tum, and Atem) is an important Deity in Egyptian mythology, whose cult centred Heliopolis (or On) ( Greek: or) meaning sun-city was one of the most ancient cities of Egypt, and capital of the 13th Lower Egyptian nome Ka in Egyptian is both a religious concept of life-force/power and the word for bull.
Walter Burkert summarized modern revision of a too-facile and blurred identification of a god that was identical to his sacrificial victim, which had created suggestive analogies with the Christian Eucharist for an earlier generation of mythographers:
- The concept of the theriomorphic god and especially of the bull god, however, may all too easily efface the very important distinctions between a god named, described, represented, and worshipped in animal form, a real animal worshipped as a god, animal symbols and animal maskes used in the cult, and finally the consecrated animal destined for sacrifice. Animal worship of the kind found in the Egyptian Apis cult is unknown in Greece. ("Greek Religion," 1985).
When the heroes of the new Indo-European culture arrived in the Aegean basin, they faced off with the ancient Sacred Bull on many occasions, and always overcame it, in the form of the myths that have survived. The Proto-Indo-Europeans (PIE were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language, who likely lived around 4000 BC, during the Copper Age and the For the Greeks, the bull was strongly linked to the Bull of Crete: Theseus of Athens had to capture the ancient sacred bull of Marathon (the "Marathonian bull") before he faced the Bull-man, the Minotaur (Greek for "Bull of Minos"), whom the Greeks imagined as a man with the head of a bull at the center of the labyrinth. In Greek mythology, the Cretan Bull was either the bull that carried away Europa or the bull Pasiphaë fell in love with giving birth to the For other uses see Theseus (disambiguation Theseus (Θησεύς was a Legendary king of Athens, son of Aethra, and fathered Marathon ( Demotic Greek: Μαραθώνας Marathónas; Attic / Katharevousa:, Marathṓn) is an ancient Greek city-state In Greek mythology, the Minotaur ( Greek:, Mīnṓtauros) was a creature that was part man and part bull. In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth ( Greek λαβύρινθος labyrinthos) was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Earlier Minoan frescos and ceramics depict bull-leaping rituals in which participants of both sexes vaulted over bulls by grasping their horns. The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. Fresco (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related Painting types done on Plaster on walls or The word ceramic is derived from the Greek word κεραμικός ( keramikos) Bull-leaping (also taurokathapsia, from Greek grc ταυροκαθάψια is a motif of Middle Bronze Age figurative art notably of Yet Walter Burkert's constant warning is, "It is hazardous to project Greek tradition directly into the Bronze age";[3] only one Minoan image of a bull-headed man has been found, a tiny seal currently held in the Archaeological Museum of Chania. The term Bronze Age refers to a period in human cultural development when the most advanced Metalworking (at least in systematic and widespread use included techniques for A seal can mean a wax seal bearing an impressed figure or an embossed figure in paper with the purpose of authenticating a document but the term can also mean any device for Chaniá ( Greek: Χανιά xaˈɲa also transliterated Hania and Khania, older form Chanea and Venetian: Canea
In the Olympian cult, Hera's epithet Bo-opis is usually translated "ox-eyed" Hera, but the term could just as well apply if the goddess had the head of a cow, and thus the epithet reveals the presence of an earlier, though not necessarily more primitive, iconic view. The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon ( Greek: Δωδεκάθεον In the Olympian pantheon of classical Greek Mythology, Hera (ˈhɪərə or /ˈhɛrə/ Greek) or Here ( in Ionic and Homer An epithet (from Greek ἐπίθετον - epitheton, neut of ἐπίθετος - epithetos, "attributed added" is a Classical Greeks never otherwise referred to Hera simply as the cow, though her priestess Io was so literally a heifer that she was stung by a gadfly, and it was in the form of a heifer that Zeus coupled with her. In Greek mythology, Io (ˈaɪoʊ or /ˈiːoʊ/ World Book «EYE oh», in Ancient Greek Ἰώ) was a priestess of Hera in Argos Zeus took over the earlier roles, and, in the form of a bull that came forth from the sea, abducted the high-born Phoenician Europa and brought her, significantly, to Crete. Europa ( Greek Εὐρώπη was a Phoenician woman of high lineage in Greek mythology, from whom the name of the Continent Europe
Dionysus was another god of resurrection who was strongly linked to the bull. In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman In a cult hymn from Olympia, at a festival for Hera, Dionysus is also invited to come as a bull, "with bull-foot raging. Olympia ( Greek: Olympí'a or Olýmpia, older transliterations Olimpia, Olimbia) a sanctuary of ancient Greece In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman " "Quite frequently he is portrayed with bull horns, and in Kyzikos he has a tauromorphic image," Walter Burkert relates, and refers also to an archaic myth in which Dionysus is slaughtered as a bull calf and impiously eaten by the Titans. Cyzicus ( Κύζικος) was an ancient town of Mysia in Anatolia, situated on the shoreward side of the present peninsula of Kapu-Dagh (Arctonnesus which Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, February 2, 1931) a scholar of Greek mythology and cult, is an emeritus In Classical mythology, Dionysus or Dionysos (in Greek, Διόνυσος or Διώνυσος; associated with Roman In Greek mythology, the Titans ( Greek: Tītā́n; plural Tītânes) were a race of powerful Deities that ruled during the legendary [4]
In the Classical period of Greece, the bull and other animals identified with deities were separated as their agalma, a kind of heraldic show-piece that concretely signified their numinous presence. Schefflera is a genus in the Flowering plant family Araliaceae.
Alexander the Great's famous horse was named Bucephalus ("ox-head"), linking the self-proclaimed god-king with the mythical power of the bull. Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' For the branding mark anciently used on horses see Bucephalus (brand.
The bull is one of the animals associated with the late Hellenistic and Roman syncretic cult of Mithras, in which the killing of the astral bull, the tauroctony, was as central in the cult as the Crucifixion was to contemporary Christians. A tauroctony is an artistic depiction of the mythic hero and ancient religious savior Mithras engaged in the ritual slaying of a bull The British Museum is a Museum of human history and culture in London. Syncretism consists of the attempt to reconcile disparate or contradictory beliefs often while melding practices of various schools of thought The Mithraic Mysteries or Mysteries of Mithras (also Mithraism) was a Roman mystery religion which became popular among the military in the late A tauroctony is an artistic depiction of the mythic hero and ancient religious savior Mithras engaged in the ritual slaying of a bull Crucifixion (from Latin crucifixio, noun of process crucifixio, from perfect passive participle crucifixus, fixed to a cross from Early Christianity is commonly defined as the Christianity of the three centuries between the Crucifixion of Jesus ( c The tauroctony was represented in every Mithraeum (compare the very similar Enkidu tauroctony seal). A tauroctony is an artistic depiction of the mythic hero and ancient religious savior Mithras engaged in the ritual slaying of a bull Mithraeum is a place of worship for the followers of the Mystery religion of Mithraism. First Tablet Enkidu is the quintessential savage person in the beginning of the epic The whole of his body was hairy and his (uncut locks were like a woman's or the hair of An often-disputed suggestion connects remnants of Mithraic ritual to the survival or rise of bullfighting in Iberia and southern France, where the legend of Saint Saturninus (or Sernin) of Toulouse and his protegé in Pamplona, Saint Fermin, at least, are inseparably linked to bull-sacrifices by the vivid manner of their martryrdoms, set by Christian hagiography in the 3rd century CE, which was also the century in which Mithraism was most widely practiced. The Mithraic Mysteries or Mysteries of Mithras (also Mithraism) was a Roman mystery religion which became popular among the military in the late Bullfighting or Tauromachy (from Greek ταυρομαχία - tauromachia, "bull-fight" is a traditional spectacle of Spain Saint Saturnin of Toulouse (in Latin, Saturninus; Sernin in Modern French; in Galicia, Sadurninho; in Navarra Saint Fermin of Amiens (also Firmin, from Latin, Firminus; in Spanish, Fermín) is one of many locally venerated Catholic saints Hagiography ( is the study of Saints. A hagiography, from Greek (hağios (ἅγιος "holy" or "saint" and graphē (γραφή
Irish Gaelic myth features the tales of the epic hero Cuchulainn, which were collected in the 7th century CE "Book of the Dun Cow. Cúchulainn /kuːˈxʊlɪnʲ/ ( ( Irish for "Hound of Culann " also spelled Cú Chulainn, Cú Chulaind, Cúchulain, or Lebor na hUidre, or the Book of the Dun Cow, is an Irish Vellum Manuscript dating to the 12th century "
In some Christian religions, Nativity scenes are assembled at Christmas time. Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings A nativity scene may be used to describe any depiction of the Nativity of Jesus in art, but in the sense covered here also called a crib or manger in the Most of them show a bull or an ox near baby Jesus, lying in a manger. Oxen (singular ox) are Cattle trained as draft animals. Often they are adult castrated males Jesus of Nazareth (7–2 BC / BCE —26–36 AD / CE) Traditional songs of Christmas often tell of the bull and the donkey warming the infant with their breath.
The sacred bull survives in the constellation Taurus. Taurus (it looks like a bull (ˈtɔrəs bull, symbol, Unicode ♉ is one of the Constellations of the Zodiac.
Notes
- ^ Hawkes and Woolley, 1963; Vieyra, 1955
- ^ Burkert 1985
- ^ Burkert 1985 p. 24
- ^ Burkert 1985 pp. 64, 132
References
- Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion, 1985
- Campbell, Joseph Occidental Mythology "2. Walter Burkert (born Neuendettelsau, Bavaria, February 2, 1931) a scholar of Greek mythology and cult, is an emeritus Joseph John Campbell ( March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American Mythology Professor, Writer The Consort of the Bull", 1964.
- Hawkes, Jacquetta; Woolley, Leonard: Prehistory and the Beginnings of Civilization, v. Jacquetta Hawkes ( 5 August 1910 &ndash 18 March 1996) was a British Archaeologist. Sir Charles Leonard Woolley ( 17 April 1880 &ndash 20 February 1960) was a British Archaeologist best known for his Excavations 1 (NY, Harper & Row, 1963)
- Vieyra, Maurice: Hittite Art, 2300-750 B. C. (London, A. Tiranti, 1955)
- Jeremy B. Rutter, The Three Phases of the Taurobolium, Phoenix (1968).
See also
External links
- An exhibit on the tombs of Alaca Höyük at the Metropolitan Museum of Art includes one example of the bull standards. The Camahueto from the Mythology of Chiloé has the form of a calf or Bull, with a small horn on its forehead similar to a Unicorn. Nandi ( Sanskrit: नंदी is the bull which Shiva rides and the gate keeper of Shiva in Hindu mythology In the Roman empire of the second to fourth centuries taurobolium referred to practices involving the sacrifice of a bull, which after mid-second The Metropolitan Museum of Art is an art museum located on the eastern edge of Central Park, along what is known as Museum Mile in New York City,
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