Roman, Imperial Period, ca. 1st to 2nd century CE. A finely-molded, cast-bronze bucranium (or bull head) with a stocky ovoid neck, a projecting snout with delineated nostrils, bulging eyes, projecting cupped ears, a planar brow, and a pair of curved horns with sharpened tips. The bull is one of the animals associated with the late Hellenistic and Roman cult of Mithras, in which the killing of the astral bull, the "tauroctony," was of primary importance and was virtually as significant as the Crucifixion to the later Christians. A wonderful example with lustrous green and russet patina. Size: 2" W x 1.625" H (5.1 cm x 4.1 cm).
The bull was considered a deeply divine animal throughout antiquity - a meaningful symbol of the moon, fertility, rebirth, and power. We find the earliest depictions of bulls in Paleolithic cave paintings. Moreover, the veneration of the bull in Anatolia would influence several religious cults in antiquity: from the Minoan practice of bull-jumping in Crete, to the fervent worship of the Apis bull in Egypt, to the sacrificial practices of Roman Mithraism.
Provenance: private East Coast, USA collection
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#139665
Condition
Minor nicks to horns, ears, head, and neck line, with fading to some finer details, and some light encrustations, otherwise intact and very good. Light earthen deposits as well as great green and russet patina throughout.