88:
308:, or by command of the goddess herself, and the privilege was not limited by sex or class. In its fourth-century revival in high pagan circles, Rutter has observed, "We might even justifiably say that the taurobolium, rather than a rite effectual in itself was a symbol of paganism. It was a rite apparently forbidden by the Christian emperors and thus became a hallmark of the pagan nobility in their final struggle against Christianity and the Christian emperors." The place of its performance at Rome was near the site of
222:, with golden crown and fillets on his head, takes his place in a trench covered by a platform of planks pierced with fine holes, on which a bull, magnificent with flowers and gold, is slain. The blood rains through the platform onto the priest below, who receives it on his face, and even on his tongue and palate, and after the baptism presents himself before his fellow-worshippers purified and regenerated, and receives their salutations and reverence. Prudentius does not explicitly mention the
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of Attis, the rebirth of vegetation. The ceremony may be the spiritualized descent of the primitive oriental practice of drinking or being baptized in the blood of an animal, based upon a belief that the strength of brute creation could be acquired by consumption of its substance or contact with its blood. In spite of the phrase renatus in aeternum, there is no reason to suppose that the ceremony was in any way borrowed from
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suggested: "The taurobolium was probably a sacred drama symbolizing the relations of the Mother and Attis (q.v.). The descent of the priest into the sacrificial foss (pit) symbolized the death of Attis, the withering of the vegetation of Mother Earth; his bath of blood and emergence the restoration
241:
Recent scholarship has called into question the reliability of
Prudentius' description. It is a late account by a Christian who was hostile to paganism, and may have distorted the rite for effect. Earlier inscriptions that mention the rite suggest a less gory and elaborate sacrificial rite.
296:, "reborn for eternity", in consequence of the ceremony. While its efficacy was not eternal, its effect was considered to endure for twenty years, as if the magic coating of the blood wore off after that time, the initiate having taken his vows for "the circle of twenty years" (
203:
The best-known and most vivid description, though of the quite different taurobolium as it was revived in aristocratic pagan circles, is the notorious one that has coloured early scholarship, which was provided in an anti-pagan poem by the late 4th-century
Christian
444:, a first phase (c. 135–59) in which the ceremony was not linked to the cult of the Great Mother, a second expansive phase (c. 159–290) west of the Adriatic and a brief third phase (c. 376–390) confined to aristocratic pagan circles.
160:, 27 November 160. Jeremy Rutter makes the suggestion that the bull's testicles substituted for the self-castration of devotees of Cybele, abhorrent to the Roman
126:
in honour of a deity or deities, but not an essentially religious ceremony, though a bull was sacrificed and its flesh distributed. The addition of the
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in late March. In the late third and the fourth centuries its usual motive was the purification or regeneration of an individual, who was spoken of as
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The earliest inscriptions, of the second century in Asia Minor, point to a bull chase in which the animal was overcome, linked with a
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of the emperor, Empire, or community; H. Oppermann denies early reports that its date was frequently 24 March, the
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671:
645:
636:
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171:, enlisting the benevolence of the Magna Mater on behalf of the emperor, became common in Italy, as well as in
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476:; her cult statue had been brought to Rome after the destruction of Carthage, but was later returned.
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144:, the twentieth year of his reign, in 158 and 159. The first dated reference to Magna Mater in a
720:
309:
226:, but the ceremony, in its new form, is unmistakable from other contemporaneous sources: "At
280:
464:
453:
Rutter 1968, p. 227: "There can be no doubt that the taurobolium originated in Asia Minor"
8:
811:
Vitas, NadeĹľda
Gavrilović (2021). "I Asia Minor Religionas and Cults - 1. Magna Mater".
423:, a connection no longer sustained); see Cumont, "Le Taurobole et le Culte de Bellone",
33:
and a sacrificial knife, with a dedication to the Great Idaean Mother of the Gods, from
514:(1952) pp 141–70, both noted in Rutter 1968, p. 234 note 26. This was the moment when
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in the second and third centuries was usually performed as a measure for the welfare
231:
113:
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323:, substituting a ram for the bull, was also practiced, sometimes together with the
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56:
878:
782:
336:
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for which there is an inscription was carried out for
Diocletian and Maximian at
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312:, in the excavations of which several altars and inscriptions commemorative of
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210:
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Therefore, Prudentius' description may be based on a late evolution of the
46:
21:
63:, which after mid-second century became connected with the worship of the
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799:. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 455.
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365:
360:
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510:, and P. Lambrechts, "Les fêtes 'phrygiennes' de Cybèle et d'Attis",
152:, or testicles of the bull, were removed from Rome and dedicated at a
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107:, its earliest attested performance in Italy occurred in AD 134, at
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
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Ex Asia et Syria: Oriental
Religions in the Roman Central Balkans
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284:("Day of Blood") of the annual festival of the Great Mother
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758:, Classical Association of Canada (DOI: 10.2307/1086636)
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were innovations in the cult of the Magna Mater made by
543:
300:). It was also performed as the fulfilment of a vow
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666:. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 18.
572:"Review of: Religions of the Hellenistic-Roman Age"
440:Rutter 2005: Rutter recognises three phases of the
733:Showerman, Grant. "The Great Mother of the Gods",
850:
288:and Attis; Oppermann reports that there were no
815:. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd. pp. 13–48.
512:Bulletin de l'Institut Historique Belge de Rome
234:, a blood pit was found in what was probably a
710:The Taurobolium: Its Evolution and Terminology
425:Revue d'histoire et de littérature religieuses
493:; inscription quoted by Rutter 1968, p. 231.
737:, No. 43; Philology and Literature Series,
504:La religion romaine à l'apogée de l'empire
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16:Practice of a ritual sacrifice of a bull
735:Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin
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67:; though not previously limited to her
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730:(Giessen, 1903), pp. 168 if., 201
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754:, Vol. 22, No. 3 (Autumn, 1968), pp.
415:derived the word from the epithet of
55:referred to practices involving the
746:The Three Phases of the Taurobolium
258:Eroded inscription commemorating a
195:at the close of the third century.
117:, as documented by an inscription.
95:altars in Musée Eugène-Camoreyt in
49:of the second to fourth centuries,
13:
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218:, clad in a silk toga worn in the
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728:Attis, Seine Mythen und Sein Kult
717:Inscriptions antiques de Lectoure
419:(whom he identified with Persian
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148:inscription dates from 160. The
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617:5A, (1934) s.v. "taurobolium".
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391:Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
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712:. (Leiden: E.J. Brill) 1969.
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238:", Jeremy Rutter observes.
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576:Bryn Mawr Classical Review
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130:and the institution of an
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75:inscriptions mention the
662:Burkert, Walter (2001).
65:Great Mother of the Gods
796:Encyclopædia Britannica
538:Romanus contra gentiles
506:, (Paris) 1955, I. 313
342:Encyclopædia Britannica
140:on the occasion of his
869:Roman animal sacrifice
765:, 1895, p. 489 f.
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664:Ancient Mystery Cults
331:Modern interpretation
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845:at Wikimedia Commons
715:Espérandieu, Émile.
695:Rutter 1968, p. 226.
686:Rutter 1968, p. 242.
527:Rutter 1968, p. 235.
465:interpretatio Romana
462:Venus Caelestis, by
214:: the priest of the
294:renatus in aeternum
262:for the Magna Mater
884:Cattle in religion
744:Rutter, Jeremy B.
540:, lines 1006–1085.
417:Artemis Tauropolos
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183:. The last public
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841:Media related to
822:978-1-78969-914-2
719:(1892), pp.
472:, the goddess of
339:, writing in the
316:were discovered.
232:Germania Inferior
220:Gabinian cincture
25:Three sides of a
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843:Taurobolium
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442:taurobolium
268:taurobolium
260:taurobolium
244:taurobolium
224:taurobolium
199:Description
185:taurobolium
154:taurobolium
146:taurobolium
133:archigallus
128:taurobolium
93:taurobolium
77:Magna Mater
52:taurobolium
27:taurobolium
853:Categories
741:.3 (1901).
673:0674033876
468:, denoted
401:XIII, 1751
377:References
366:Tauromachy
361:Tauroctony
321:criobolium
314:taurobolia
310:St Peter's
290:taurobolia
206:Prudentius
169:taurobolia
142:vicennalia
105:Asia Minor
73:taurobolia
785:(1911). "
431:.2, 1901.
228:Novaesium
156:altar at
123:panegyris
57:sacrifice
761:Zippel,
604:13.1756.
474:Carthage
355:See also
177:Hispania
158:Lugdunum
99:(France)
97:Lectoure
35:Lugdunum
31:bucrania
793:(ed.).
780::
756:226-249
751:Phoenix
703:Sources
650:VI, 512
641:VI, 511
632:VI, 510
491:X, 1596
421:Anahita
250:Purpose
236:Metroon
193:Numidia
167:Public
109:Puteoli
83:History
45:In the
879:Cybele
819:
789:". In
774:
670:
286:Cybele
189:Mactar
181:Africa
516:Attis
470:Tanit
304:votum
274:salus
162:ethos
150:vires
59:of a
817:ISBN
668:ISBN
266:The
179:and
173:Gaul
69:cult
61:bull
39:Lyon
723:if.
721:494
646:CIL
637:CIL
628:CIL
602:CIL
536:X,
487:CIL
397:CIL
351:."
208:in
191:in
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634:,
615:RE
574:.
545:^
508:ff
427:,
394:,
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429:6
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302:(
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
