bucranium

MAC GIR-012440

Object type bucranium

Culture/period

Materials bronze

Technique moulding

Mint

Production date 1 / 100

Seu Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona

Current location MASPG

Archaeological site Empúries

Township Escala, l' (Alt Empordà)

Dimensions 84 x 68 x 23 mm

Description

Bucranium (bull's head) of bronze, from Empúries (l'Escala, Alt Empordà) and dated to the 1st century AD. It represents the head of a bovid adorned with garlands, and on the reverse it has two circular perforations that allowed it to be fixed as a decorative element to a frieze. The iconography of the bull adorned with garlands evokes the sacrifices called “suovetaurilia”, in which a pig, a lamb and a bull were offered. This ritual was considered a ritual of purification and was one of the most important sacrificial public ceremonies in the Roman religion.

Omeka ID 3183