~ Ancient Celtic Zoomorphic Figure Of The Sacred Bull ~
A prominent zoomorphic deity type is the divine bull.
The worship of the Sacred Bull throughout the ancient world is most familiar to the Western world in the biblical episode of the idol of the Golden Calf. The Golden Calf after being made by the Hebrew people in the wilderness of Sinai, was rejected and destroyed by Moses and the Hebrew people after Moses’ time upon Mount Sinai (Book of Exodus). Marduk is the “bull of Utu”. Shiva’s steed is Nandi, the Bull. The sacred bull survives in the constellation Taurus. The bull, whether lunar as in Mesopotamia or solar as in India, is the subject of various other cultural and religious incarnations, as well as modern mentions in new age cultures.
Pliny the Elder, writing in the first century, describes a religious ceremony in Gaul in which white-clad druids climbed a sacred oak, cut down the mistletoe growing on it, sacrificed two white bulls and used the mistletoe to cure infertility.
This figure is pierced through its middle section indicating that it has been used as a pendant during some ceremonies.
~ Dimensions ~
The figure is 4 inches (10 cm) tall and 2.75 inches (7 cm) wide.
It weighs 145 grams.
~ Condition ~
The ceramic figure is in good condition for its age with a small section of the left horn missing.
