© Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona
Omeka ID 3183
Empúries

bucranium

MAC GIR-012440

Object type
bucranium
Production date
1 / 100
Fabric
-
Museum
Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya - Girona
Culture
-
Discovery location
Empúries
Materials
bronze
Township
Escala, l' (Europa, Espanya, Catalunya, Girona, Alt Empordà)
Technique
moulding
Where is it?
MASPG
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.