taurobolium

English

A depiction of a taurobolium; engraving by Bernhard Rode, circa 1780

Alternative forms

• tauroboly

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin taurobolium, from Ancient Greek ταυροβόλιον (taurobólion).

Noun

taurobolium (plural taurobolia)

1. (historical, ancient Rome) The ritual slaughter of a bull.
   • 1927, George La Piana, Foreign Groups in Rome During the First Centuries of the Empire, Harvard University Press, page 300:

     The cult of the Magna Mater, borrowing the civic spirit proper to Roman religion, made of the official taurobolium a manifestation of loyalty to the institutions of the Roman Empire.

   • 1968, Phoenix, Volume 22, Classical Association of Canada, University of Toronto Press, page 236,

     It is safe to conclude that the taurobolium at this stage in its development was a substitution rite³³ at least in its original and most basic purpose, although it may soon have become an initiatory rite for women.

   • 1990, Britt-Mari Näsström, O Mother of the Gods and Men, Plus Ultra, page 42,

     In addition to the gloomy figure of Attis, another spectacular element was connected to the cult of Magna Mater, the rite of the Taurobolium and the Criobolium.

Usage notes

• The rite was practised from the 2nd to the 4th centuries CE. From the mid-2nd century, it became associated almost exclusively with Roman worship of Cybele, an Anatolian mother goddess whom the Romans called Magna Mater ("Great Mother" [of the Gods]).
• Not to be confused with tauroctony, a modern term for ancient cult reliefs which depict Mithras killing a bull.

Derived terms

• taurobolic

Related terms

• criobolium (ritual slaughter of a ram)

Translations

ritual slaughter of a bull

• Catalan: tauroboli m
• French: taurobole (fr) m