tauroctony

English

A tauroctony

Etymology

From Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ταυροκτόνος (tauroktónos), from ταῦρος (taûros, “bull”) + κτόνος (któnos, “killing”).

Noun

tauroctony (plural tauroctonies)

1. (Mithraism, historical, art) A depiction (typically in relief or sculpture) of Mithras killing a bull; associated with the practice of Mithraism (as a cult) in the Roman Empire.
   • 1991, David Ulansey, The Origins of the Mithraic Mysteries, Oxford University Press, page 54:

     In any event, if, as I am arguing, the tauroctony represents the astronomical situation which obtained during the epoch in which the spring equinox was in Taurus, the fact that the summer solstice was in Leo during that epoch provides a convincing explanation for the occasional presence of the figure of a lion in the tauroctony.

   • 2005, Payam Nabarz, The Mysteries of Mithras, Inner Traditions, page 20:

     The central icon, ever present in Mithras temples throughout the Roman Empire, is the tauroctony, or bull-slaying.

   • 2022, Kevin Stoba, “6: A network analysis of the Mithraic tauroctony”, in Anna Collar, editor, Networks and the Spread of Ideas in the Past, Taylor & Francis (Routledge), unnumbered page:

     Tauroctonies featuring Mithras' regular clothes but with a crown instead of a cap would belong to a further cluster. A tauroctony would then also be assigned to other clusters for its patterns of features relating to the torchbearers, to the animals, and so on.

Usage notes

Not to be confused with taurobolium, the ritual sacrifice of a bull, usually to Cybele.

Translations

depiction of the killing of a bull by Mithras

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