Bucranium (plural ''bucrania'';
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
, from
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
''βουκράνιον'', referring to the
skull
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, th ...
of an
ox) was a form of carved decoration commonly used in
Classical architecture
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect ...
. The name is generally considered to originate with the practice of displaying garlanded, sacrificial oxen, whose heads were displayed on the walls of temples, a practice dating back to the sophisticated
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
site of
Çatalhöyük
Çatalhöyük (; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from Turkish ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "tumulus") is a tell of a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from app ...
in eastern
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...
, where cattle skulls were overlaid with white plaster.
Etymology and sphere of application
The word "bucranium" (
latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
''bucranium'') comes from
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...
: βουκράνιον - being composed of βοῦς (''ox'') and κρανίον (''skull'') - and literally means "ox skull". Analogic, the Greek word αἰγικράνιον (''latin'' aegicranium) means a "goat skull", also used as a decorative element in architecture.
The technical term "bucranium" was originally used in the description of classical architecture. Its application to the field of
prehistoric archeology is relatively recent and is mainly due to the work of the British archaeologist
James Mellaart
James Mellaart FBA (14 November 1925 – 29 July 2012) was an English archaeologist and author who is noted for his discovery of the Neolithic settlement of Çatalhöyük in Turkey. He was expelled from Turkey when he was suspected of involvem ...
dedicated to the
Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
site of
Çatalhöyük
Çatalhöyük (; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from Turkish ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "tumulus") is a tell of a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from app ...
. In 1977,
Glyn Daniel
Glyn Edmund Daniel FBA, FRAI (23 April 1914 – 13 December 1986) was a Welsh scientist and archaeologist who taught at Cambridge University, where he specialised in the European Neolithic period. He was appointed Disney Professor of Archa ...
established this new meaning of the term, introducing it into the ''Illustrated Encyclopedia of Archeology''.
Overview
In ancient Rome, bucrania were frequently used as
metope
In classical architecture, a metope (μετόπη) is a rectangular architectural element that fills the space between two triglyphs in a Doric frieze, which is a decorative band of alternating triglyphs and metopes above the architrave of a bu ...
s between the
triglyph
Triglyph is an architectural term for the vertically channeled tablets of the Doric frieze in classical architecture, so called because of the angular channels in them. The rectangular recessed spaces between the triglyphs on a Doric frieze are ...
s on the
frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
s of temples designed with the
Doric order of architecture. They were also used in
bas-relief or painted decor to adorn marble altars, often draped or decorated with garlands of fruit or flowers, many of which have survived.
A rich and festive Doric order was employed at the
Basilica Aemilia
The Basilica Aemilia ( it, Basilica Emilia, links=no) was a civil basilica in the Roman Forum, in Rome, Italy. Today only the plan and some rebuilt elements can be seen. The Basilica was 100 meters (328 ft) long and about 30 meters (98&nbs ...
on the
Roman Forum; enough of it was standing for
Giuliano da Sangallo
Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1445 – 1516) was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for being the favored architect of Lorenzo de' Medici, his patron. In this role, Giulia ...
to make a drawing, c 1520, reconstructing the facade (''Codex Vaticano Barberiniano Latino'' 4424); the alternation of the shallow libation dishes called ''
patera
In the material culture of classical antiquity, a ''phiale'' ( ) or ''patera'' () is a shallow ceramic or metal libation bowl. It often has a bulbous indentation (''omphalos'', "bellybutton") in the center underside to facilitate holding it, in ...
e'' with bucrania in the metopes reinforced the solemn sacrificial theme.
While the presence of bucrania was typically used with the Doric order, the Romans were not strict about this. In a first-century fresco from
Boscoreale
Boscoreale (; "Royal Grove") is an Italian '' comune ''and town in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania, with a population of 27,457 in 2011. Located in the Vesuvius National Park, under the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, it is known for the fru ...
, protected by the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of ...
and now at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, bucrania and
cistae mysticae hang on ribbons from pegs that support garlands, evoking joyous ''
fasti
In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...
''. At the
Temple of Vesta, Tivoli
The Temple of Vesta is a Roman temple in Tivoli, Italy, dating to the early 1st century BC. Its ruins sit on the acropolis of the city, overlooking the falls of the Aniene that are now included in the Villa Gregoriana.
History
It is not known ...
, designed using the
Corinthian order, motifs interpreted by the architect
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of ...
as conventional skull bucrania adorn the frieze, although these are actually fleshed ox heads with eyes. Similarly, the
Temple of Portunus in Rome, designed using the
Ionic order, has bucrania in its frieze.
In later years, the motif was used to embellish buildings of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history
The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...
,
Baroque, and
Neoclassical periods. Garlanded bucrania provide a repetitive motif in the plasterwork of the fine 18th-century Staircase Hall of
The Vyne
The Vyne is a Grade I listed building, Grade I listed 16th-century country house in the parish of Sherborne St John, near Basingstoke, in Hampshire, England. The house was first built ''circa'' 1500-10 in the Tudor style by William Sandys, 1st ...
(Hampshire), inside the Pantheon at
Stourhead (Wiltshire) and at
Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order. The abbey remained a nunnery until the suppression of Roman Catholic inst ...
(Wiltshire).
[See Loth "Bucrania" for many more examples]
Gallery
Ankara Muzeum B20-08.jpg, Neolithic
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several p ...
bucrania from Çatalhöyük
Çatalhöyük (; also ''Çatal Höyük'' and ''Çatal Hüyük''; from Turkish ''çatal'' "fork" + ''höyük'' "tumulus") is a tell of a very large Neolithic and Chalcolithic proto-city settlement in southern Anatolia, which existed from app ...
(Turkey), in the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations
The Museum of Anatolian Civilizations ( tr, Anadolu Medeniyetleri Müzesi) is located on the south side of Ankara Castle in the Atpazarı area in Ankara, Turkey. It consists of the old Ottoman Mahmut Paşa bazaar storage building, and the Kurş ...
in Ankara
Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...
(Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
)
Obol, Keramos, Caria, 2nd century BC.jpg, Obol from Ceramus
Ceramus or Keramos ( grc, Κέραμος) is a city on the north coast of the Ceramic Gulf—named after this city—in ancient Caria, in southwest Asia Minor; its ruins can be found outside the modern village of Ören, Muğla Province, Tu ...
. It depicts the head of the god Apollo
Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...
and a bucranium, 2 BC
Frise à têtes de taureaux (détails).JPG, Frieze
In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...
with festoons
A festoon (from French ''feston'', Italian ''festone'', from a Late Latin ''festo'', originally a festal garland, Latin ''festum'', feast) is a wreath or garland hanging from two points, and in architecture typically a carved ornament depic ...
and bucrania, in the Ephesus Archaeological Museum ( Selçuk, Turkey)
Ara dal foro di lucca, 30-0 ac. circa 01.JPG, Bucranium with festoons on a Roman altar, circa 30-0 BC
Temple of Vesta, built in the early 1st century BC on the acropolis of Tibur, Tivoli (14920855626).jpg, Bucrania with festoons decorating the Temple of Vesta
The Temple of Vesta, or the aedes (Latin ''Aedes Vestae''; Italian: ''Tempio di Vesta''), is an ancient edifice in Rome, Italy. The temple is located in the Roman Forum near the Regia and the House of the Vestal Virgins. The Temple of Vesta hou ...
from Tivoli (Italy)
Sarcofago caffarelli con ghirlande, da roma, 40 dc ca. 03.JPG, The Caffarelli sarcophagus, decorated with bucrania and festoons, in the Altes Museum
The Altes Museum (English: ''Old Museum'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. Built from 1825 to 1830 by order of King Frederick William III of Prussia according to plans by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, it i ...
(Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
)
Ara Pacis Augustae, Interno 06.jpg, Relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
with bucrania with festoons and ribbons, in the Ara Pacis
The Ara Pacis Augustae (Latin, "Altar of Augustan Peace"; commonly shortened to Ara Pacis) is an altar in Rome dedicated to Pax, the Roman goddess of Peace. The monument was commissioned by the Roman Senate on July 4, 13 BC to honour the return o ...
altar from Rome
Firenze - Palazzo Budini Gattai 18.jpg, Bucrania on a Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
frieze of the Palazzo Budini Gattai
Palazzo Budini Gattai is a palace in Piazza della Santissima Annunziata, Florence, Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the ...
from Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...
(Italy)
Drawing, Design for a Frieze, 1820–1830 (CH 18109113).jpg, Design for a Neoclassical frieze, 1820–1830, in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile (New York City), Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the ...
(New York City)
Drawing, Design for a Vase, 19th century (CH 18112345).jpg, Design for a vase with a bucranium, 19th century, in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
Hoteld'Almeyras-P3-027.jpg, Bucranium with a festoon on a corbel of the Hôtel d'Almeyras (Paris)
See also
* ''
Oscilla''
Notes
References
Francis Brenders, "The Basilica Aemilia on the Forum Romanum at RomeSir William Chambers, ''A Treatise on the Decorative Part of Civil Architecture'', 1791 :Doric order with bucrania between triglyphs
Sylloge Nummorum Gracorum: Rubi obols with garlanded bucrania on reverse
Further reading
* George Hersey (1988). ''The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture: Speculations on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi''. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. Chapter 2: "Architecture and Sacrifice".
External links
*
{{Ornaments
Cattle in art
Ornaments (architecture)
Columns and entablature
Reliefs