bucranium

English

Etymology

From Latin būcrānium, from Ancient Greek βουκράνιον (boukránion).

Noun

bucranium (plural bucraniums or bucrania)

  1. The head of an ox.
    • 1986, Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Sacrificial Ritual:
      On the second side of the gem, we see the victim, a running goat, and on the third side the symbol of sacrifice, the bucranium.
    • 2000, Béatrix Midant-Reynes, The Prehistory of Egypt:
      It was also in relation to the funerary world that bucrania were placed at the bottoms of the pits.
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