Cook, Arthur B.: Zeus: a study in ancient religion (Band 1): Zeus god of the bright sky (Cambridge, 1914)

510 Ritual Horns

' Several generations ago one Nyet founded a village which, as is usual with
the Dinka, is called after him ; his companions, who were for the most part his
relatives and descendants, used his name as their clan name, i.e. they call
themselves golonyet, "(men of the) Clan Nyet." At the present day men of
this clan inhabit the villages of Arek and Meden. Der the late head of Arek
village moved to this site some forty years ago soon after the death of Anet,
who with his followers lived near the Alliab boundary at a place called Unedol.

Directly the houses were built Der erected a shrine for the atiep of Anet to
live in "just as a house" ; for the spirit knows of the wanderings of its people
and moves with them. This was done at the instance of a tiet, who said that,
if this were not done, Der and his children would sicken and perhaps die. The
shrine itself consists of a mound of mud at one end of which are fixed the horns
of a bullock. In front of this end of the mound there is one of the pickets to
which cattle are commonly tethered*. [*In shape the whole thing presents
a certain resemblance to a bullock sunk in the earth so that only its back
projects ; but I could not learn that this resemblance was intentional, though
a Dinka whom I met at Omdurman, where he had lived for a long time, told me
that in his country mud representations of cattle were erected over the graves
of powerful men.] The bullock providing the horns was sacrificed by Der who
explained aloud that he was making- a place for the atiep of his father Anet.
The bullock was killed by plunging a spear into its heart.

Concerning this sacrifice Mr Shaw states that the eldest son should give the
first thrust and that altogether five thrusts are given by the sons. If there be
only one son of the dead man, paternal first cousins would give the additional
thrusts. As the bullock lies moribund on the ground, its throat is cut and the
blood collected in a pot, cooked over the fire, poured into gourds and eaten
by the clansmen among whom the meat is distributed. Small pieces of all the
organs and parts of the animal are reserved and scattered on the ground for the
spirits of the dead.

At every new moon some dura1, a few drops of new milk, and a little butter
are placed upon the shrine at sunset. The shrine is repaired whenever necessary
without sacrifice or any ceremony.

Shrines of this kind (buor) are found in all the Tain and at least in some of
the Bor villages ; but usually these do not resemble the back of a bullock, the
mud being built into a more or less circular mound flattened above. A stick or
young sapling 6 or 8 feet tall is thrust into the ground near the horns and
a cattle rope is hung to this. Among the Tain Dinka the sons of a dead man
will procure a bullock and build a buor whenever possible ; the widow makes
the mud mound, and into this the sons stick the horns of the bullock. This is
done not only to propitiate the spirit of the deceased, but, as Mr Shaw informs
me, as a resting-place for his spirit (atiep) ; and in one case he has seen a mat
spread over the buor during the heat of the day in order to provide shade for the
atiep.'

The evidence here cited points to the following conclusion.
Among the Dinka a shrine originally representing a mud bullock
and viewed as the abode of a paternal spirit has developed into
a horned altar, on which food etc. is placed. I suggest that a similar
evolution lies behind the use of horned altars in the Mediterranean

1 [Dhurra, 'millet.' A.R.C.]