DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1117#0062
SEXUAL TRANSFORMATION OF GIRL PERFORMERS
Were the Bull-sports originally connected with Male Divinity?
This ritual assimilation to the male sex is a make-believe of the same
kind as that which led wives of Libyan chiefs to adopt the native penistasche
of the men or the analogous custom of the Queens of Meroe of
asserting their titular kingship by wearing false beards.1
In such cases it implied a recognition of the fact that
government was of rights a male prerogative; in the present
instance it may well convey a hint that these sensational feats
of the bull-ring were in the same way at one time exclusively
performed by men.
It is to be observed in reference to
this conclusion that existing indications
point to Western Asia as the original home
of these acrobatic sports with bulls in a
purely male connexion. Scenes of this class
occur on a sealed clay envelope from Cap-
padocia, dating from about 2400 B. c. Cere-
monial coverings for bulls such as we
later see on Minoan ' rhytons' of that
form—themselves of old Chaldaean deri-
vation—find their analogies on the same
group of cylinders as that illustrating the
sport.2
On the other hand, the Minoan God-
dess as divinity of the Double Axe fits on
as a religious entity to a well-known group
of Lightning Gods on the Anatolian side,
such as may well have presided over these
sports as performed at a very early date in
that region. In this connexion is note-
worthy that on the ' Miniature ' fresco
Bronze Figure of Youth, M.M. Ill; fragment above referred to, the Double
d, e; from 'Taureador' Frescoes; e, Axe symbols repeated on the frieze of
on Girl Performer. the Godd?ss's shrine, overlooking the
bull-sports, emphasize this aspect of her divinity.
Fig. 12. Minoan Adaptations to
' Libyan Sheath '. a, b, from M. M.
Ill a Figurines (Petsofa) ; c, from
Anatolian
source of
bull-
sports—
con-
nected
there with
male
divinity.
1 See P. of M., ii, Ft. I, p. 35, and cf.
Oric Bates, Eastern Libyans, pp. 123, 114;
and P. Newberry, Ancient Egypt, 1915, pp.
lor, 102, and Fig. 4.
" P. of M.,'«\, p. 205, Fig. 140, a, />.
Were the Bull-sports originally connected with Male Divinity?
This ritual assimilation to the male sex is a make-believe of the same
kind as that which led wives of Libyan chiefs to adopt the native penistasche
of the men or the analogous custom of the Queens of Meroe of
asserting their titular kingship by wearing false beards.1
In such cases it implied a recognition of the fact that
government was of rights a male prerogative; in the present
instance it may well convey a hint that these sensational feats
of the bull-ring were in the same way at one time exclusively
performed by men.
It is to be observed in reference to
this conclusion that existing indications
point to Western Asia as the original home
of these acrobatic sports with bulls in a
purely male connexion. Scenes of this class
occur on a sealed clay envelope from Cap-
padocia, dating from about 2400 B. c. Cere-
monial coverings for bulls such as we
later see on Minoan ' rhytons' of that
form—themselves of old Chaldaean deri-
vation—find their analogies on the same
group of cylinders as that illustrating the
sport.2
On the other hand, the Minoan God-
dess as divinity of the Double Axe fits on
as a religious entity to a well-known group
of Lightning Gods on the Anatolian side,
such as may well have presided over these
sports as performed at a very early date in
that region. In this connexion is note-
worthy that on the ' Miniature ' fresco
Bronze Figure of Youth, M.M. Ill; fragment above referred to, the Double
d, e; from 'Taureador' Frescoes; e, Axe symbols repeated on the frieze of
on Girl Performer. the Godd?ss's shrine, overlooking the
bull-sports, emphasize this aspect of her divinity.
Fig. 12. Minoan Adaptations to
' Libyan Sheath '. a, b, from M. M.
Ill a Figurines (Petsofa) ; c, from
Anatolian
source of
bull-
sports—
con-
nected
there with
male
divinity.
1 See P. of M., ii, Ft. I, p. 35, and cf.
Oric Bates, Eastern Libyans, pp. 123, 114;
and P. Newberry, Ancient Egypt, 1915, pp.
lor, 102, and Fig. 4.
" P. of M.,'«\, p. 205, Fig. 140, a, />.