Antique jewelry glossary

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Bull

Because of his strength and capacity to fertilize the bull is an object of worship in primitive religions. Bulls arouse visions of irresistible strength and vitality. They not only evoke male impulsiveness, but also the terrifying Minotaur that guarded the Labyrinth, the Cretan palace in which Minos stabled the Minotaur.

The Minotaur was the monster with a man's body and a bull's head, which King Minos imprisoned in the Labyrinth. At regular intervals, either annually or every three years, it was fed with seven youths and seven maidens paid as tribute by Athens to Crete.

Theseus, the king's son, offered himself as one of their number, managed to kill the monster and, thanks to the ball of twine which Ariadne gave him, escape from the Labyrinth. In its totality the myth of the Minotaur symbolizes the 'spiritual struggle against repression'.