Found this “Oddly Enough” news item today which is straight out of Greek mythology:
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Live “sex shows” of bulls mounting a simulated cow have become a big attraction at an agricultural exhibition taking place in New Zealand.
The fake ‘cow’ — a small go-kart with natural cowhide on its roof — was developed by Ambreed New Zealand Ltd. to collect semen from bulls more safely and efficiently and improve artificial breeding of cows.
Similar machines are widely used in Europe but have yet to be introduced in New Zealand, where dairy products are its largest export.
The go-kart, driven by a human operator, draws close to a bull and adjusts to the proper height.
The experience can be a little alarming.
“It’s quite a daunting feeling when you consider you’ve got a bull there that weighs a thousand kilograms sitting on top of you and is in quite an aggressive mood,” Andrew Medley, production manager at Ambreed, told Reuters.
In Greek mythology, Pasiphae, the wife of King Minos is made to fall passionately in love with a white bull after Minos insults Poseidon. She commissioned the artisan Daedalus (father of Icarus, responsible for his wings) to create a contraption for her so that she could mate with the bull.
Poseidon had given a wonderfully beautiful bull to Minos with the expectation that Minos would sacrifice it to him. This bull indeed certified that Minos was the rightful king of Crete. Rather than sacrifice the bull to Poseidon, Minos kept it for himself. To punish him Poseidon had made Pasiphae, the wife of Minos, fall madly in love with the bull. With the aid of Daedalus Pasiphae let herself become impregnated by the bull. Daedalus made a hollow wooden cow for her to get inside, so she could mate with the bull. The resulting offspring which she bore was a monster called the Minotaur.
Also, it seems that Europa (after who Europe is named) had a roughly similar story, except without the wooden contraption to hide inside. And in this case, the bull was a transformed version of Zeus.
According to legend, Zeus was enamored of her and decided to seduce or rape her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a white bull and mixed in with her father’s herds. While Europa and her female attendants were gathering flowers, she saw the bull and caressed his flanks and eventually got onto its back. Zeus took that chance and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete. He then revealed his true identity, and Europa became the first queen of Crete. Zeus gave her three gifts: Talos, Laelaps and a javelin that never missed. Zeus later re-created the shape of the white bull in the stars which is now known as the constellation Taurus. Some legends relate that this same bull was also encountered by Hercules, and that it eventually fathered the Minotaur.
Also check out the mythology of the sacred bull, which was hugely important in the ancient world. In any event, it’s funny how these things come around again.
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4 Comments
You know, I was just thinking… Like supposedly all these things point back towards ancient bull worship cults, right?
Well, the expressions “Bullshit!” and “Holy Shit!” - I wonder if they are that way for a reason? That is, if bull shit is in fact “holy” (or was) in these ancient groups???
this is also pretty interesting. it seems that in egyptian religion, various gods had their “ka” which was their life-force/power. but “ka” also meant “bull” and so many gods seemed to have also had sacred bulls who were identified as living manifestations of that particular gods life force.
Some examples:
- Apis, the Ka of Ptah and later Osiris
- Bakha, the ka of Menthu
- Mnewer, the ka of Atum-Ra
(I don’t know how you pronounce that last one, but it sort of looks like it might sound like “manure” - which would lend something to my comment above about bull shit being holy - as would the fact that psychedelic mushrooms also grow in cow dung, don’t they?)
seriously holy shit:
“First, take a small piece of the cow dung cake and place it at the bottom of the pot. Now put Gugul, Camphor or a Cotton Wick duly soaked in cow’s ghee on the bottom piece and then start arranging the other pieces of cow dung cakes around it neatly. Use a matchstick to light the fire. If necessary, use the fan so that all the pieces are fully ablaze. Take two pinchfuls of clean, unbroken rice grains (raw) on your left palm or in a small dish. Smear these rice grains with a few drops of cow’s pure ghee. Divide the ghee smeared rice grains in two parts.”
http://www.agnihotraindia.com/perform.asp
oh cool! more info on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnihotra