The Power of the Bull

Everyone has heard of the Minotaur in the labyrinth on Crete and many know that the Greek gods would adopt the guise of a bull to seduce mortal women. But what lies behind these legends?
"The Power of the Bull discusses mankind's enduring obsession with bulls. The bull is an almost universal symbol throughout Indo-European cultures and cults proliferated in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Michael Rice's examination of the bull from earliest prehistory onwards reveals it to be a symbol of political authority, sexual potency, economic wealth and vast subterranean powers. In some areas representations of the bull have varied little from the end of antiquity, in others it has changed vastly over centuries. This volume provides a well-illustrated and accessible analysis of the exceptionally rich, artistic inheritance associated with the bull.