taurobolium

/tawr'euh boh"lee euhm/, n., pl. taurobolia /-lee euh/.

1. the sacrifice of a bull, followed by the baptism of neophytes in the blood, as practiced in the ancient rites of Mithras or Cybele.

2. Fine Arts. a representation of the killing of a bull, as in Mithraic art.

[1690-1700; < LL < Gk taurobólion, equiv. to tauroból(os) bull sacrifice (taûro(s) bull + bólos a cast, throw, akin to bolé a wound, bállein to throw) + -ion dim. suffix]

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▪ ancient rite

      bull sacrifice practiced from about AD 160 in the Mediterranean cult of the Great Mother of the Gods. Celebrated primarily among the Romans (Roman religion), the ceremony enjoyed much popularity and may have been introduced by the Roman emperor. The nature and purpose of the ceremony seems to have gradually changed during the late 2nd and 3rd centuries. At the beginning it apparently resembled similar sacrifices performed in the cults of other deities, such as Mithra. By about 300, however, the ceremony had changed drastically. The person dedicating the sacrifice lay in a pit with a perforated board placed over the pit's opening. A bull was slaughtered above him, and the person in the pit bathed in the blood streaming down. Thus the ceremony, perhaps influenced by Christianity, gradually took on the elements of moral purification.

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