Across the ancient Near East, domesticated taurine cattle (Bos taurus) were valued sources of agricultural labor and sustenance. Essential in the so-called Neolithic revolution, which saw the transition of human society from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary farming communities, cattle were first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent more than 10,000 years ago.
Beef was consumed much less than goats or sheep in the ancient Near East, and cattle were more useful for transportation, agricultural labor, and as a source of milk. If the ass was the light pick-up truck of the day,a used to carry loads on its back, then the ox was the heavy-duty truck and tractor, good for pulling wagons and plowing. As draft animals, oxen worked also at threshing floors.
The bull was a potent symbol of strength, power, and fertility. Made of faience around 700 B.C.E., the Egyptian bowl shown here is relief decorated with a procession of four bulls in lotus thickets. Rulers were often referred to or depicted as a wild bull, and bucranium (i.e., a bull’s horned skull)—real or sculpted—became a decorative architectural motif, from Neolithic Çatalhöyük (central Turkey) to early dynastic Egypt to Minoan Crete and beyond. Cult images of cattle were worshiped and live animals sacrificed in a number of ancient religions. The early Israelites reportedly worshiped a golden calf (Exodus 32:4), calves were given as fire offerings at the Temple (Leviticus 22:26-30), and ashes of an unblemished red cow were mixed with water to purify a person exposed to a human corpse (Numbers 19:1-14).
According to the Hebrew Bible, an ox and an ass were not supposed to be yoked together on the plow (Deuteronomy 22:10), but the two animals appear shoulder to shoulder in one of the most iconic scenes of the Christian tradition—the Nativity. Their inclusion is due to the Christian appropriation of Isaiah 1:3: “The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, my people do not understand.” Early Church Fathers read these words as a prophecy about a new people, the Church, who would understand and recognize their Lord—the wondrous child born in Bethlehem. The crèche imagery with the ass and ox leaning over the newborn Jesus was sealed by Saint Francis of Assisi, who staged the first live nativity in 1223.
Across the ancient Near East, domesticated taurine cattle (Bos taurus) were valued sources of agricultural labor and sustenance. Essential in the so-called Neolithic revolution, which saw the transition of human society from nomadic hunter-gatherers to sedentary farming communities, cattle were first domesticated in the Fertile Crescent more than 10,000 years ago. Beef was consumed much less than goats or sheep in the ancient Near East, and cattle were more useful for transportation, agricultural labor, and as a source of milk. If the ass was the light pick-up truck of the day,a used to carry loads on its back, then […]
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