Bull Fighting

Plato describes in “Critias” that the Atlanteans performed bull sacrifices to honor Poseidon. These rituals involved capturing bulls and mixing their blood with wine, which had significant religious and symbolic meaning.

Plato writes about the bulls in Critias as part of a religious and political ritual performed by the ten kings of Atlantis.

The kings met every fifth and sixth year in the temple of Poseidon. They first discussed common matters and checked whether anyone had broken the laws. Before passing judgment, they performed a special ceremony with the bulls that lived in the sacred grounds of the temple.

The ten kings stayed alone in the temple. They prayed to Poseidon for a suitable victim. Then they hunted the bulls using only wooden staves and nooses, without any iron weapons. They captured one bull and led it to a pillar inside the temple. On this pillar the laws of Atlantis and a solemn oath were inscribed. They cut the bull’s throat over the top of the pillar so that its blood ran down onto the sacred writing.

After the sacrifice, they burned parts of the bull. They filled a bowl with wine and added a portion of the bull’s blood for each king. They purified the pillar and poured a libation from golden cups onto the fire. While doing this, they swore an oath: they would judge fairly according to the laws on the pillar, punish anyone who had broken them, and never in the future command or obey anything that went against the laws of Poseidon. Each king prayed for himself and his descendants, drank from the cup, and dedicated it in the temple.

After the meal, at night when the sacrificial fire had cooled, the kings put on dark blue robes. They sat on the ground over the embers, turned off all other lights in the temple, and held their court. If anyone brought an accusation, they gave judgment. At dawn they wrote the decisions on a golden tablet and left it together with their robes as a permanent record.

And when they were gathered together they consulted about their common interests, and enquired if any one had transgressed in anything and passed judgment and before they passed judgment they gave their pledges to one another on this wise: There were bulls who had the range of the temple of Poseidon; and the ten kings, being left alone in the temple, after they had offered prayers to the god that they might capture the victim which was acceptable to him, hunted the bulls, without weapons but with staves and nooses; and the bull which they caught they led up to the pillar and cut its throat over the top of it so that the blood fell upon the sacred inscription.

Now on the pillar, besides the laws, there was inscribed an oath invoking mighty curses on the disobedient. When therefore, after slaying the bull in the accustomed manner, they had burnt its limbs, they filled a bowl of wine and cast in a clot of blood for each of them; the rest of the victim they put in the fire, after having purified the column all round.

Then they drew from the bowl in golden cups and pouring a libation on the fire, they swore that they would judge according to the laws on the pillar, and would punish him who in any point had already transgressed them, and that for the future they would not, if they could help, offend against the writing on the pillar, and would neither command others, nor obey any ruler who commanded them, to act otherwise than according to the laws of their father Poseidon.

This was the prayer which each of them offered up for himself and for his descendants, at the same time drinking and dedicating the cup out of which he drank in the temple of the god; and after they had supped and satisfied their needs, when darkness came on, and the fire about the sacrifice was cool, all of them put on most beautiful azure robes, and, sitting on the ground, at night, over the embers of the sacrifices by which they had sworn, and extinguishing all the fire about the temple, they received and gave judgment, if any of them had an accusation to bring against any one; and when they had given judgment, at daybreak they wrote down their sentences on a golden tablet, and dedicated it together with their robes to be a memorial.

Plato’s Critias, sections 119d–120c

The concluding ceremony to become a Magus, the highest degree of priesthood in Atlantis, took place at the far end of the secret natural labyrinth in the Hall of Illumination. Twelve small chapels, each dedicated to a past king of Atlantis, surrounded the spacious hall with its high, arched ceiling. A brightly lit, lofty altar dominated the center of the immense space. Here the final oaths and pledges were taken, and the remaining secret lore was interpreted to the prospective Magus.

On one side of the altar stood a gigantic, hairy, frightful form of Poseidon as a bull. On the other side hung a large metal gong. At the end of a ceremony, when the gong was struck to signify the candidate was entitled to assume the role of priest or Magus, the deafening noise that resulted filled the extensive labyrinth with a tremendous thunder-like sound.

The preparation of the bull costume the priests wore in the initiation ceremonies of young boys was an example of the elaborate rituals perfected through hundreds of years of practice and experimentation. After killing the animal, the person in charge stripped the body of all meat, muscles, and organs so that only the skin, two vertebrae in the neck and the connecting skull remained. During a long ceremony of stylized chants and music, they conferred magical powers on the skin and bones as they meticulously sewed them into a costume. Customs such as these were everlasting, for if a given procedure worked, and it did if too much wasn’t expected, it was repeated and remembered.

Atlantis: Insights from a lost civilization

Minoan Civilization and Bull-Leaping

The Minoans on Crete, practiced bull-leaping, a religious ceremony involving bulls.

On the island of Crete, you will see an ancient Atlantean colony in that temple, which is known as The Labyrinth Temple. The legend of the Minotaur says that the Atlanteans were bull worshippers, so the idea is that they adopted some of the Grecian architecture but still retained something quite different.

Bashar

The cult of Cybele

The Romans, known for their gladiatorial games and animal hunts, incorporated bullfighting as part of their public spectacles. These events were often imbued with religious and symbolic significance.

The Roman tradition of venationes (animal hunts) and the Taurobolium (bull sacrifice in the cult of Cybele) suggest a continuation of bull-related rituals in a different form.

Medieval Iberia: festivals and events where bulls played a central role

Following the Roman period, the cultural practices involving bulls continued to evolve in the Iberian Peninsula. Medieval Iberian societies held various festivals and events where bulls played a central role.

The Reconquista and the rise of Christian monarchies in Spain and Portugal saw the integration of these traditions into national and regional identities.

Bullfighting in Early Modern Spain and Portugal

By the early modern period, bullfighting had become a formalized tradition in Spain and Portugal, with established rules and cultural significance.

The matadors’ rituals, attire, and the structure of the bullfight echo ancient ceremonial aspects, emphasizing the cultural continuity of bull-related practices.