Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 28, 1917.djvu/177

 Bull-baiting, Bull-racing, Bull-fights. 145

to its horns ; secondly, out of this developed the favourite Minoan display, of which the most popular form was that of an athlete running at a charging bull, grasping it by its horns, and when he let go his hands, being shot over its back into safety ; thirdly, many centuries later, came the Taurokathapsia, or Thessalian bull-baiting, somewhat analogous to the modern Spanish form, in which a toreador on horseback pursued a bull till it was exhausted, and then leaping upon it, twisted its horns and broke its neck, instead of stabbing the animal, as the Spaniard of our day does.

No one is more conscious than I am of the difficulty of drawing the line between what is a form of religious or magical ritual and what is only a form of sport or amuse- ment. We know that many games are the worn-down survivals of some primitive custom or ritual. Lady Gomme, for instance, has, I think, with considerable probability shown that this is the case with some of the games now played by British children. What is originally a mere game, again, may be taken over and used as an incident in some form of ritual. Thus, discussing one phase of the subject on which we are now engaged. Dr. Farnell writes of the Taurokathapsia or Thessalian form of bull-baiting : " The chase of the wild bull by mounted riders on the Thessalian plains was no doubt at first merely a secular amusement or serious practical occupation. But that it should be taken over into divine worship was quite in accordance with the Hellenic tendency to consecrate all things of secular life. And Poseidon was the natural god to appropriate it ; for the bull even more than the horse was his sacrificial animal, and was closely associated with him by the Minyan and Ionic peoples." ^^

The question has recently been examined by Mr. A. B. Cook in his learned monograph on the cults of Zeus. The conclusion at which he has arrived will be stated later on.

"' Cults of the Greek States, iv. 25 et seq. K