Horns of Consecration

"Horns of Consecration" is a term coined by Sir Arthur Evans[1] for the symbol, ubiquitous in Minoan civilization, that is usually thought to represent the horns of the sacred bull.

Sir Arthur Evans concluded, after noting numerous examples in Minoan and Mycenaean contexts, that the Horns of Consecration were "a more or less conventionalised article of ritual furniture derived from the actual horns of the sacrificial oxen".

[2] The much-photographed porous limestone horns of consecration on the East Propyleia at Knossos (illustration, right) are restorations, but horns of consecration in stone or clay were placed on the roofs of buildings in Neopalatial Crete, or on tombs or shrines, probably as signs of sanctity of the structure.

Minoan sites where the horns have been found in some form include Archanes, Armeni, Kamilari, Knossos, Mount Juktas, Odigitria, and Tylissos.

A suggestion for a practical use for the large examples on the top of buildings, is that they were used as frames for sighting the movements of heavenly bodies, for example the constellation of Orion, which may have represented the "young god" of Minoan religion.