Bull-leaping

[3] Other examples of bull-leaping scenes have been found in Syria, such as a cylinder seal impression found in level VII at Alalakh (Old Babylonian period, 19th or 18th century BC) showing two acrobats performing handstands on the back of a bull, with an ankh sign placed between them, another seal belonging to a servant of Shamshi-Adad I (c. 1800 BC), besides other Syrian examples.

[4] The assumption, widely debated by scholars, is that the iconography represents a ritual sport and/or performance in which human athletes—both male and female[5]—literally vaulted over bulls as part of a ceremonial rite.

[6] Barbara Olsen, associate professor of Greek and Roman Studies at Vassar College, adds that the sport was probably not especially dangerous for participants.

"From the images it looks like they [leaped over the bulls] successfully—the Minoans tend not to give us too much violent imagery, so the bull-leaping usually ends pretty well,"[5] but the goring scene on the "boxer's rhyton" found in Hagia Triada suggests that injuries were not unknown.

The cow is typically guided by the use of a long rope attached to its horns, so that it runs directly at the performers and is restrained from trampling or goring them should they miss a trick.

[7] The courses landaises are held from March to October on the occasion of festivals in many cities and villages, including Nogaro, Mont-de-Marsan, Dax, Castelnau-d'Auzan, and many other places.

Some recortadores use a long pole to literally pole-vault over the charging animal, which is both larger than the type used in the French sport, and unrestrained by any guiding rope or similar safety device.

The Bull-Leaping Fresco from the Great Palace at Knossos , Crete
The bull-leaper, an ivory figurine from the palace of Knossos , Crete. The only complete surviving figure of a larger arrangement of figures. This is the earliest three dimensional representation of the bull leap. It is assumed that thin gold pins were used to suspend the figure over a bull.
Bull-leaping scene in Hüseyindede vases belongs to Early Hittites , approximately 1650 BC.
The Speed and Daring of Juanito Apiñani in the Ring of Madrid (1815-16). Etching and aquatint by Francisco de Goya .
A youth trying to take control of a bull in jallikattu at Alanganallur.
A "leaper" in 2008