Taurione

Also Tauro (Ταυρώ), Tauropolo (Ταυροπόλο), and Tauropos (Ταυρωπός), originally a designation of the Taurian goddess, but also used as a surname of Artemis or even Athena, both of whom were identified with the Taurian goddess.1

The name has been explained in different ways, some supposing that it means the goddess worshiped in Tauris, going around (i.e. protecting) the country of Tauris, or the goddess to whom bulls are sacrificed; while others explain it to mean the goddess riding on bulls, drawn by bulls, or killing bulls. Both explanations seem to have one thing in common, namely, that the bull was probably the ancient symbol of the bloody and savage worship of the Taurian divinity.

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References

Notes

  1. Hesychius, s.v. ταυροπόλαι.

Sources

  • Euripides. Iphigeneia in Taurus, 1457.
  • Müiller, Orchomenos und die Minyer, p. 305 ff. (2nd ed.).
  • Scholiast on Sophocles' Ajax, 172.
  • Smith, William. (1870). Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: Taylor, Walton, and Maberly.

This article incorporates text from Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) by William Smith, which is in the public domain.