Crossing the Boundaries: Triple Horns and Emblematic Transference

Crossing the Boundaries: Triple Horns and Emblematic Transference Institution: RESEARCH INSTITUTE ON Sign In | My Tools | Contact Us | HELP Search all journals Advanced Search Search History Browse Journals RESEARCH INSTITUTE ON Skip to main page content

Home All Issues Subscribe RSS Email Alerts Search this journal Advanced Journal Search » Crossing the Boundaries: Triple Horns and Emblematic Transference Miranda J. Green

SCARAB Research Centre, University of Wales College, Newport Abstract This paper explores one aspect of the way in which cult-iconography of the later Iron Age and Roman periods in non-Classical Europe broke the rules of mimetic (life-copying representation, with reference to a particular motif: the triple horn. The presence of three-homed images within the iconographic repertoire of western Europe during this period clearly illustrates two aspects of such rule-breaking. On the one hand, the image of the triple-horned bull - well-known in the archaeological record, particularly of Roman Gaul - exemplifies a recurrent Gallo-Roman and Romano-British tradition in which realism was suppressed in favour of emphasis to the power of three. On the other hand, the tripl-horned emblem is not confined to the adornment of bulls but may, on occasion, be transferred to 'inappropriate' images, both of animals which are naturally hornless and of humans. Such emblematic transference, with its consequence of dionance and contradiction in the visual message, on the one hand, and the presence of symbolism associated with boundaries and transition, on the other, suggests the manipulation of motifs in order to endow certain images with a particular symbolic energy, born of paradox, the deliberate introduction of disorder or chaos and the expression of liminality. The precise meaning conveyed by such iconographic 'anarchy' is impossible to grasp fully but - at the least - appears to convey an expression of 'otherness' in which order imposed by empirical observation of earthly 'reality' is deemed irrelevant to other states of being and to the supernatural world.

cult Gallo-Roman iconography ritual Romano-British shamanism triple homs CiteULike Complore Connotea Delicious Digg Reddit Technorati Twitter What's this?

« Previous | Next Article »Table of Contents This Article doi: 10.1177/146195719800100205 European Journal of Archaeology August 1998 vol. 1 no. 2 219-240 » AbstractFree Full Text (PDF) References Services Email this article to a colleague Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Load patientINFORMation Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Scopus Citing articles via Web of Science Citing articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Green, M. J. Search for related content Related Content Load related web page information Share CiteULike Complore Connotea Delicious Digg Reddit Technorati Twitter What's this?

Current Issue December 2010, 13 (3) Alert me to new issues of European Journal of Archaeology Submit a Manuscript Free Sample Copy Email Alerts RSS feed More about this journal About the Journal Editorial Board Manuscript Submission Abstracting/Indexing Subscribe Recommend to Library Advertising Reprints Permissions European Association of Archaeologists Most Most Read Ritual and Rationality: Some Problems of Interpretaton in European Archaeology Phenomenology in Practice: Towards a p Methodology for a `Subjective' Approach A Conversation With Colin Renfrew (Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn) The Marine Environment and Its Influence On Seafaring and Maritime Routes in the Prehistoric Aegean Islands in the Mediterranean: Introduction » View all Most Read articles Most Cited Strontium Isotopes and Prehistoric Human Migration: The Bell Beaker Period in Central Europe Archaeology, Science-Based Archaeology and the Mediterranean Bronze Age Metals Trade Climate Change and the Adoption of Agriculture in North-West Europe Book Review: Book Marks Reconstructing the Lifetime Movements of Ancient People: A Neolithic Case Study from Southern England » View all Most Cited articles HOME ALL ISSUES FEEDBACK SUBSCRIBE RSS EMAIL ALERTS HELP Copyright © 2011 by European Association of Archaeologists, SAGE Publications Print ISSN: 1461-9571 Online ISSN: 1741-2722

View the original article here