taurobolium

[ tawr-uh-boh-lee-uhm ]

noun

, plural tau·ro·bo·li·a [tawr-, uh, -, boh, -lee-, uh].

1. the sacrifice of a bull, followed by the baptism of neophytes in the blood, as practiced in the ancient rites of Mithras or Cybele.
2. Fine Arts. a representation of the killing of a bull, as in Mithraic art.

Word History and Origins

Origin of taurobolium¹

1690–1700; < Late Latin < Greek taurobólion, equivalent to tauroból ( os ) bull sacrifice ( taûro ( s ) bull + bólos a cast, throw, akin to bolḗ a wound, bállein to throw) + -ion diminutive suffix

Example Sentences

That Salvation was not from within, was the testimony of every man who underwent the taurobolium.

From Project Gutenberg

The gorgeous rites of her worship, its mystic doctrine of communion with the divine through enthusiasm, its promise of regeneration through baptism of blood in the taurobolium, were features which attracted the masses of the people and made it a strong 403 rival of Christianity; and its resemblance to the new religion, however superficial, made it, in spite of the scandalous practices which grew up around it, a stepping-stone to Christianity when the tide set in against paganism.

From Project Gutenberg

Taurobolium, a sacrifice of expiation, very common in the third and fourth centuries.

From Project Gutenberg

The rites of Mithras came from the Magi of Persia; and it is obviously difficult to distinguish in principle the ceremonies of the Syrian Taurobolium from those of the Necyomantia in the Odyssey, or of Canidia in Horace.

From Project Gutenberg

Her baptism of blood in the taurobolium was a rite of such strange enthralling influence that it needed all the force of the Christian Empire to abolish it.

From Project Gutenberg