Toros de Guisando
The Toros de Guisando are a group of four standing bull sculptures from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC. Chr .; they belong to the Verracos group .
location
The Toros de Guisando are in the east of today's province Ávila in the municipality of El Tiemblo near the border with the province of Madrid at an altitude of about 650 m above sea level. d. A stream and one of Spain's many cattle drive routes ( Cañadas Reales ) pass very close by.
description
The four massive looking bull figures made of granite (height approx. 1.40 m; length approx. 2.10 m) form a row in a north-south direction; the heads therefore look exactly to the east - i.e. in the direction of the rising sun. On the heads of two of the animals, holes can be clearly seen, into which the horns could previously be inserted. There are also sagging and lateral folds of skin on the neck that are clearly reminiscent of cattle. In three of the bulls the drooping tails with tassels can be clearly seen; in another the scrotum. The legs of the bulls are not free, but - because of the better stability - are connected to each other via a rectangular base plate and small cubic blocks - remnants of the original granite stones.
The southernmost of the four bulls has a Latin inscription on its back that can be read as follows: LONGINUS PRISCO, CALAETQ PATRI.FC. (Translation: Longinus from the tribe of the Calaeticer in memory of his father Priscus ).
classification
In central and western Spain there is a multitude of individual animal sculptures ( verracos ) - in the province of Ávila alone there are over a hundred; others are in the provinces of Salamanca , Zamora and Cáceres . Some sculptures are clearly identified as boars by their tusks ; others are more similar to bulls and still others are in an extremely bad state of preservation, so that the local population jokingly referred to them as burros (= "donkey") or mulas (= "mule"). They are the culture of the Iberians or the Celtiberians , especially the Vettons , i. H. the 8th to 5th century BC Chr., Assigned. Since they are usually single and no uniform orientation can be determined, there is always new speculation as to whether the line-up of four in a row is original or was made later.
The Toros de Guisando are considered by some to be evidence of the long tradition of the bull cult - perhaps also of bullfighting - on the Iberian Peninsula .
Historical meaning
- At the Toros de Guisando on September 18, 1468, the proclamation of Isabella I as Princess of Asturias and thus as the Castilian heir to the throne took place. A memorial plaque erected on site still commemorates this extremely important event for Spanish history. However, since no historical documents exist, it could also be a retrospective legend that legitimizes Isabella's claim to the throne.
- In the novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra the bull stones are mentioned several times.
- In the poem Llanto por Ignacio Sánchez Mejías by Federico García Lorca , the Toros de Guisanto are also mentioned.
See also
- Villatoro , Province of Avila
- Villanueva del Campillo , Avila Province
- Iberian art
literature
- Ferdinand Orth: bull. In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III A, 2, Stuttgart 1929, Sp. 2495-2520.
- Jesús R. Álvarez-Sanchís: Oppida and Celtic society in western Spain, E-Keltoi . In: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies , vol. 6, 2005, pp. 255-285.
Web links
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 40 ° 21 ′ 38.5 " N , 4 ° 26 ′ 29.8" W.