Verraco
The Spanish word Verraco or the Portuguese word Berrão (= " boar ") denotes various animal sculptures made from granite blocks , which can be found in the former settlement areas of the Celtic tribal groups of the Vettons , ie in what is now western Spain and northeastern Portugal .
distribution
Most of these roughly 400 figures or remains of figures are located in the Spanish provinces of Salamanca , Ávila , Zamora , Cáceres and Segovia . Some specimens also exist in the Portuguese provinces of Beira Interior Norte and Trás-os-Montes , so that the distribution area is largely identical to the north of the ancient Roman province of Lusitania . From ancient sources we know that before the arrival of the Romans, different Celtic tribal groups of the Vettones had their settlement area here and so the Verracos are often associated with this tribe.
Sculptures
Most of the figures, severely abraded by wind and weather over the course of around 2500 years, cannot be clearly assigned to any animal group - however, some are clearly characterized by their tusks as boars , others are very similar to bulls ; still others are so badly eroded that the locals jokingly refer to them as burro ("donkey") or mula ("mule"). Another sculpture in El Oso (Ávila) is considered a "bear". Usually they are isolated; only the four Toros de Guisando, which can be identified with some certainty as bulls, or the two figures from Villatoro (province of Ávila) form groups - probably put together at a later time.
photos
Ciudad Rodrigo , Salamanca Province
Ledesma , Salamanca Province
Toro , Zamora Province
Villardiegua , Zamora Province
Murça , Portugal
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meaning
Many researchers associate the animal figures with the bull cult that is widespread in some areas of southern Europe ; others even see them as forerunners of bullfighting . Since many specimens are clearly marked as boars, this is not ultimately hardly verifiable. Some researchers associate them with animal breeding that has long been widespread in Spain ; others see them as guardian spirits of humans and animals.
New creations
More recently, stone monuments in the form of pigs have been erected again in the mountain regions of the province of Salamanca (e.g. in La Alberca ) to remind of the importance of this animal for human survival.
literature
- Ferdinand Orth: bull . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume III A, 2, Stuttgart 1929, Sp. 2495-2520.
