Verracos

Claudia Hamilton Ramsay. A Summer in Spain, London: Tinsley Brothers. 8, Catherine Strand, 1874

Chapter II. Granite Bulls

Pág. 36-38

Now we plunged into the streets, in quest of those very remarkable granite beats, called bulls, but not greatly resembling any specimen of that quadruped I have ever seen. Some people call them pigs; but there too the likeness is not striking. One that wer saw was not unlikea pippopotamus; the smaller ones had perhaps some resemblance to misshapen pigs. They now stand in the courtyard of one of the venerable old houses that abound in Avila.

There has been much dispute as to what these extraordinary creatures really are, and by whom they were made. Some authors consider them to have been in commemoration of Julius Cæsar´s victories; but they certainly do not resemble any Roman work of that epoch, or indeed of any other date whatever. Even the bronze Wolf of the Capitol has quite a modern air in comparison. It seems imposible that at a time when Rome already possesed the masterpieces of Greek art, Cæsar could have considered it complimentary to have such uncouth monuments erected in his honour; nor does one see why they should have been in the form of those so-colled bulls.

Another view of the case is that they were idols of the ancient inhabitants; and it must be allowed they look old and queer enough for anything. If it be so, the Spanish aborígenes had very rudimentary ideas concerning sculpture. How unlike the mild, beautiful Athor, the Egyptian Goddess, the Golden Calf, whom one could scarcely wonder that the Israelites worshipped¡

Our guide said that the common opinión among the natives was that they had been made in the Middle Ages, and fastened to the doors of those citizens who refused top ay the taxes. It is quite posible that the were so use, though not made for the purpose. However that may be, almost every door in Spain would be thus ornamented at the presente day, if this mediæval system were fully carried out. And in Italy also, the same breed of bulls might be introduced with adventage.