taurobolium

plural taurobolia · alternative tauroboly

1. Ancient RomehistoricalThe ritual slaughter of a bull.

   1990, Britt-Mari Näsström, O Mother of the Gods and Men, Plus Ultra, page 42, In addition to the gloomy figure of Attis, another spectacular element was connected to the cult of Magna Mater, the rite of the Taurobolium and the Criobolium.

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   The cult of the Magna Mater, borrowing the civic spirit proper to Roman religion, made of the official taurobolium a manifestation of loyalty to the institutions of the Roman Empire.

   1927, George La Piana, Foreign Groups in Rome During the First Centuries of the Empire, Harvard University Press, page 300

   1968, Phoenix, Volume 22, Classical Association of Canada, University of Toronto Press, page 236, It is safe to conclude that the taurobolium at this stage in its development was a substitution rite³³ at least in its original and most basic purpose, although it may soon have become an initiatory rite for women.