I know that back in the day, goats were said to whisper lewd things into the ears of priests (because goats are a naturally horny animal and often blabber to attract ladies). But whenever I see depictions of the devil or demons, they usually have cloven hooves or a goats head?
Does anyone know why this is or where it comes from?
In: Other
To defame foreign gods.
The abrahamic religions are very insistent that there are no other gods and whatever you were praying to before they came along was at best a lifeless statue and at worst the devil.
There were many horned, or animalistic gods in the polytheistic past (Baal, Seth, Amun, Cyrene, Faunus, Moloch etc.)
Why the goat won out and not the bull or the jackal is anyones guess, I suppose it just captured medieval christian artists’ imagination better.
The goat depiction are not proper religious imagery, but part of the more non-canonical demonology traditions, which are as much inspired by folklore and art as they are by scripture.
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