ABSTRACT
Christ on the ass,3 Mithras on the bull, accompanied by his symbolic animals, the lion and the snake (pi. x l ), Men on the human-footed horse, Frey on the boar with golden bristles, and so on. T h e steeds of mythology are always invested with great significance and very often appear anthropomorphized. Thus M en’s horse has human forelegs, Balaam’s ass human speech, and the bull upon whose back Mithras springs to deliver the death blow ( taurokathapsis:*c f . pi. x l ) is a life-giving deity.
