HORNS. The physical power and reproductive potency of horned animals, which were so important in the economy of ancient hunting and agricultural societies, made them ideal symbols of strength and fertility. The primitive use of horns as plows and the symbolic view of plowing as the impregnation of Mother Earth led to the belief that horns were charged with sexual power. The association of horns with fertility was further encouraged by their phallic shape and symbolic identification with both the rays of the sun and the crescent moon.

The association of horns with power and fertility accounts for the proliferation of horned gods and goddesses in both the East and the West. The Sumerian gods Anu, Enlil, and Marduk wear horned headdresses, as do the Egyptian deities Hathor, Isis, Nut, Seth, and Amun. The Hindu god Śiva and the Greek god Poseidon share the same emblem, a trident...