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The goat-headed Baphomet image seen here is a 19th-century drawing made by Eliphas Levi as a metaphorical symbol from Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie. It was not originally created as a Satanic symbol or a deity. See also: Sigil of Baphomet and Statue of Baphomet. Black Sun: Nazi occultism and later the neo-Nazi movement
When it was purchased some months later, the word "Skull" was added to the title and has accompanied the painting ever since, through numerous exhibitions. Hoffman suggests the change in title was "the result of confusing the work with the more traditional iconography of the memento mori, in which a skull implies death." [2]
The use of horns as a symbol for power dates back to the ancient world. From ancient Egypt and the Ba'al worshipping Cannanites, to the Greeks, Romans, Celts, and various other cultures. [49] Horns have ever been present in religious imagery as symbols of fertility and power.
Skull art is found in various cultures of the world. Indigenous Mexican art celebrates the skeleton and uses it as a regular motif. The use of skulls and skeletons in art originated before the Conquest : The Aztecs excelled in stone sculptures and created striking carvings of their Gods. [ 1 ]
Skull symbolism is the attachment of symbolic meaning to the human skull. The most common symbolic use of the skull is as a representation of death . Humans can often recognize the buried fragments of an only partially revealed cranium even when other bones may look like shards of stone.
The oni remains a very popular motif in Japanese popular culture. Their varied modern depiction sometimes relies on just one or two distinctive features which mark a character as an oni, such as horns or a distinctive skin colour, although the character may otherwise appear human, lacking the oni's traditionally fearsome or grotesque features.
In 1887–88, van Gogh painted two more paintings with skulls, the only other works of his (besides a drawing from the same period) to use skulls as a motif. [2] The work measures 32 by 24.5 centimetres (12.6 in × 9.6 in). It is considered a vanitas or memento mori, at a time when van Gogh himself was in poor health.
The "sign of the horns" hand gesture is used in criminal gang subcultures to indicate membership or affiliation with Mara Salvatrucha. The significance is both the resemblance of an inverted "devil horns" to the Latin letter 'M', and in the broader demonic connotation, of fierceness and nonconformity.