- Verraco
The "verracos" ( _es. verraco; Portuguese: "barrão") are
granite megalith ic monuments, sculptures of animals that are to be found in the west of the Iberian "meseta " - the high central plain of theIberian peninsula - in the Spanish provinces of Ávila, Salamanca, and Zamora, but also in the north ofPortugal and Galicia. Over 400 have been identified. The verracos are sometimes called "verracos de piedra" (pigs of stone) for greater clarity. When applied to live animals, the Spanish word "verraco" normally refers to boars, but the sculptures include examples which are identifiable as bulls. The village ofEl Oso, Ávila has a verraco which has been called a bear.Their dates range from the mid 4th to 1st centuries BCE. Though they were perhaps not confined to a single usage, the "verracos" were an essential part of the landscape of the
Vettones , one of thePre-Roman peoples of the Iberian Peninsula . It has generally been assumed from their high visibility in their original surroundings that these sculptures had some protective religious significance, whether guarding the security of livestock or as funerary monuments (some of them bear Latin funerary inscriptions). The "verracos" are particularly numerous in the vicinity of the walled Celtiberian communities that Romans called "oppida."Notable verracos
Portugal
*
Murça
** "Porca de Murça" (the "Sow of Murça" in Portuguese, although the sculpture appears to represent a boar). The name has been taken to designate a red wine of theDouro district. [ [http://www.rtsmarao.pt/concelho_de_murcaport.htm] ]pain
*
El Tiemblo ,Ávila (province)
**Bulls of Guisando , 4 verracos mentioned byCervantes
*Salamanca
** 1 verraco next to theRoman bridge . It is mentioned in the sixteenth-centurypicaresque novel "Lazarillo de Tormes " as being like a bull: [ [http://www.4olin.com/chapter1/three.html] bilingual text]Salimos de Salamanca y, llegando a la puente, está a la entrada della vn animal de piedra que casi tiene forma de toro, y el ciego mandome que llegasse cerca del animal e, alli puesto, me dixo...
*Villanueva del Campillo ,Ávila (province)
** 2 verracos, one of which is possibly the largest of them all (a larger than life-size bull orauroch , but surviving in an incomplete state).External links
* [http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/celtic/ekeltoi/volumes/vol6/6_5/alvarez_sanchis_6_5.html Jesús R. Álvarez-Sanchís, "Oppida and Celtic society in western Spain,"] in "e-Celtoi: Journal of Interdisciplinary Celtic Studies" vol 6 ("The Celts in the Iberian Peninsula")
* [http://www.fotoaleph.com/Exposiciones/Verracos/Verracos-index1.html#Verracos Photo gallery of "verracos"]Further reading
*J. Leite de Vasconcelos, "Religiões da Lusitânia", Imprensa Nacional Casa da Moeda, Lisbon.
*Eduardo Sánchez Moreno, 2000. "Vetones: Historia y Arqueología de un pueblo prerromano" (Madrid: Ediciones de la Universidad Autónoma)
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