Leaping Bull from the Palace at Knossos Brooch

This bull is one of the most iconic images from the Bronze Age. Painted in fresco on the walls of the palace at Knossos (c. 1450 BC), the bull is depicted with incredible curvature throughout its form, from its slightly bowed head to its magnificent tail. It is shown running at full speed, and the original composition shows a youth catapulting over the bull in what seems to have been an athletic event at the time. Bull imagery was prominent in Minoan culture, as many such scenes of bull leaping have been found, across media, and "horns of consecration" ornamented the palace and its objects. Today, this painting is in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, in Crete.