Why do early statues of Biblical figures (ie. Moses) have horns?

Answer 1

It's only Moses.

"Exodus 34:29-35 tells that after meeting with God the skin of Moses' face became radiant, frightening the Israelites and leading Moses to wear a veil. Jonathan Kirsch, in his book Moses: A Life, thought that, since he subsequently had to wear a veil to hide it, Moses' face was disfigured by a sort of "divine radiation burn".

This passage has led to one longstanding tradition that Moses grew horns. This is derived from a misinterpretation of the Hebrew phrase qarnu `owr panayv (קָרַן עֹור פָּנָיו). The root קרן Q-R-N (qof, resh, nun) may be read as either "horn" or "ray [of light]", depending on vocalization. `Owr panayv (עֹור פָּנָיו) translates to "the skin of his face".

[...]

With apparent Biblical authority, and the added convenience of giving Moses a unique and easily identifiable visual attribute (something the other Old Testament prophets notably lacked), it remained standard in Western art to depict Moses with small horns until well after the mistranslation was realized by the Renaissance."

Answer 2

It was the translation issue. Exo 34:28 And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant. Exo 34:29 And when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord. Exo 34:30 And Aaron and the children of Israel seeing the face of Moses horned, were afraid to come near. Exo 34:31 And being called by him, they returned, both Aaron and the rulers of the congregation. And after that he spoke to them, Exo 34:32 And all the children of Israel came to him: and he gave them in commandment all that he had heard of the Lord on Mount Sinai. Exo 34:33 And having done speaking, he put a veil upon his face. Subsequent statues and art were consistent with the Latin Vulgate translation. The same "horn thing" also pertains to satan, who is described as an angel of light.

Answer 3

Another mistranslation from the Hebrew. When Moses came down from Horeb, his face "shone" - but the word for "shining" was mistranslated as "horned." Hence for centuries people believed that Moses grew horns during his conferences with God. See Michaelangelo's famous statue for an example.

I've never seen other Biblical figures portrayed with horns, but they may have been, following this precedent. It may have become something of a convention for depicting a person who had "communed with God" in one way or another.

In classical symbolism, horns were a symbol of male creative energy - essentially phallic in nature. See Pan, Bacchus, etc. Traces of this old idea may have also been picked up in the portrayal of Moses with horns, as the Law-Giver, bearing the seminal Word of God.

See "Bad Liberal" for the cut-and-paste lowdown on the Hebrew - but I wrote this all off the top of my head.

Answer 4

This was a misinterpretation of a verse that said the skin of his face shone after he was on the mountaintop. See below for a link to a picture that demonstrates this as well as a better explanation of the translation error.

edit: I know this was only to refer to Moses, but I know a woman in her sixties who was teased at school with kids looking for her horns since she's Jewish. It would be funny if the Jews hadn't endured so much ignorant prejudice of all forms from the Roman era at least until the present time.

Answer 5

For those interested, here is a Michelangelo of Moses with horns as an example.

Answer 6

I know the statue you're refering to. The horns come from a misinterpretation of a Hebrew word. The word meant rays of light but was interpreted as horns.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo's_Moses

Answer 7

There are close similarities relative to the written words for "nimbus/halo" and "horn" in ancient Hebrew. The sculptor took the wrong meaning.

+sergius
Archbishop
Holy Transfiguration Skete

Answer 8

Mistranslation from the greek word that means radiance and looks like horns.

Answer 9

I have never seen a statue of Moses with horns. But he may have had a "horn" (ram's horn) in his hand. But then again this question is one of those 6th grader's pranks.

Answer 10

the statues are manufactured by people. People don't know what the Biblical figures face are like, so they made it as their heart want or according to their race, or etc. But, we don't know what the really face is like