One of the chief objects of veneration among the Cimbri is said to have been a brazen bull.
The most famous if not the first 1 is Phalaris of Acragas (Agrigentum), whose exact date is uncertain, whose letters are now cast aside, arid whose brazen bull has been called in question, but who clearly rose to power very soon after the foundation of Acragas.
He was at last overthrown in a general rising headed by Telemachus, the ancestor of Theron (tyrant c. 4 88 -47 2), and burned in his brazen bull.
There was certainly a brazen bull at Agrigentum, which was carried off by the Carthaginians to Carthage, whence it was again taken by Scipio and restored to Agrigentum.
Pottier, who does not dispute the historical personality of Minos, in view of the story of Phalaris considers it probable that in Crete (where a bull-cult may have existed by the side of that of the double axe) victims were tortured by being shut up in the belly of a red-hot brazen bull.
