Sheep are very docile animals, and their history of domestication is even older than that of pigs and cows.
Archaeologists have found that as early as 6000 BC, Iran began collecting sheep fur for winter protection, and by 3000 BC, most people in West Asia began to domesticate sheep.
But such a seemingly harmless animal is not very popular in our Eastern or Western culture.
For example, in the oriental culture, dragons, tigers, and pigs are considered symbols of good luck, while sheep are often said to have a bad fate, and in the late Qing Dynasty, even began to popularize a superstitious saying of "ten sheep and nine incomplete".
It means that ten of the sheep are not good for nine lives; In the West, Christianity believes that the goat is the image of the devil Satan, especially in the Middle Ages, when the image of the sheep was demonized and even became a symbol of evil.
Oriental goat
Although docile to humans, sheep are actually a very aggressive animal when facing the same kind, especially goats, in the estrus period of competition for mating rights, male goats often fight between each other, they hit each other with horns, unless one side escapes, or it will definitely fight for a life or death.
As early as ancient times, someone created the idiom "wolf greedy sheep ruthless", obviously a herbivore sheep, but can be put in an idiom with natural enemies wolves, which shows that although the sheep look docile and not aggressive, once it endangers its life, it shows that it is even more terrifying than wolves.
When eating, the greed shown by the sheep is also frightening, where the water and grass are fertile, they will be very picky, the slightly bad grass will not eat, when eating, they will also bite here, bite there, extravagant and wasteful.
In places where the grass is relatively poor, they will eat grass one by one, and uproot the grass with each bite, and will not let the same kind at all.
In the "Classic of Mountains and Seas", part of the Second Classic of the Northern Era records that this fierce beast has the body of a sheep, a human face, eyes under the armpits, and a voice like the cry of a baby, which is a symbol of greed.
Among them, the description of the sheep's body more or less also illustrates this characteristic of sheep greed, such as the common gluttonous patterns on bronzes, but also characterized by a huge eye, on which are images of tigers, eagles, sheep and the like, a herbivore, but can squeeze into the ranks of carnivores, is rare.
The "scapegoat" of the Bible
There are also frequent references to goats in the Western scriptures, in which sheep also appear together, although they are both sheep, but the two represent two very different images.
Sheep has delicious meat and fur can be exchanged for money, so it is a symbol of kindness, often appearing in the image of a good person; And goats are aggressive by nature and fierce in character, they are symbols of evil, and often appear in the image of bad people.
As the end of the world approaches, God sits on the throne and begins the final judgment, looking down on the tens of thousands of people on earth and dividing them into two groups, just as a shepherd divides his sheep into goats and sheep.
God puts the "sheep" in the right position, and the "goats" are to be placed on the left, and those on the right are blessed by God to go to the temple of eternal life, while those on the left are burned by hellfire and receive eternal punishment.
The English phrase "the sheep and the goats", meaning good people and bad people, the word for good people is sheep, and the word for bad people is goat, which comes from this allusion.
In another allusion, when God tested the faithfulness of the believer "Abraham" and asked him to kill his son, Abraham did not hesitate and raised his sword and stabbed.
At this time, the angel sent by God stopped him and asked him to replace his son with a goat, which is the first "scapegoat" in history.
In this world, the 10th day after the New Year, is an important "day of atonement" for Christians, on this day, the high priest will put his hand on the forehead of a goat, transfer the sins of the Jews to the goat, after which the goat will be driven into the wilderness, and the sins of all will be taken away by the goat.
The devil incarnate
The image of the goat is completely demonized, mainly in the Middle Ages.
Originally, the goat was actually the object of worship, and in Greek mythology, the image of the goddess Faun was half man and half sheep, he had two goat horns, was a symbol of music and poetry, and was revered.
In the Middle Ages, when abstinence was advocated and people were required to restrain their desires, goats, which had a long estrus period and strong aggression, did not agree with people's thoughts, became the object of disgust, and the shepherd was also rejected, and his image changed from good and righteous to synonymous with sin and lies.
There is also a view that sheep will trigger human sexuality, some medieval Europeans mate with sheep, and after being discovered, they say that they are seduced by sheep, and since then, sheep have become the voice of demons.
In addition, sheep also have a superb ability, they can climb freely on the mountain, stand firmly on the cliff, and the lambs that have just been born for a few days can also climb and play without fear, which is their innate ability.
In the unwise Middle Ages, people who did not know the principle saw sheep climbing freely on the cliffs, and were so frightened that they thought they were the embodiment of the devil.
In fact, sheep are able to do this because they have a special pair of hooves, can perfectly grasp the ground and stand firm, and at the same time, the sheep's muscles are also very strong, so they can support the body.
With the blessing of ignorance and religion, the demon "Bafont" was created, which is the familiar sheep-headed demon and its prototype.
Legend has it that a certain day of the year is the day when the witches meet, and on this day, the Baphon will appear in the venue in the form of a huge sheep to be worshipped by the witches. Therefore, Bawind is also believed to be the main culprit in spreading black magic.
Because of the fear of the unknown, the concept of the evil nature of goats has been continuously inherited, and people have forgotten that in fact, the Bible does not record whether the devil has horns, so far, the legend of a large number of sheep-headed demons has been passed down to this day.
Now we know the reason why goats can climb cliffs, and we know that they are actually a very common animal, but the legend of goats is still a representative of Western demon culture.
This culture extends many colorful concepts and images, such as the inverted pentagram, the ancient god Black Goat in Cthulhu, the number 666, etc., and the concept of fiction has become a carrier of creative materials and enriched people's entertainment life.