Horns of God, Horns of The Beast: A Brief History of How The Devil Got His Horns

First, let's look at early renditions of Satan in art. During the medieval period, we began seeing artwork portraying him as part-man, part-beast. Bipedal, humanoid build, but bearing the attributes of an animal, with horns, sometimes hooved feet, sometimes bird-like feet.

The horned, hooved, and sharp-tailed Devil has become the prominent image we associate with Satan for centuries. Satan, not once described in the Bible in this fashion, had to grow these horns somewhere.

Let's turn back the clock to a time before Bibles and religions, before kings and countries. Let's go back about 15,000 years to Cave of the Trois-Frères in France, where paleolithic humans hunted, gathered, and lived on the small breadth of land they knew. In the Cave of the Trois-Frères, we find a piece of art known as "The Sorcerer". Believed to be the earliest known portrayal of a horned deity, The Sorcerer hangs above the rest of the carvings in the cave, and appears much larger than them-- its horns and large eyes watch over them. Discovered in 1912, the cave is home to many incredible archeological findings that tell us about humans pre-history. The sketch I've provided is one drawn in the early 1920's by Henri Breuil. His and many's interpretation of the cave art is that of a Shaman wearing the trappings of an animal, possibly performing a hunting ritual.

If we jump ahead a couple thousand more years to the Mesolithic era, we find ourselves in the throes of clans of hunters and worshippers at the Star Carr cave. In 1947, it was discovered in North Yorkshire, England. Widely considered one of the most important archeological finds in relation to the Mesolithic era, Star Carr was home to more than 18 headdresses, fashioned from red deer skulls with carved eyeholes, and antlers still attached. Practical use has been cause of debate over the years, but many agree they were likely used in rituals (possibly for hunting) by the people of that area.

The Pillar of The Boatmen is a Roman column found in 1710 beneath Notre-Dame de Paris, dating back to 1st century AD. It contains carvings of several deities, ranging in origin, from Greek to Celtic. Upon the column is the earliest known depiction of the Celtic deity Cernunnos--  part man, part beast. A kind god, known for his representation of life and death, birth and rebirth, love and lust, nature and wildness. The horned god Cernunnos will continue to appear in artwork for many more centuries.

Cernunnos makes his next appearance on a carving found in the Val Camonica valley in Italy that dates it around the 4th century BCE. Whereas most depictions of the horned god portray him as sitting cross-legged, this is one of the only times we see him on both feet.

The Gundestrup Cauldron was discovered in 1891 in Denmark, dating back to a vague period, somewhere between 150 BC and 1 BC. It is made primarily of silver, and depicts multiple artworks around its sides. One of these artworks being the familiar horned god Cernunnos, sitting cross-legged, surrounded by animals. The cauldron as a whole is quite enigmatic, depicting animals not native to the region, suggesting whomever made it was well-travelled and knowledgeable. As far as I know, we do not know the original use or intention of the cauldron, aside from artwork.

Now, if we hopped on over to Arcadia around the same time, we might find folks of the time worshipping the god Pan. A god, part-man, part-animal. A god of the wild, nature, often associated with love, lust, and desire. Undoubtedly more well-known than Cernunnos, the god Pan has played a significant role in pagan and neopagan beliefs for centuries (something we will get into soon).

Let's jump ahead. I've been hitting you guys over the head with history (and only a small fraction of it) surrounding horned deities throughout time. But what does that have to do with Satan (a deity from a much younger religion)?
Christendom happened. In the medieval times, literacy was on the rise. People began to be able to learn instead of just listen. The Church needed a way to fight against individuality. Deep beliefs in pagan deities, held tight by witches, druids, and other spiritual people, were dangerous to Christianity and its need to control entire regions. Pagans had held belief in horned gods, like Cernunnos, for thousands of years, and now a new horned beast was about to greet the world.
In the late 15th century AD began the era of the European witch trials, a plague of hatred and violence by the Church that persecuted pagans for upwards of 300 years. It was time for a change in how people viewed pagan beliefs, and the easiest way to do that was to demonize the image of their gods. Suddenly, Satan, The Devil of the Bible, had HORNS. And anyone worshipping a horned being MUST be worshipping the one, the only, Satan.

Throughout the persecution of pagans throughout the centuries, artworks, thousands of years old, were destroyed and defaced by Christians. Many ancient works of art are lost to the sands of time, at the hands of angry men.

In the 1980's, America was gripped by the Satanic Panic, a time when unsubstantiated stories of Satanic ritual abuse were popping out of the woodworks. Churches couldn't get enough of him. There were record burnings to get rid of your secular music that honored Satan, book burnings, and a moral panic that held the superstitious and religious by the throat. Though hundreds of years had passed since the witch trials of Europe, the Church still used the horned beast Satan as a way to stir hysteria among the masses, and herd them into their doors.

For many, anymore Satan feels like a punchline to a tired joke, or an overused trope in film. From Rosemary's Baby in the 1960's, to films like The Conjuring in the 2010's and 2020's, Satan has been a prominent figure in religious horror films. If you want to make your movie scary, throw the devil at it. If you want to punch down at someone you dislike, portray them as in cahoots with the devil. If centuries have proved anything about Satan, it's that he's an easy tool for control.

Despite years of being demonized, changed, bastardized, modernized, and everything in between, where is The Horned God now?
The Horned God is still alive and well in the world of witchcraft and wicca. A commonly admired deity, Cernunnos still brings peace to those who hold space for him. A god of duality, of nature and wilderness, of love and lust, of birth and rebirth, and of life and death. Although witches are still a point of contention and fear among the religious, they do not worship The Devil, they don't hold black masses. They are a people of mindfulness, consciousness, and love.
Next time you find yourself in a magic shop and see a little Cernunnos statue, or next time you're in a museum and see horned people in ancient artwork, remember the humans that came before us. Early man, early beliefs, early wonders. Things we cherished, things that brought us peace and prosperity, still exist, even when they're hidden away.