# Moses with horns **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 6, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769 "2001-01-06T22:35:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/1 "2001-01-06T22:35:25Z")
One of the famous statues of Moses shows him with horns. Many of the paintings show light coming out of either side of his forhead. What’s the deal? ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/2 "2001-01-06T22:58:46Z")
[http://lists.village.virginia.edu/lists\_archive/Humanist/v07/0387.html](http://lists.village.virginia.edu/lists_archive/Humanist/v07/0387.html) ---
**Author:** ![peepthis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9d8465/32.png) [@peepthis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peepthis)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/3 "2001-01-06T23:22:16Z")
I believe carnivorous is referring to Michelangelo’s “[Moses](http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/giulio_2/moses1.html),” part of [Pope Julius II’s tomb](http://gallery.euroweb.hu/html/m/michelan/1sculptu/giulio_2/giulio2.html) (found in S. Pietro in Vincoli, in Rome). It’s really an amazing work, even if it is surrounded by a bunch of second-rate sculptures. The page goes on to say: > [@](#): > > From the 12th century, Moses is occasionally shown with horns (e.g. Claus Sluter, Well of Moses, 1395-1403, Charterhouse at Champmol, Dijon; Michelangelo, Tomb of Pope Julius II, 1513-16, S. Pietro in Vincoli, Rome). These are explained by a mistranslation in the Vulgate (not followed in the Authorized Version of the Bible). In the Book of Exodus (34:29), it is written that Moses shone brightly when he came down from Sinai after he had been given the Tables of Law. St Jerome translated the Hebrew verb for shine, similar to the word ‘geren’ (horn), by ‘cornatus’, horned: “Videbant faciem Moysi esse cornatum (They saw that Moses’ face was horned)”. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/4 "2001-01-06T23:27:09Z")
You say St. Jerome, I say St. Hieronymus…😃 When you type in Moses AND horns, Google gives some 4,000 occurences. So, if we dug a bit further, I guess we could find a couple of other saints to blame. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/5 "2001-01-07T02:42:22Z")
The verse in question is Exodus 34:29. The original Hebrew says _v’henai koran ohr panav_. The word _koran_ is similar to the Hebrew word _keren_ (remember, in Hebrew there are no letter vowels) which means “horn.” The actual meaning of the verse is that his face was radiant (or shone). This _should_ be obvious, because the word _ohr_ means “light.” However, some people (as I guess Michaelangelo did) took it to mean horns literally. As an aside, I used to work in a college volunteer ambulance squad. We had one member who (as my then-fiancee, now-wife tells it) looked in astonishment at me as I took off my hat. After I left, he asked my fiancee where my horns were. (You’d think being in Brooklyn he’d have seen plenty of Jews). He truly thought all Jews had horns. Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/6 "2001-01-07T02:46:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > He truly thought all Jews had horns. You’ve been reading Journey to Fusang, right? ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/7 "2001-01-07T02:55:10Z")
I have a similar story to Zev’s. When I was a freshman, I hung out with this very Appalachian chick from Kentucky. Needless to say, I was the first Jew she had ever met. She was genuinely surprised to learn that I did not have horns. ---
**Author:** ![zev\_steinhardt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/97f17d/32.png) [@zev\_steinhardt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zev_steinhardt)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/8 "2001-01-07T03:25:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by carnivorousplant \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by zev\_steinhardt \* > > He truly thought all Jews had horns. > > You’ve been reading Journey to Fusang, right? > > \*\* No. Never heard of it. What is it? Zev Steinhardt ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/9 "2001-01-07T03:54:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Montfort \* > \*\*I have a similar story to Zev’s. When I was a freshman, I hung out with this very Appalachian chick from Kentucky. Needless to say, I was the first Jew she had ever met. > > She was genuinely surprised to learn that I did not have horns. \*\* One of the greatest things about growing up Jewish in the South is meeting people [dave barry] who–and I am **not** making this up[/dave barry] believe that circumcision is what a Jewish male goes through at eight days old–it’s the surgical removal of the horns. but back to the OP. I was always told that it was a mistranslation of the Latin _corona_ (halo, or glow) into _cornuta_ (horn). I don’t know how accurate this is, from what I’ve read off of the provided links, it could’ve been one of many mistranslations. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/10 "2001-01-07T04:12:24Z")
Well, I’ve never met a Jewish male with horns, but I’ve known a few horny Jewish guys. Does that count? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/11 "2001-01-07T04:25:56Z")
is an alternate history novel by William Sanders. The adventures of Finn Of No Fixed Abode (“And how was I to know she was the High King’s Daughter?”) and his side kick Yussef in the New World discovered and run by Islam. A less than bright Englishman asks Finn where Yussef’s horns are. Indians named Muhammed Ten Bears and Two Dogs Fornicating. [http://www.sff.net/people/sanders/worx.html](http://www.sff.net/people/sanders/worx.html) ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2001, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moses-with-horns/48769/12 "2001-01-07T05:38:23Z")
However, I’m going to bring up an old thread in which this question (among others) came up: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7758](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=7758)