Sheep is a very obedient animal. In terms of domestication history, it is even longer than pigs and cattle.

Archaeologists have discovered that already in 6000 BC. e. In Iran, they began to collect sheep's fur so as not to freeze in winter. By 3000 B.C. e. most Western Asians began to domesticate sheep.

But such a harmless animal,is not very popular in either our Eastern or Western culture.

For example, in Eastern culture of zodiac, dragons, tigers and pigs are considered auspicious symbols, while sheep are often considered unlucky. During late Qing Dynasty, "ten sheep" was even popular. superstition.

This means that out of ten goats, nine will fail, while in West, Christianity believes that goats are image of devil Satan, especially in Middle Ages, when image of goats was severely attacked by demons He even became a symbol of evil, why is there such a point of view?

Despite being docile to humans, sheep are actually very aggressive when confronted by members of same species, especially goats. Ram each other with horns, unless one runs away, otherwise he will definitely fight to death.

In ancient times, someone created idiom "The wolf is greedy for sheep and ruthless". The sheep is obviously a herbivore, but it can be put in same idiom as wolf's natural enemy. , This shows that although an animal like a sheep appears to be very docile and non-aggressive,once it puts its life in danger, it will be even more ruthless than a wolf.

When eating, greed that sheep show is also frightening. Where water and grass are fertile, they will be very picky. They won't eat some bad grass. While eating, they will bite here and there. bite, extravagance and extravagance.

In places where grass is relatively barren, they will eat grass singly, and each bite will uproot grass, and same will not be allowed at all.

In Shan Hai Jing, part of Second Classical Book of North, it is written: Taote is a ferocious beast with a sheep's body, a human face, eyes in armpits, and a voice like a baby's cry. Symbol of desire.

The description of sheep's body more or less illustrates characteristic greed of sheep, such as common taotie pattern on bronzes, which is also characterized by a huge eye, with images of tigers, eagles, sheep, etc. on it. The image of herbivore can be squeezed into ranks of carnivores, which is really rare.

Goats are often found in Western holy book, Bible. Among them, sheep appear together. Although they are both sheep, they are two completely different images.

Sheep meat is tasty and their fur can be exchanged for money, so she is a symbol of goodness and often appears as a kind person, while goats are inherently aggressive and cruel, which is a symbol of evil and often appears as a bad person .

The end of world is coming. God sits on throne and begins Last Judgment. He looks at tens of thousands of people on earth and divides these people into two groups, as a shepherd divides his sheep. for goats and sheep.

God has placed "sheep" on right, and accordingly "goats" will be placed on left. Those on right are blessed by God and go to palace of eternal life, while those on left, Man, on other hand, will be burned in hellfire and receive eternal punishment.

Short English sentence "sheep and goats" meaning good people and bad people, word for good people is sheep and word for bad people is goats, which comes from this allusion.

In another allusion, when God tested faithfulness of believer "Abraham", he asked him to kill his son, so Abraham raised his knife and stabbed him without hesitation.

At this time, an angel sent by God stopped him and asked him to replace his son with a goat.This is first scapegoat in history.

In this world, 10th day after new year is an important "Day of Atonement" for Christians. On this day, high priest will lay his hand on goat's forehead to transfer sins of Jews to goat. The goat will be driven into wilderness, and then sins of people will be taken away by goat.

The image of goat, which mainly originated in Middle Ages, is completely demonized.

In beginning, goats were actually objects of worship. In Greek mythology, image of a shepherd is a half-man, half-goat. He has two goat horns. It is a symbol of music and poetry, and is respected by people.

In Middle Ages, when abstinence was promoted and people were required to restrain their desires, goats, long estrus and aggressive animals did not correspond to people's thinking and became objects of disgust. Faun was also rejected He The image of beauty and justice has become synonymous with evil and lies.

There is also an opinion that sheep can cause sexual desire in people. Some Europeans in Middle Ages mated with sheep. After they were discovered, they said they were bewitched by sheep. Since then, sheep have become patronage of demons.

In addition, sheep also have superior abilities. They can freely climb rocks in mountains and stand firmly on rocks. Lambs that have just been born within a few days can also climb without fear. This is their innate ability to play.

During unreasonable Middle Agespeople who didn't know principle saw sheep climbing freely on rock and were very frightened, thinking that they were incarnation of devil.

Actually, sheep can do this because they have a pair of special hooves that can cling to ground and stand firmly. At same time, sheep have very strong muscles, so they can maintain body hold.

Blessed by ignorance and religion, demon "Baphomet" was created. This is familiar demon with a ram's head, and he is also their prototype.

According to legend, every year on a certain day there is a meeting of witches, on this day Baphomet turns into a giant sheep and appears on spot to accept worship of witches. Therefore, Baphomet is also considered main culprit in spread of black magic.

Due to fear of unknown, notion that goats are inherently evil was constantly passed on, and people forgot that In fact, there is no record in Bible of whether devil has horns.< / strong> Still a lot of goat heads. The legend of devil has survived to this day.

Now we know why goats can climb rocks and that they are actually very common animals, but goat legend is still representative of Western demon culture.

This culture spread many colorful concepts and images, such as inverted pentagram, ancient god of black goat in Cthulhu, number 666, etc. The fictitious concept became bearer of creative material. Enrich people's entertainment. life.