The origin of Moses’ horns: a speculative hypothesis

Abstract

Medieval artists used to depict Moses with two horns in sculptures and paintings. This tendency has been attributed to a mistranslation of the Vulgate Bible. However, similar striking horned images of ancient mythological Chinese emperors remind us of the possibility of a hidden medical condition underlying the myth. Tracing the horned phenomenon from realistic hieroglyphic characters in oracle bone inscriptions to the conservative split-head structure of goblins in traditional Chinese ink paintings, the presence of β-thalassemia intermedia under the selection pressure of malaria is raised as the presumed underlying cause of both the split-head deformity in ancient China and the horned appearance across the Far and Middle East. That is, it is proposed that Moses is depicted with horns because he may have had a cranial vault deformity with bilateral parietal bulging resulting from β-thalassemia intermedia.

Keywords

• craniofacial deformity
• evolutionary selection
• malaria
• myth
• thalassemia intermedia

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