The Bronze Age 1665

This is Georg Andreas Wolfgang the Elder's engraving, depicting life in the Bronze Age. Notice the recurring motif of labor: men tilling the soil with oxen, constructing rudimentary shelters. These are not merely scenes of daily life; they symbolize humanity's struggle for survival and dominance over nature. Consider the image of the ox. Here, it represents brute strength, harnessed for human use. Yet, across millennia, the ox appears in various guises – from the sacred Apis bull of ancient Egypt to the sacrificial victims of Minoan Crete. The act of taming the ox mirrors humanity's ongoing attempt to control primal forces, a theme echoed in countless myths and rituals. There is a deep, subconscious desire to come to terms with our own animal nature. It is a primal drama that continues to play out in our collective psyche, reappearing in art, religion, and even our modern-day anxieties. The engraving captures a moment in this cyclical journey, reminding us that the past is never truly behind us.