Cornu Copiae
or as one word,
Cornucopiae, later
Cornucopia
(Ammian. Marcell. xxii. 9.1; xxv. 2.3). The horn of fruitfulness and abundance, used as the
symbol of plenty. In mythology there are two different tales explaining the origin of this
horn. One traces it to the horn of the goat Amalthea, which suckled Zeus. The horn was broken
off and filled with fruits and flowers, and was afterwards placed by Zeus, together with the
goat, among the stars. (See
Amalthea.) Another
legend relates that it was the horn of the river-god
Acheloüs (q.v.), which was wrenched off by Heracles, and which
became forthwith a horn of plenty. Later mythologists combined the two tales, and tried to
explain how the horn of Amalthea became the horn of Acheloüs (
Apollod. ii. 7.5). The origin of this symbol may perhaps be traced
in the use of the horns of oxen or goats as drinking-cups; hence the
ῥυτόν, or drinking-horn, which is frequently confounded with the horn of
abundance (Athen. xi. 468 d, 497 c).
The cornucopia constantly appears in works of art, especially of the Roman period, as the
symbol of abundance associated with various deities, as Fortuna, Ceres, etc. See
Copia.
