shepherd's crook
{{Short description|Tool for managing livestock}}
{{for|the calculation|Johnson's SU-distribution}}
{{redirect|crook staff|the hieroglyph|Crook-staff (Luwian hieroglyph)}}
{{use mdy dates|date=May 2022}}
File:Crook, shepherd's (AM 1958.105.1-2).jpg
A shepherd's crook is a long and sturdy stick with a hook at one end, often with the point flared outwards, used by a shepherd to manage and sometimes catch sheep. In addition, the crook may aid in defending against attack by predators. When traversing rough terrain, a crook is an aid to balance. Shepherds may also use the long implement to part thick undergrowth (for example at the edge of a drovers' road) when searching for lost sheep or potential predators.
Symbolic use
The innovation of a hook facilitates the recovery of fallen animals by ensnaring them by the neck or leg. For this reason, the crook has been used as a religious symbol of care (particularly in difficult circumstances), including the Christian bishop's crosier.Caeremoniale Episcoporum (Vatican Polyglott Press, 1985)
In medicine, the term shepherd's crook is used to describe a right coronary artery that follows an unusually high and winding route. This variant, which has a prevalence of about 5%,{{Cite journal|last1=Shriki|first1=Jabi E.|last2=Shinbane|first2=Jerold S.|last3=Rashid|first3=Mollie A.|last4=Hindoyan|first4=Antereas|last5=Withey|first5=James G.|last6=DeFrance|first6=Anthony|last7=Cunningham|first7=Mark|last8=Oliveira|first8=George R.|last9=Warren|first9=Bill H.|date=2012-03-01|title=Identifying, Characterizing, and Classifying Congenital Anomalies of the Coronary Arteries|journal=RadioGraphics|volume=32|issue=2|pages=453–468|doi=10.1148/rg.322115097|pmid=22411942|issn=0271-5333|doi-access=}} imposes technical problems in angioplasty procedures.{{Cite journal|last1=Gossman|first1=David E.|last2=Tuzcu|first2=E. Murat|last3=Simpfendorfer|first3=Conrad|last4=Beck|first4=Gerald J.|date=1988-01-01|title=Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty for shepherd's crook right coronary artery stenosis|journal=Catheterization and Cardiovascular Diagnosis|language=en|volume=15|issue=3|pages=189–191|doi=10.1002/ccd.1810150313|pmid=2973842 |issn=1097-0304}}
The letter lamed originated as a representation of a shepherd's crook or goad, from which the Latin letter L has evolved.{{citation needed|date=May 2022}}
Ancient Greeks called it {{Lang|grc|κορύνη}}, {{Lang|grc|λαγωβόλον}} and {{Lang|grc|καλαῦροψ}} and in their art the crook is often seen in the hands of Pan and also is the usual attribute of Thalia, as the Muse of pastoral poetry.[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0063%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DP%3Aentry+group%3D2%3Aentry%3Dpedum-cn A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities (1890), Pedum]
The shepherd's crook is paired with the agricultural flail to form an insignia of pharaonic authority, with the crook representing kingship and the flail symbolizing the fertility of the land.{{cite book | last =Steele | first =Philip | title =Ancient Egypt| publisher =The Rosen Publishing Group| year =2002 | page =12 | isbn =1435851730}}
Gallery
File:Statue of Ramses II from Karnak, granodiorite - C 1380 Museo Egizio (Turin) 09.jpg|Ramses II, with the heka crook. Museo Egizio, Turin.
File:Tut coffinette.jpg |The crook and flail on the coffinette of Tutankhamun
File:Blake shepherd.jpg |William Blake's hand painted print for his poem "The Shepherd" depicts the idyllic scene of a shepherd watching his flock with a shepherd's crook. This image represents copy B, printed and painted in 1789 and currently held by the Library of Congress.{{cite web| url = http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/object.xq?objectid=s-inn.b.illbk.04&java=no | title = Songs of Innocence, copy B, object 4 (Bentley 5, Erdman 5, Keynes 5) "The Shepherd"|editor1=Morris Eaves |editor2=Robert N. Essick |editor3=Joseph Viscomi | publisher = William Blake Archive| accessdate = January 17, 2014}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Commons category-inline|Shepherd's crooks}}
- {{wiktionary-inline}}
Category:Animal husbandry occupations