College Symbolism: Cockerels

The cockcrow heralds the dawn and Apollo’s light. In Greece cocks were symbols of virility and were often used in cockfighting and as sacrifices. Associated with Greek deities, and sacred to them, were various animals. 

Athens was devoted to Athene, the great goddess of war and wisdom, whose chief attribute was the Little Owl (Athene noctua), but who also had a cock and a snake. Her gigantic gold and ivory statue by Pheidias in the Parthenon showed a snake at her feet. 

Cocks and snakes were also sacred to Apollo and Asklepios. At Epidauros the Asklepieion was sited below a temple of Apollo, and Athene, too, was worshipped there.

Plato, in the Phaedo, relates the dying words of Socrates to Kriton who looked after his affairs: ‘We owe a cock to Asklepios. Be sure to pay the debt, and do not neglect to do so.’ Perhaps the payment was for the hemlock that cured Socrates of ‘life’s fitful fever’.

Cocks are charges on the arms of the Institute of Hospital Engineering. They also are also abundant in the symbolism of this College. Perched on the four lamp standards outside the main entrance, cocks alert visitors to what they will find inside, where four bronze hanging lamps each supports a cock. Cocks are engraved on the glass vestibule doors and carved on the lectern and ceremonial chairs in the Great Hall. The College Officer’s staff carries a silver cock, and it is a cock that crowns the great golden College mace.