Saint Moses: The history behind Michelangelo’s horned depiction

The Catholic Church commemorates Saint Moses on September 4, honoring him as a prophet, lawgiver, and the liberator of the people of Israel. While his role as a mediator between God and humanity is central to the Roman Martyrology, his artistic depiction is often defined by a historical anomaly: the presence of horns on his head.

This iconography, most famously captured in Michelangelo’s statue at the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, stems from a fourth-century translation error by Saint Jerome. When translating the Book of Exodus into Latin, Jerome interpreted the Hebrew word ‘KRN’—which can mean either ‘ray of light’ or ‘horn’—literally. Although the translation was later corrected, the image of a ‘horned’ Moses became a lasting tradition in art history, adopted by generations of artists including Michelangelo.