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Bull fighting is a pursuit soaked in blood and steeped in history.
The roots of a sport now synonymous with Spain has its early roots in prehistoric Mesopotamia and its Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the mighty Bull of Heaven is felled by the heroic king following hours of battle.
After stints of popularity in Rome and Greece, it found its true home in medieval Spain however, where a single fighter on horseback would face a full grown bull armed only with a lance.
During the reign of Emperor Charles V in the 1500s the pursuit arguably reached its peak as a majestic art form, with revered fighter Pedro Ponce de Leon slaughtering the bull while riding a horse blindfolded.