Talking head of the Knights Templar

[guyfriday]

Another possibility is that the concept came directly from the imaginations of the interrogators, inspired by the other stories.

"Baphomet" is a fairly obvious mispronunciation of "Mahomet". All these stories were being built up on a combination of misunderstanding and malice.

There is also a theory out there that the Knights Templars had become contaminated by the Islamic Assassins and had crossed a lot of their rituals with those of the Assassins. It was the bases for an accusation of the Templars secretly being followers of Muhammad and not followers of Christ. It's an interesting theory with tons of evidence to back it up, but in the end the Pope Clement only charged the Knights housed in France with whatever King Philip wanted so as not to upset the King. So, politics as usual, even back then.

The focus I wanted to bring wasn't the whole Templar controversy, but rather on the story of this head that they were accused of worshipping. I thought that there could be merit in the idea that it could have been an Oracles' Head, and not just an issue of hearsay.