This is an early 16th century sculpture of Moses housed in the church of San Pietro in Rome, by the Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti based on Exodus 34 in the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible used at that time.
The one below is Horned Moses communicating with God, depicted in the 12th century “Manerius Bible” (Paris, Bibliothèque Ste-Geneviève, MSS 8–12).
In the Vulgate, the Latin translation of the Bible;
“29 cumque descenderet Moses de monte Sinai tenebat duas tabulas testimonii et ignorabat quod cornuta esset facies sua ex consortio sermonis Dei”
Exodus 34:29 English translation of the Vulgate is:
“And when Moses came down from the Mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord.”
Exodus is originally written in Hebrew. Most of the earlier English version of the Bibles are translated from Hebrew to Greek, Greek to Latin, then from Latin to English. The Latin Vulgate is translated from Hebrew to Latin.
Let’s look at the relevant segment of Exodus 34:29 in its original language, Hebrew.
ומשה לא ידע כי קרן עור פניו בדברו אתו
The Hebrew word קרן (qa’ran) has more than one meaning; such as beam, ray, horn, corner (pointed four corners of an alter) etc,. In this case, קרן (qa’ran) is translated as “horn”. Obviously to us, and too bad for Moses, the Latin translator picked “horn”, thus Moses got horn on his head.
After this drama, all the English translation of the Bible are now with correct meaning of Exodus 34:29.
In King James Version; “And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.”
In New International Version; “When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.”
In New Living Translation; “When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the Lord.”
Shalom (שלום).