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PHALLUSES IN ANCIENT ROME
Romans found nothing particularly lewd about the penis. Phalluses commonly showed up in art and religious ceremonies as symbols of power; the word "fascination" is derived from the phallic god Fascinus; and parents hung penis-shaped amulets around the neck of their child's to ward off the evil eye. Some people collected bronze amulets shaped like erect penises with bird or bat wings and human legs. Phallic symbols called faccinum were hung in kitchens and bedrooms.
Steve Coates wrote in the New York Times, “There seems to be phalluses everywhere. Enormous ones, tiny ones, doubles, singles; attached to men, gods or satyrs in every medium or in dismembered splendor; over doors, carved into the pavement, on chains and serving trays, turned into lamps, winged like birds, with bells on. Even some of the phalluses have phalluses. If they were good luck charms, as is sometimes thought, it obviously didn't work."
Phallus is Latin for erect penis. One of the first temples in Rome was dedicated to the god Mutanus Tutunis, who was represented by a penis-like form that newlywed kept in their bedroom on their wedding night and the bride sat on before sex to symbolize the loss of her virginity. In Roman mythology, Venus's son Pripaus maintained his eternal erection by consuming heaps of the herb rocket cress. The custom of Roman men to coddle their testicles may have to led to high rates of sterility.
Phallus Protection
Ancient Greek literature treated the male sex organ as an object of worship, as part of religious life. Later, in Roman Pompeii, phallic images were also used as warnings of dire consequences to thieves or other intruders. Good luck penises were drawn on dangerous places to keep travelers safe. Sharp curves and rickety bridges in Rome often had a penis drawn on them to grant good luck to every passerby. [Source: Mark Oliver, Listverse, August 23, 2016]
Phallic symbolism was a very integral part of life in Rome as well as in Greece and elsewhere. Ben Gazur wrote in Listverse: The penis appeared everywhere in the ancient world. You could not walk the streets of ancient Athens or Rome without the risk of poking your eye out. The penis was thought to possess Apotropaic power — it could ward off evil. It was painted on frescoes, carved in statues, cast in bronze, and generally daubed wherever people might wish to be safe. Often, the phallus is shown with wings, and sometimes these winged penises were hung with bells. These Tintinnabulae acted as both charming wind chimes and magical protectors. [Source Ben Gazur, Listverse, January 7, 2017]
Andrew Handley wrote in for Listverse: The Romans hung them in their doorways, and even made wind chimes to ward off evil spirits. Sometimes the phallus was embellished as well—those wind chimes have been found with the feet of a lion, the wings of a bird, and the head of, well, a penis. If someone hung that up in their house today, they’d probably be arrested as a sex offender.” [Source: Andrew Handley, Listverse, February 8, 2013]
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Penis Charms
Romans wore phalluses as good luck charms. Mark Oliver wrote for Listverse: “It was a fairly common Roman fashion choice for boys to walk around wearing copper penises on necklaces. This was about more than looking good. According to Roman writings, these would “prevent harm from coming” to the people who wore them. [Source: Mark Oliver, Listverse, August 23, 2016]
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: The phallus served a valuable protective purpose. It was thought to protect the wearer or residents from magical attack. This is one reason that an infant in Yorkshire was buried with no fewer than five fist-and-phallus pendants: They protected the vulnerable child.
Newcastle archaeologists Rob Collins explained that the phallus was used as a symbol to “ward off misfortune and bad things in general” and as a symbol of male power and potency was associated with domination, good luck, and war. It wasn’t only soldiers who needed Fascinus’s protection. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder wrote that infants were watched over by the phallus as well, a fact that can explain why phallic amulets have been found in the graves of infants in Roman era Yorkshire. In general, phallic imagery, whether it was on amulets, frescoes, mosaics, or jewelry served to ward off evil. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, March 16, 2019]
Phalluses in Pompeii
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: Roman osteoarcheologist Kristina Killgrove has written that Pompeii is famously covered in erotic artwork: excavations have revealed a fresco of the minor deity Priapus (with his characteristic comically oversized penis) at the House of the Vetti; a flying penis amulet; and statue of Pan engaged in sexual congress with a goat (to be fair to Pan, he is half-goat himself). [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, September 4, 2022]
Doorways all over Pompeii were decorated with tintinabula, erotic wind chimes made of bronze phalluses hung with bells. One example blazoned the lintel of a bakery included not just a phallus but the inscription, “You will find happiness here.” As Sarah Bond as highlighted in her work, evidence like this has led some to suggest that bakeries might have served double duty as brothels. Lots of kneading and rising, one assumes.
The great number of phallic images in Pompeian artwork led the 18th century historian Richard Payne Knight to speculate that perhaps there was even a sort of ‘Cult of the Penis’ there. But in truth Pompeii wasn’t as debauched as a bunch of remarkably life-like oversized penises suggests.
Phallus Graffiti at Hadrian’s Wall
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: In 122 CE, the emperor Hadrian started construction on a defensive fortification to protect the Roman province of Britannia from the “barbarians” who lay to the north. By 207 CE Hadrian’s wall was in need of extensive repairs, and the soldiers shuttled stone to the site from a nearby quarry. Inevitably, they got bored and etched their names, details of their life and even selfies into the rock face. When archaeologists from Newcastle University excavated the quarry, they discovered that at least one soldier had something of an artistic flair and had etched phallic graffiti into the walls of the site. Some things about the human condition — war, love, and a desire to immortalize one’s penis using the art of the “dick pic” — are universal.[Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, March 16, 2019]
The Written Rock of Gelt, as the graffiti is known, also contains all kinds of other inscriptions: a portrait of what is likely to be a commanding officer and references to names of those present. One inscription refers to “the consulship of Aper and Maximus” and enables archaeologists to identify the precise year during which the graffiti was written and the renovation project was undertaken. Another inscription identifies its author as working in the “Second Legion Augusta … under Agricola.” Tucked amongst these historical nuggets is the Rock of Gelt phallus. As artwork goes, however, it’s not alone:Newcastle archaeologists Rob Collins stated that he has found 57 other depictions of male genitalia scratched on Hadrian’s Wall (which, to be clear, is 73 miles long).
Phalluses and the Roman Military
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: It’s not that surprising that the phallus would be found in a Roman military context. As has long been observed by ancient historians, it was the Roman legions who were responsible for transporting this image across the Empire. The magical and supernatural properties attached to the phallus were borrowed from the Classical and Hellenistic Greek world, but it was the Roman military that was the most efficient conduit of the symbol as it spread throughout the Roman world. [Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, September 4, 2022]
For the possessor, the phallus was a potent symbol and associated with power and dominance in Roman society.The penis was sometimes attached to warfare in particular. The Roman historian Pliny the Elder wrote that the phallus was a symbol of the god Fascinus and would be attached to the car of a general to “protect him against the effects of envy.” A bakery millstone recently discovered in Leicester, England, was decorated with a phallus and testicles. Not your run-of-the-mill baking accessory (though etsy has some suggestions, if that’s what you are looking for).
That the penis was thought to serve as a kind of protective object can partially explain why it is that graffiti and engravings of phalluses are so regularly found in military contexts. It’s not just — as is still the case today — that military men are somewhat obsessed with the male sex organ. To be sure we should assume, as sociologist Ramon Hinojosa has written with respect to the modern military, that it is an emblem of how sexual prowess, masculinity, and power are linked in our cultural imagination. We should also recognize that penis graffiti might have been an act of immature rebellion. In a report on “Sky Dongs” (the phenomenon of Air Force personnel doodling dicks in the sky with multi-million-dollar jets), Jeff Schogol learned that some of the most prolific X-rated graffiti artists in the military were actually women. For Roman soldiers stationed in vulnerable posts at the edges of the empire, however, it wasn’t just about immaturity or masculinity, it might also have been about self-protection.
Gigantic Penis Sculpture Unearthed in Spain
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: Archaeologists excavating in Cordóba, Spain, have uncovered what may be one of the largest ancient phalluses on record. The sculpted carving, which measures almost half a meter in length, was discovered at a fortified enclosure at the archaeological site of El Higuerón. While the phallus is impressively large it blurs against the plethora of similar discoveries over the years. It feels as if we learn of some new Roman graffiti or sculpture celebrating the male appendage at least three times a year.[Source: Candida Moss, Daily Beast, September 4, 2022]
The current discovery was made by scientists working under the auspices of the Museo Histórico Local de Nueva Carteya. The El Higuerón site was first settled in the fourth century B.C. and was conquered by the Romans in 206 B.C. The most recent season of excavations, as Heritage Daily reports, focused on Roman and Medieval era layers. In addition to the 20 inch penis sculpture, which was uncovered at the base of a wall, archeologists also unearthed a mosaic floor, and human remains from the Roman and Medieval periods.
Six-Inch, Roman-Era Wooden Phallus — Was it a Dildo or a Charm?
A wooden phallus was found at the British ancient Roman site of Vindolanda that was about 15 centimeters (six inches) long — larger than the usual phallic charm. Archaeologists first thought it was a darning tool as it was found near clothes and shoes and then later couldn’t decide whether it was a dildo or protective object. [Source: Katherine Tangalakis Lippert, Business Insider, November 23, 2023]
According to a Cambridge University study published in February 2023, wooden object is estimated to be at least 18 centuries old. Currently, it is “the only known example of a non-miniaturised, disembodied carved wooden phallus from the Roman world,” the authors wrote. But what is this wooden phallus? And what was its purpose? The Miami Herald reported: Archaeologists offered three possible explanations. The wooden phallus could be “a projecting component” from a Roman statue, the study said. These types of components were sometimes inserted into stone carvings to serve as a type of good luck charm. Passersby would touch the carving and projecting phallus for protection and to ward off evil. [Source: Aspen Pflughoeft, Miami Herald, February 20, 2023
In fact, one of these projecting phalluses from a building is already known from Vindolanda, carved in stone and about 1 foot in length,” co-author Rob Collins wrote in a Twitter thread about the study. The wooden phallus, however, has a different socket from the stone projecting phallus. Additionally, both ends of the wooden phallus are worn smooth, possibly from repeated contact, and the lack of surface weathering suggests the item was kept indoors, the study said. This wearing makes it “unlikely” the item was part of a larger outdoor statue. Second, researchers theorized the wooden phallus could be a pestle used to mix or grind food, cosmetics or medicines. Its phallus-like shape might have been carved as a symbolic way to add protection to whatever was being mixed, the study said.
Alternatively, the 1,800-year-old wooden phallus may have been a “dildo” or “sex toy” used by the Romans for “sexual stimulation,” the researchers wrote. “There are no confirmed examples of a dildo from the Greco-Roman era,” Collins wrote, “though we know from Greek and Roman literature and artwork that they were used.” “For various reasons, interpreting the Vindolanda phallus as a sexual implement is more difficult, and perhaps uncomfortable, for a modern audience,” researchers wrote. “Nonetheless, we should be prepared to accept the presence of dildos and the manifestation of sexual practices in the material culture of the past.” Based on the lack of similar objects, archaeologists could not provide a “definitive” explanation of the wooden phallus, the study said. Still, researchers said they “hope to have prompted the search for similar objects elsewhere.” “The wooden phallus may well be currently unique,” Barbara Birley, curator of the Vindolanda Trust, said in the university release. “But it is unlikely to have been the only one of its kind used at the site, along the frontier, or indeed in Roman Britain.”
Where Ejaculating Penises a Form of Ritualized Violence?
Candida Moss wrote in the Daily Beast: The clearest example of the phallus as protective guardian, though, is in mosaics where the phallus is — along with a rag-tag team of ancient fighters of evil that includes a dwarf and a centipede — attacks the evil eye, an emblem of supernatural attack. What makes defense against the evil eye remarkable is that the phallus isn’t simply hanging out menacingly it is actively engaged in attack by, er, ejaculating in the eye’s direction. As Adam Parker has written in the recently published volume Bodily Fluid in Antiquity, phalli fight with fluids. It’s a form of combat. The ejaculating phallus is a subset of ancient ritual object and art but scholars can be a bit squeamish about discussing them. Parker notes that before his essay there were no archaeological studies devoted to this question. We tend to be more interested in the “the organ itself rather than any associated fluids.” [Source:Candida Moss, Daily Beast, October 17, 2021]
The iconography, however, is very explicit. Parker points to a well-known stone carving from Leptis Magna in Libya in which a large phallus is shown with animal legs and hooves ejaculating on an evil eye from a second macropenis that protrudes from between its leg. Yes, you read that right, the zoomorphic penis has its own secondary penis. In the famous mosaic from the House of the Evil Eye in Antioch the posture of the phallus is clearly aggressive. “The ejaculate was…intended to make contact with and, presumably, blind the Evil Eye.” Semen, it’s not just for making babies anymore.
Given that there aren’t any bodily fluids that can literally blind you there is something it’s worth thinking more about how it is that ejaculate deflects the power of evil. Presumably, the fact that semen was a highly potent substance meant that it could negate the forces of death. This might, however, create another problem. Parker argues that it is precisely because seminal fluid is an erotic and generative substance that is used to create life its use in this context might be considered wasteful. He cautiously suggests that some might have seen the use of semen to ward off evil either as quasi-sacrificial or as a way of generating positive “magical” effects. (Even in the Bible bodily fluids play a quasi-magical medical role. In the Gospel of John Jesus mixes saliva and dirt to make a paste that he places on the eyes of the man born blind).
In either case, says Parker, we should take seriously the importance of ejaculate in these scenes: the depiction of the body at the point of orgasm was a positive biological experience. This isn’t mere pornography or the kind of thing you’d be sent in an online dating app, there’s some real medial thinking at work here. The disembodied phalli are often shown with intact testes, a gesture to the ancient medical discovery that testes were essential for the production of sperm. Further references to bodily fluids, argues Parker, might be inferred from the use of the phallus in windchimes (which might get rained on) or on oil lamps.
If this all seems a bit phallocentric, bear in mind that a variety of different bodily fluids could be weaponized in antiquity. Dr. Victoria Leonard, a research fellow at Coventry University and co-editor of the Bodily Fluids volume, told The Daily Beast that, “Bodily fluids were often weaponized in antiquity because of the strong emotional reaction they could elicit, particularly disgust and revulsion.” Leonard directed me to “a famous incident of sexual harassment in the classroom” in which the philosopher Hypatia showed an overly aggressive male student her “bloodied menstrual cloth to chill his hot desire for her.” It worked. “Like the apotropaic phalli that Roman people would have been so familiar with,” said Leonard “the use of bodily fluids shows that they could be subject to different interpretations, but they were rarely neutral.” Just as we might recoil from the blood or urine of others today body fluids could provoke shock and disgust in antiquity.
Sexual violence may also lie in the shadows of ancient depictions of ejaculating phalli. In her work on Roman sexual humor Amy Richlin has shown that urinating on someone (for instance an adulterer) is a way of subjugating and humiliating them.” It seems that imagined staining is…a substitute for imagined violence.” That the ejaculating phallus is a weapon also gestures to the dark underbelly of sexual violence even as it protects the viewer from magical assault.
Priapeia
The God Priapus has an enormous penis. He is sometimes pictured trying to chase after vestal virgins. There was secret cult that worshipped him. The Priapeia is a collection of ninety-five poems in various meters on subjects pertaining to the phallic god Priapus. It was compiled from literary works and inscriptions on images of the god by an unknown editor, who composed the introductory epigram. From their style and versification it is evident that the poems belong to the classical period of Latin literature. [Source: Wikipedia]
In play, Priapus (thou canst testify)
2. Darkly might I to thee say: Oh give me for ever and ever
3. These tablets, sacred to the Rigid God
4. All the conditions (they say) Priapus made with the youngling
5. Though I be wooden Priapus (as thou see'st)
6. Oft in my speech one letter is lost; for Predicate always
7. Matrons avoid this site, for your chaste breed
8. 'Why be my parts obscene displayed without cover?' thou askest
9. Why laugh such laughter, O most silly maid?
10. 'Ware of my catching! If caught, with rod I never will harm thee
11. A she (than Hector's parent longer aged,
12. Thou shalt be pedicate (lad!), thou also (lass!) shalt be rogered
13. Here' Here! nor dare expect (whoe'er thou be)
14. Charged to my charge the fieldlet who shall dare
15. Rare as those apples wherewith Hippomenes Schoeneïs ravished
16. What hast thou, meddling watch, with me to do?
17. Aye in this prickle of ours the bonniest boon to be found is
18. Will ever Telethusa, posture-mime
19. Thunders are under Jove; with the trident weaponed is Neptune
20. Wealth is my loss! Do thou vouchsafe lend aid to my prayer, [Source: “Sportive Epigrams on Priapus” translation by Leonard C. Smithers and Sir Richard Burton, 1890, sacred-texts.com]An fro' me woman shall thieve or plunder me man or a man-child,
22. Whoso of violets here shall pluck or rose,
23. Here has the bailiff, now of this plentiful garden the guardian,
24. This staff of office cut from tree as 'tis,
25. Hither, Quirites! (here what limit is?)
26. Well-known darling of folk in the Circus Maximus far famed,
27. Thou, of unrighteous thought, that hardly canst
28. Priapus! perish I an words obscene
29. Dreadful wi' sickle and dire with thy greater part, O Priapus!
30. Hie thee amid these vines whereof an thou gather a grape-bunch
31. Long as thy wanton hand to pluck refrain
32. A damsel drier than the raisin'd grape,
33. Wont the Priapi of old were to have both Naiads and Dryads
34. At holy offering to the Lustful GodThief, for first thieving shalt be swived, but an
35. Thief, for first thieving shalt be swived, but an
36. We all show special notes of bodily shape:
37. Why on memorial tablet do they limn
38. Simply to thee I say whatever to say shall behove me
39. Form-charms in Mercury have might to pleaseYon Telethusa befamed amid the damsels Suburran
41. Whoso comes hither shall a bard become
42. Bailiff Aristagoras of his grapes high-pedigree'd boasting
43. Refrain from deeming all my sayings be
44. What shouldest say this spear (although I'm wooden) be wishing
45. Whenas the Rigid God espied a wight
46. Ho girl! no whiter-skinned than Moorish man
47. Who of you people here shall come to sup
48. Tho' see you drenchèd wet that part of me
49. Thou, who art 'customed to view around the walls of our temple
50. A certain person, an thou please (Priapus!)
51. What be this pother? For what cause suspects
52. Ho thou, which hardly thy rapacious hand
53. Bacchus often is wont with a moderate bunch to be sated
54. E, D, an thou write, conjoining the two with a hyphen
55. Who could believe my words? 'Tis shame to confess that the sickle
56. Thou too dost mock me, Thief! and the infamous
57. A chough, a caries, an eld-worn grave
58. Whatever thief shall trick my faith may he
59. Know, lest due warning be denied by thee
60. Hadst thou as many of apples as offers of verses (Priapus!)
Why, cultivator, vainly moan to me
62. Sleep, O ye watchdogs! safe, while aid in guarding the garden
63. 'Tis not enough, my friends, I set my seat
64. One than a goose's marrow softer far
65. This, with his snout aye alert to uproot the lilies a-blowing
66. Thou, who lest manly mark thy glances meet
67. PEnelope's first syllable followed by firstling of DIdo
68. An I rustical seem to have spoken somewhat unlearned
69. What then? Had Trojan yard Taenerian dame and her Cunnus
70. When the fig's honied sweet thy taste shall catch
71. A starveling stranger made me laughing-stock
72. An thou pluck of this orchard fruit to my guarding committed
73. Of vergers diligent guard (Priapus!), threat
74. Not to be moved am I; shouldst thou, Thief, venture on thieving
75. Why, O ye pathic girls, with sidelong oglings observe me?
76. Right through the middle of lads and of lasses a passage shall pierce
77. Dodona is hallowed, Jupiter, to thee
78. Though I be agèd now, though head and chin
79. The Gods and Goddesses deny thy teeth
80. Although with yard distent (Priapus!) weightedKnow that this crass coarse yard nor lengthens nor stands as becomes it
82. While there is life 'tis fitting to hope, O rustical guardian!
83. Bailiff of house whilom, now I of fieldlet the tiller
84. What news be here? what send those angry gods?
85. Neither of garden nor of blessed vine
86. Roses in spring in the autumn fruits and in summer they bring me
87. I thuswise fashioned I by rustic art
88. This place, O youths, I protect, nor less this turf-builded cottage
89. This grove to thee devote I give, Priapus!
90. Thou who with prickle affrightest men and passives with sickle!
91. I am not hewèd of the fragile elm
92. A robber famed for greed exceeding wonder
93. Carved me no rustic boor his artless sickle a-plying
94. An thou would fain go filled thou mayest devour our Priapus
95. First a wild-fig-tree trunk was I, not useful as timber
Did Priapus Have a Penis Disorder?
Rossella Lorenzi wrote in Discovery News: “One of Pompeii's most recognized frescoes, the portrait of the Greek god of fertility Priapus, holds an embarrassing truth, according to a new study of the 1st-century A.D. wall painting. Found in the entrance hall to the House of the Vettii, perhaps the most famous house to survive Mount Vesuvius's devastating eruption, the fresco shows the ever-erect Priapus with his engorged penis. [Source: Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News, June 15, 2015]
“But this phallus-flaunting symbol of male potency and procreative power shows signs of a condition which can result in difficult sexual relations and infertility, says a study published in Urology journal. "The disproportionate virile member is distinctively characterized by a patent phimosis, more specifically a shut phimosis," Francesco Maria Galassi told Discovery News. Galassi is an M.D. now back in Italy who recently worked at Imperial College London. He co-authored the paper with his father Stefano, also an M.D. “An inability to fully retract the foreskin, phimosis was treated only with circumcision or prepuceplasty before the introduction of topical corticosteroids. "This condition presents different grades of severity, and in this specific case appears to be of the highest grade, in which there is no skin retractability on the glans," Galassi said. Defects of the genitourinary tract, including phimosis, have been depicted in artistic representation since prehistory, showing a high degree of precision.
“But why someone would portray the god of fertility with a severe phimosis? "It is not unlikely the painter might have desired to report objective evidence of a high prevalence of that anatomic defect in Pompeii, at a time mixing it with fertility attributes traditionally ascribed to Priapus," Galassi said. “In this view, widespread among the male population in Pompeii, phimosis might have been the reason for the abundance in Pompeii of anatomical votive artifacts used to dispel that anatomical and functional defect. "Anatomical votive offerings made in Italy between the fourth to second centuries B.C. do often show the penis with the foreskin closed around the top, as in the later Priapus painting from Pompeii," Jessica Hughes, lecturer in classical studies at UK’s Open University, told Discovery News.
“Hughes, co-author of a research project on votive offerings, noted these objects have sometimes been interpreted as offerings made by men suffering from phimosis, and the idea isn’t discordant with the overarching interpretation of anatomical votives as objects related to healing and fertility. “She found the interpretation of the Pompeian Priapus "very intriguing," as the image is conventionally seen as a representation of fertility, abundance and prosperity. "In this case it’s more challenging for us to understand why the artist would have chosen to represent a biological condition that may have been seen to threaten fertility and health," Hughes said. "Perhaps we need to see this painting as a comment on the power of the divine body, which didn't suffer from the same biological limitations as the mortal body," she added.”
Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons
Text Sources: Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Rome sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Late Antiquity sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; “Outlines of Roman History” by William C. Morey, Ph.D., D.C.L. New York, American Book Company (1901) ; “The Private Life of the Romans” by Harold Whetstone Johnston, Revised by Mary Johnston, Scott, Foresman and Company (1903, 1932); BBC Ancient Rome bbc.co.uk/history/ ; Project Gutenberg gutenberg.org ; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Live Science, Discover magazine, Archaeology magazine, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, The New Yorker, Wikipedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopedia.com and various other books, websites and publications.
Last updated November 2024