Spinelli, Ambra (2022-01-19). "Beyond social and functional interpretations of wall paintings: mythological imagery in the tablinum at Pompeii and Herculaneum". Journal of Roman Archaeology. 35: 177–193. doi: 10.1017/S1047759421000581. ISSN 1047-7594. S2CID 250284236. Eratosthenes; Hyginus (2015). Constellation Myths: With Aratus's 'Phaenomena' . Translated by Robin Hard. Oxford University Press. p. 67. ISBN 978-0-19-871698-3. Fantham, Elaine. 1983. "Sexual Comedy in Ovid's Fasti: Sources and Motivation." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 87: 185.

These stories served to explain a part of the god’s worship. In his home country it was common to sacrifice donkeys. He may not have been one of the ancient rustic gods of Greece, but Priapus may have been derived from a similar rustic god of ancient Anatolia. Priapus The Male Fertility Spirit

The Marcus Aurelius Equestrian Monument is an antique Roman equestrian statue located on Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. It is 4.24 m (13.9 ft) tall and constructed of bronze. Find out about any opportunities to join the award winning teams at Vindolanda and the Roman Army Musuem. a b c d Brain, Carla (2019-12-17). "Painting by Numbers: A Quantitative Approach to Roman Art". Theoretical Roman Archaeology Journal. 2 (1): 10. doi: 10.16995/traj.376. ISSN 2515-2289. S2CID 209429357. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Isotopic and Dental Evidence for Infant and Young Child Feeding Practices in an Imperial Roman Skeletal Sample

But his worship wasn’t all about cheap laughs or pornography. Priapus was also a symbol of health and fertility, so it was not unusual to find frescos or sculptures depicting him in people’s homes. Priapus joined Pan and the satyrs as a spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence. In a ribald anecdote told by Ovid, [8] he attempted to rape the goddess Hestia but was thwarted by an ass, whose braying caused him to lose his erection at the critical moment and woke Hestia. The episode gave him a lasting hatred of asses and a willingness to see them killed in his honour. [9] The emblem of his lustful nature was his permanent erection and his large penis. Another myth states that he pursued the nymph Lotis until the gods took pity on her and turned her into a lotus plant. [10] Priapus was described in varying sources as the son of Aphrodite by Dionysus; [2] as the son of Dionysus and Chione; [3] as perhaps the father or son of Hermes; [4] or as the son of Zeus or Pan. [5] According to legend, Hera cursed him with inconvenient impotence (he could not sustain an erection when the time came for sexual intercourse), ugliness and foul-mindedness while he was still in Aphrodite's womb, in revenge for the hero Paris having the temerity to judge Aphrodite more beautiful than Hera. [6] In another account, Hera's anger and curse were because the baby had been fathered by her husband Zeus. [7] The other gods refused to allow him to live on Mount Olympus and threw him down to Earth, leaving him on a hillside. He was eventually found by shepherds and was brought up by them. Find out about what's involved, how to participate and when you can see the digging taking place. We are now fully booked for the 2024 Excavation season.Priapus was born shortly after the Trojan War, and the insult of being judged less beautiful than Aphrodite was still fresh in Hera’s mind. As an act of petty revenge for the goddess of beauty winning the judgement of Paris, Hera placed a curse of Aphrodite’s unborn child. Anyone who has had much exposure to ancient Roman culture will know that the phallus and phallic symbols are found everywhere and in the most unlikely contexts. As well as being a symbol of male power, fertility and sexuality, they are used to invoke good fortune. They are carved into masonry, on horses’ harness fittings, from Pompeii we have bizarre oil lamps in the shape of winged phalluses, and they were a popular talisman for men’s jewellery. (Modern pendants descended from these talismans have a different form - when the pendants were later banned for being obscene, the phallus was replaced with a shark’s tooth.) There was also a kind of statue called a herm where male genitalia were carved half way up a column with a bust or head on top. As well the phallic symbols carved into masonry at Vindolanda and along Hadrian’s Wall, a Priapus statue was unearthed at Vindolanda. Priapus is a fertility god; a huge erect phallus is (literally) his outstanding characteristic. Our statue is one of only two found in Roman Britain so far. Slightly to the north in Bithynia, Priapus was worshipped as a warlike god who was the tutor of Ares. But from his origin in Lampsacus most people in the Greek world regarded him as a rustic fertility god. While he was a guardian deity in the countryside, city dwellers had a less serious view of Priapus. Priapus does not appear to have had an organized cult and was mostly worshiped in gardens or homes, though there are attestations of temples dedicated to the god. His sacrificial animal was the ass, but agricultural offerings (such as fruit, flowers, vegetables and fish) were also very common. [20]