A phallus is a
penis
A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...
(especially when
erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a
mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic.
Any object that symbolically—or, more precisely, iconically—resembles a penis may also be referred to as a phallus; however, such objects are more often referred to as being phallic (as in "phallic symbol"). Such symbols often represent fertility and cultural implications that are associated with the male sexual organ, as well as the
male orgasm
Orgasm (from Greek , ; "excitement, swelling") or sexual climax is the sudden discharge of accumulated sexual excitement during the sexual response cycle, resulting in rhythmic, involuntary muscular contractions in the pelvic region charact ...
.
Etymology
The term is a loanword from
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
''phallus'', itself borrowed from
Greek (''phallos''), which is ultimately a derivation from the
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...
root
In vascular plants, the roots are the organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often below the su ...
*''bʰel''- "to inflate, swell". Compare with
Old Norse
Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...
(and
modern Icelandic) ''boli'' "
bull",
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
''bulluc'' "
bullock", Greek "
whale".
Archaeology
The Hohle phallus, a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the
Hohle Fels cave and reassembled in 2005, is among the oldest phallic representations known.
Religion
Ancient Egypt
The phallus played a role in the cult of
Osiris
Osiris (, from Egyptian ''wsjr'', cop, ⲟⲩⲥⲓⲣⲉ , ; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎𐤓, romanized: ʾsr) is the god of fertility, agriculture, the afterlife, the dead, resurrection, life, and vegetation in ancient Egyptian religion. He wa ...
in
ancient Egyptian religion
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals that formed an integral part of ancient Egyptian culture. It centered on the Egyptians' interactions with many deities believed to be present in, and in contro ...
. When Osiris' body was cut in 14 pieces,
Set
Set, The Set, SET or SETS may refer to:
Science, technology, and mathematics Mathematics
*Set (mathematics), a collection of elements
*Category of sets, the category whose objects and morphisms are sets and total functions, respectively
Electro ...
scattered them all over Egypt and his wife
Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
retrieved all of them except one, his penis, which was swallowed by a fish; Isis made him a wooden replacement.
The phallus was a symbol of fertility, and the god
Min
Min or MIN may refer to:
Places
* Fujian, also called Mǐn, a province of China
** Min Kingdom (909–945), a state in Fujian
* Min County, a county of Dingxi, Gansu province, China
* Min River (Fujian)
* Min River (Sichuan)
* Mineola (Amtr ...
was often depicted as ithyphallic, that is, with an erect penis.
Classical antiquity
In traditional
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the origin and nature of the world, the lives and activities o ...
,
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...
, god of boundaries and exchange (popularly the ''messenger'' god) is considered to be a phallic deity by association with representations of him on
herms (pillars) featuring a phallus. There is no scholarly consensus on this depiction and it would be speculation to consider Hermes a type of fertility god.
Pan, son of
Hermes
Hermes (; grc-gre, Ἑρμῆς) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Hermes is considered the herald of the gods. He is also considered the protector of human heralds, travellers, thieves, merchants, and orat ...
, was often depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus.
Priapus is a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. The son of
Aphrodite
Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...
and
Dionysus
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, myth, Dionysus (; grc, wikt:Διόνυσος, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstas ...
, according to Homer and most accounts, he is the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. His name is the origin of the medical term
priapism.
The city of
Tyrnavos in Greece holds an annual
Phallus festival, a traditional event celebrating the phallus on the first days of
Lent
Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious moveable feast#Lent, observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring Temptation of Jesus, temptation by Satan, according ...
.
The phallus was ubiquitous in
ancient Roman culture, particularly in the form of the ''
fascinum'', a phallic charm. The ruins of
Pompeii produced bronze wind chimes ''(
tintinnabula)'' that featured the phallus, often in multiples, to ward off the
evil eye and other malevolent influences. Statues of Priapus similarly guarded gardens. Roman boys wore the ''
bulla
Bulla (Latin, 'bubble') may refer to:
Science and medicine
* Bulla (dermatology), a bulla
* Bulla, a focal lung pneumatosis, an air pocket in the lung
* Auditory bulla, a hollow bony structure on the skull enclosing the ear
* Ethmoid bulla, pa ...
'', an amulet that contained a phallic charm, until they formally came of age. According to
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afr ...
, the cult of
Father Liber, who presided over the citizen's entry into political and sexual manhood, involved a phallus. The phallic deity
Mutunus Tutunus promoted marital sex. A sacred phallus was among the objects considered vital to the security of the Roman state which were in the keeping of the
Vestal Virgins
In ancient Rome, the Vestal Virgins or Vestals ( la, Vestālēs, singular ) were priestesses of Vesta, virgin goddess of Rome's sacred hearth and its flame.
The Vestals were unlike any other public priesthood. They were chosen before pubert ...
.
Sexuality in ancient Rome has sometimes been characterized as "
phallocentric".
Ancient India
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one o ...
, the most widely worshipped male deity in
Hinduism
Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...
pantheon, is worshipped much more commonly in the form of the
lingam
A lingam ( sa, लिङ्ग , lit. "sign, symbol or mark"), sometimes referred to as linga or Shiva linga, is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu god Shiva in Shaivism. It is typically the primary '' murti'' or devoti ...
. Evidence of the lingam in India dates back to prehistoric times. Although Lingam is neither a ''mere'' phallic iconography nor the textual sources signify it as so, stone Lingams with several varieties are found to this date in many of the old temples, and in museums in India and abroad, which are often more clearly phallic than later stylized lingams. The famous "man-size"
Gudimallam Lingam
The Gudimallam Lingam is an ancient linga in the Parasurameswara Swamy Temple of Gudimallam, a small village near Tirupati city in the Yerpedu mandal of the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is situated about 13 kilometers sout ...
in
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
is about in height, carved in polished black granite, and clearly represents an erect phallus, with a figure of the deity in relief superimposed down the shaft.
Many of the earliest depictions of Shiva as a figure in human form are ithyphallic, as for example in coins of the
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, ...
. Some figures up to about the 11th century AD have erect phalluses, although they become increasingly rare.
Indonesia
According to the Indonesian chronicles of the
Babad Tanah Jawi, Prince Puger gained the kingly power from
God, by ingesting sperm from the phallus of the already-dead
Sultan Amangkurat II of Mataram.
Bhutan
The
phallus is commonly depicted in its paintings. Wooden phalluses, with white ribbons hanging from the tip, are often hung above the doorways of houses, to deter evil spirits.
Ancient Scandinavia
*The
Norse god
Freyr is a phallic deity, representing male fertility and love.
*The short story ''
Völsa þáttr
''Vǫlsa þáttr'' is a short story which is only extant in the ''Flateyjarbók'' codex, where it is found in a chapter of ''Óláfs saga helga''. It is probably from the fourteenth century but takes place in 1029, when Scandinavia was still large ...
'' describes a family of Norwegians worshiping a preserved
horse penis.
*Some
image stones, such as the
Stora Hammers and
Tängelgårda stones, were phallic shaped.
Iran
Khalid Nabi Cemetery
Khalid Nabi Cemetery ( fa, گورستان خالد نبی, "Cemetery of the Prophet Khaled") is a cemetery in northeastern Iran's Golestan province near the border with Turkmenistan, roughly northeast of Gonbad-e Kavous city, in the Gokcheh D ...
(
Persian: گورستان خالد نبی, "Cemetery of the Prophet Khaled") is a cemetery in northeastern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
's
Golestan province. Touristic visitors often have perceived the cylindrical shafts with the thicker top as depictions of male phalli. This gave rise to popular hypotheses about pre-Islamic
fertility cult
Fertility rites or fertility cult are religious rituals that are intended to stimulate reproduction in humans or in the natural world. Such rites may involve the sacrifice of "a primal animal, which must be sacrificed in the cause of fertility or ...
s.
Japan
The Mara Kannon Shrine () in
Nagato,
Yamaguchi prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 km2 (2,359 sq mi). Yamaguchi Prefecture borders Shimane Prefecture t ...
is one of many fertility shrines in Japan that still exist today. Also present in festivals such as the
Danjiri Matsuri
Danjiri Matsuri are cart-pulling festivals held in Japan. The Kishiwada Danjiri Matsuri is probably the most famous. There are other Danjiri Matsuri held in the City of Kobe and Haruki Town, but they are less popular and spectacular. The highlight ...
()
[Danjiri Matsuri Festival]
/ref> in Kishiwada, Osaka prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kansai region of Honshu. Osaka Prefecture has a population of 8,778,035 () and has a geographic area of . Osaka Prefecture borders Hyōgo Prefecture to the northwest, Kyoto Prefecture to the north, Nar ...
, the Kanamara Matsuri in Kawasaki, and the Hōnen Matsuri (, Harvest Festival) in Komaki, Aichi Prefecture
is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū. Aichi Prefecture has a population of 7,552,873 () and a geographic area of with a population density of . Aichi Prefecture borders Mie Prefecture to the west, Gifu Prefecture ...
, though historically phallus adoration was more widespread.
Balkans
''Kuker'' is a divinity personifying fecundity, sometimes in Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...
and Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia ( Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hu ...
it is a plural divinity. In Bulgaria, a ritual spectacle of spring (a sort of carnival performed by Kukeri
Kukeri ( bg, кукери; singular: kuker, кукер) are elaborately costumed Bulgarian men, who perform traditional rituals intended to scare away evil spirits. This Bulgarian tradition has been practiced since Thracian times and is of a Thr ...
) takes place after a scenario of folk theatre, in which Kuker's role is interpreted by a man attired in a sheep- or goat-pelt, wearing a horned mask and girded with a large wooden phallus. During the ritual, various physiological acts are interpreted, including the sexual act, as a symbol of the god's sacred marriage, while the symbolical wife, appearing pregnant, mimes the pains of giving birth. This ritual inaugurates the labours of the fields ( ploughing, sowing) and is carried out with the participation of numerous allegorical personages, among which is the Emperor and his entourage.[Kernbach, Victor (1989). ''Dicţionar de Mitologie Generală''. Bucureşti: Editura Ştiinţifică şi Enciclopedică. .]
Switzerland
In Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, the heraldic bears in a coat of arms had to be painted with bright red penis
A penis (plural ''penises'' or ''penes'' () is the primary sexual organ that male animals use to inseminate females (or hermaphrodites) during copulation. Such organs occur in many animals, both vertebrate and invertebrate, but males d ...
es, otherwise they would have been mocked as being she-bears. In 1579, a calendar printed in St. Gallen omitted the genitals from the heraldic bear of Appenzell
Appenzell is a historic canton in the northeast of Switzerland, and entirely surrounded by the canton of St. Gallen.
Appenzell became independent of the Abbey of Saint Gall in 1403 and entered a league with the Old Swiss Confederacy in 1411, ...
, nearly leading to war between the two cantons.
The Americas
Figures of Kokopelli and Itzamna (as the Mayan tonsured maize god) in Pre-Columbian America often include phallic content. Additionally, over forty large monolithic sculptures (''Xkeptunich'') have been documented from Terminal Classic Maya sites with the majority of examples occurring in the Puuc region of Yucatán (Amrhein 2001). Uxmal has the largest collection with eleven sculptures now housed under a protective roof on site. The largest sculpture was recorded at Almuchil measuring more than 320 cm high with a diameter at the base of the shaft measuring 44 cm.
Alternative sects
St. Priapus Church (French: ''Église S. Priape'') is a North American new religion that centres on the worship of the phallus. Founded in the 1980s in Montreal, Quebec, by D. F. Cassidy, it has a following mainly among homosexual men
Gay men are male homosexuals. Some bisexual and homoromantic men may also dually identify as gay, and a number of young gay men also identify as queer. Historically, gay men have been referred to by a number of different terms, includin ...
in Canada and the United States. Semen is also treated with reverence and its consumption is an act of worship. Semen is esteemed as sacred because of its divine life-giving power.
Psychoanalysis
The symbolic version of the phallus, a phallic symbol is meant to represent male generative powers. According to Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
's theory of psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
, while males possess a penis, no one can possess the symbolic phallus.
Jacques Lacan's ''Ecrits: A Selection'' includes an essay titled ''The Signification of the Phallus'' in which sexual differentiation is represented in terms of the difference between "being" and "having" the phallus, which for Lacan is the transcendent signifier of desire. Men are positioned as men insofar as they wish to ''have'' the phallus. Women, on the other hand, wish to ''be'' the phallus. This difference between having and being explains some tragicomic aspects of sexual life. Once a woman becomes, in the realm of the signifier, the phallus the man wants, he ceases to want it, because one cannot desire what one has, and the man may be drawn to other women. Similarly, though, for the woman, the gift of the phallus deprives the man of what he has, and thereby diminishes her desire.
Norbert Wiley states that Lacan's phallus is akin to Durkheim's mana.
In ''Gender Trouble'', Judith Butler
Judith Pamela Butler (born February 24, 1956) is an American philosopher and gender theorist whose work has influenced political philosophy, ethics, and the fields of third-wave feminism, queer theory, and literary theory. In 1993, Butler b ...
explores Freud's and Lacan's discussions of the symbolic phallus by pointing out the connection between the phallus and the penis. They write, "The law requires conformity to its own notion of 'nature'. It gains its legitimacy through the binary and asymmetrical naturalization of bodies in which the phallus, though clearly not identical to the penis, deploys the penis as its naturalized instrument and sign". In ''Bodies that Matter'', they further explore the possibilities for the phallus in their discussion of ''The Lesbian Phallus''. If, as they note, Freud enumerates a set of analogies and substitutions that rhetorically affirm the fundamental transferability of the phallus from the penis elsewhere, then any number of other things might come to stand in for the phallus.
Modern use of the phallus
The phallus is often used to advertise pornography, as well as the sale of contraception
Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent unwanted pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth contr ...
. It has often been used in provocative practical jokes and has been the central focus of adult-audience performances.
The phallus had a new set of art interpretations in the 20th century with the rise of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud ( , ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating pathologies explained as originating in conflicts i ...
, the founder of modern psychoanalysis
PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might ...
of psychology
Psychology is the science, scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immens ...
. One example is " Princess X" by the Romanian modernist sculptor Constantin Brâncuși. He created a scandal in the Salon in 1919 when he represented or caricatured Princess Marie Bonaparte as a large gleaming bronze phallus. This phallus likely symbolizes Bonaparte's obsession with the penis and her lifelong quest to achieve vaginal orgasm.[ page 66f, page 73]
File:Mechanical penis.jpg, A woman riding a phallic mechanical bull at EXXXOTICA New York 2009
File:2005 walking penis.jpg, Penis costume at a 2005 parade in San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
File:Lisboa Monumento 25 Abril.jpg, Monument to the Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution ( pt, Revolução dos Cravos), also known as the 25 April ( pt, 25 de Abril, links=no), was a military coup by left-leaning military officers that overthrew the authoritarian Estado Novo regime on 25 April 1974 in Lisbo ...
, Lisbon, Portugal
See also
* Dog's bollocks (typography)
The compound point is an obsolete typographical construction. Keith Houston reported that this form of punctuation doubling, which involved the comma dash (,—), the semicolon dash (;—), the colon dash, or ' dog's bollocks' (:—), and less oft ...
* Hōnen Matsuri
* Kanamara Matsuri
* Mars symbol
* Maypole
* Phallic architecture
* Most Phallic Building contest
* Phallic narcissism Wilhelm Reich first identified the phallic narcissistic personality type, with excessively inflated self-image. The individual is elitist, a "social climber", admiration seeking, self-promoting, bragging and empowered by social success.
According t ...
* Phallus paintings in Bhutan
* Saint Ubaldo Day
Saint Ubaldo Day or ''Festa dei Ceri'' is an event celebrated on 15 May in the Italian town of Gubbio. It honors the life of Bishop Ubaldo Baldassini who was canonized as protector of Gubbio. It is also celebrated in the American town of Jessup, ...
References
Citations
Bibliography
* Vigeland Monolith – Oslo, Norwa
Polytechnique.fr
* Dulaure, Jacques-Antoine (1974). ''Les Divinités génératrices''. Vervier, Belgium: Marabout. Without ISBN.
*
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External links
*
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{{Authority control
Cult of Dionysus
Sexology
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