Phallus

This article is about the symbol of the erect penis. For the male sex organ, see penis. For mushroom, see Phallus (genus).

Mural of Mercury in Pompeii.

The word phallus can refer to an erect penis, or to an object shaped like a penis.

Etymology

Via Latin, and Greek φαλλός, from Indo-European root *bhel- "to inflate, swell". Compare with Old Norse (and modern Icelandic) boli = "bull", Old English bulluc = "bullock", Greek φαλλή = "whale". [1]

In physical anatomy

The phallus (embryology) can refer to a precursor of the penis or clitoris.

It also refers to the male sexual organ of certain birds, which differs anatomically from a true (i.e. mammalian) penis; see Bird anatomy.

In art

Ancient and modern sculptures of phalloi have been found in many parts of the world, notably among the vestiges of ancient Greece and Rome. See also the Most Phallic Building contest for modern examples of phallic designs. In many ancient culture, phallic structures symbolized wellness and good health.

The Hohle phallus, a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the Hohle Fels cave and first assembled in 2005, is among the oldest phallic representations known..

Ancient Egypt

The Ancient Egyptians related the cult of phallus with Osiris. When Osiris' body was cut in 13 pieces, Seth scattered them all over Egypt and his wife Isis retrieved all of them except one, his penis, which was swallowed by a fish (see the Legend of Osiris and Isis).

The phallus was a symbol of fertility, and the god Min was often depicted ithyphallic (with an erect penis).

Ancient Greece

In traditional Greek mythology, Hermes, god of boundaries and exchange (popularly the messenger god) was 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, was often depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus.

Priapus was a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. The son of Aphrodite and either Dionysus or Adonis, according to different forms of the original myth, he was the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. His name is the origin of the medical term priapism.

Ancient Scandinavia

The Norse god Freyr was a phallic deity, representing male fertility and love.

The short story Völsa þáttr describes a family of Norwegians worshipping a preserved horse penis.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Romans wore phallic jewelry as talismans against the evil eye.

Native America

Figures of Kokopelli in Pre-Columbian America often include phallic content.

Ancient Japan

The Mara Kannon shrine （麻羅観音　or まらかんのん）in Nagato city, Yamaguchi prefecture, is one of many fertility shrines in Japan that still exist today. Also present in festivals such as the Danjiri Matsuri （だんじり祭）in Kishiwada city, Osaka prefecture, and the Kanamara Matsuri, in Kawasaki city, though historically phallus adoration was more widespread.

Gallery

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  Phallic sculpture, Kathmandu, Nepal
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  The Egyptian God Min
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  Phallus-shaped column from the sanctuary of Dionysus in Delos

In psychoanalysis

Skyscrapers, towers and smokestacks (here the one of the former Friedrich Dick factory at Esslingen, Germany) are popular phallic symbols.

The symbolic version of the phallus, a phallic symbol is meant to represent male generative powers. According to Sigmund Freud's theory of psychoanalysis, while males possess a penis, no one can possess the symbolic phallus. Jacques Lacan's Ecrits: A Selection includes an essay titled The Significance of the Phallus which articulates the difference between "being" and "having" the phallus. Men are positioned as men insofar as they are seen to have the phallus. Women, not having the phallus, are seen to "be" the phallus. The symbolic phallus is the concept of being the ultimate man, and having this is compared to having the divine gift of God.

In Gender Trouble, Judith Butler explores Freud's and Lacan's discussions of the symbolic phallus by pointing out the connection between the phallus and the penis. She writes, "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" (135). In Bodies that Matter, she further explores the possibilities for the phallus in her discussion of The Lesbian Phallus. If, as she notes, 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 (62).

In fiction

Phallic symbolism can be perceived in a wide range of fiction and other popular culture works (in particular when analyzed in the context of psychoanalysis, although frequently that view is unconfirmed or unsanctioned by the creators).

References

• Vigeland Monolith - Oslo, Norway [2]

• Honour, Hugh (1999). The Visual Arts: A History. New York: H.N. Abrams. ISBN 0-810-93935-5.

• Keuls, Eva C. (1985). The Reign of the Phallus. New York: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-520-07929-9.
• Leick, Gwendolyn (1994). Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-06534-8.
• Lyons, Andrew P. (2004). Irregular Connections: A History of Anthropology and Sexuality. U Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8036-X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)