Greek mythology A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...

, Priapus (; grc, Πρίαπος, ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of

livestock Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...

, fruit plants, gardens and male

genitalia A sex organ (or reproductive organ) is any part of an animal or plant that is involved in sexual reproduction. The reproductive organs together constitute the reproductive system. In animals, the testis in the male, and the ovary in the female, a ...

. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent

erection An erection (clinically: penile erection or penile tumescence) is a physiological phenomenon in which the penis becomes firm, engorged, and enlarged. Penile erection is the result of a complex interaction of psychological, neural, vascular, ...

, which gave rise to the medical term

priapism Priapism is a condition in which a penis remains erect for hours in the absence of stimulation or after stimulation has ended. There are three types: ischemic (low-flow), nonischemic (high-flow), and recurrent ischemic (intermittent). Most cases ...

. He became a popular figure in Roman erotic art and

Latin literature Latin literature includes the essays, histories, poems, plays, and other writings written in the Latin language. The beginning of formal Latin literature dates to 240 BC, when the first stage play in Latin was performed in Rome. Latin literature ...

, and is the subject of the often humorously obscene collection of verse called the ''

Priapeia The ''Priapeia'' (or ''Carmina Priapea'') is a collection of eighty (in some editions ninety-five) anonymous short Latin poems in various meters on subjects pertaining to the phallic god Priapus. They are believed to date from the 1st century AD ...

''.

Mythology

Relationship with other deities

Priapus was described in varying sources as 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 include ...

Dionysus In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; grc, Διόνυσος ) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre. The Romans ...

; as the son of Dionysus and Chione; as perhaps the father or 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 orato ...

; or as the son of

Zeus Zeus or , , ; grc, Δῐός, ''Diós'', label=Genitive case, genitive Aeolic Greek, Boeotian Aeolic and Doric Greek#Laconian, Laconian grc-dor, Δεύς, Deús ; grc, Δέος, ''Déos'', label=Genitive case, genitive el, Δίας, ''D� ...

or Pan. According to legend,

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; grc-gre, Ἥρα, Hḗrā; grc, Ἥρη, Hḗrē, label=none in Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she ...

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 Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

having the temerity to judge Aphrodite more beautiful than Hera. In another account, Hera's anger and curse were because the baby had been fathered by her husband Zeus."Priapus." Suda On Line. Tr. Ross Scaife. 10 August 2014
Entry
The other gods refused to allow him to live on

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (; el, Όλυμπος, Ólympos, also , ) is the highest mountain in Greece. It is part of the Olympus massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located in the Olympus Range on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia, be ...

and threw him down to Earth, leaving him on a hillside. He was eventually found by shepherds and was brought up by them. Priapus joined Pan and the

satyr In Greek mythology, a satyr ( grc-gre, :wikt:σάτυρος, σάτυρος, sátyros, ), also known as a silenus or ''silenos'' ( grc-gre, :wikt:Σειληνός, σειληνός ), is a male List of nature deities, nature spirit with ears ...

s as a spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence. In a ribald anecdote told by Ovid, he attempted to rape the goddess

Hestia In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Hestia (; grc-gre, Ἑστία, meaning "hearth" or "fireside") is the virgin goddess of the hearth, the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In myth, she is the firstborn ...

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. The emblem of his lustful nature was his permanent

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."Priapus." ''Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth''. 1996.

Other works

As well as the collection known as the ''

'' mentioned above, Priapus was a frequent figure in Latin erotic or mythological verse. In

Ovid Pūblius Ovidius Nāsō (; 20 March 43 BC – 17/18 AD), known in English as Ovid ( ), was a Roman poet who lived during the reign of Augustus. He was a contemporary of the older Virgil and Horace, with whom he is often ranked as one of the th ...

's ''

Fasti In ancient Rome, the ''fasti'' (Latin plural) were chronological or calendar-based lists, or other diachronic records or plans of official and religiously sanctioned events. After Rome's decline, the word ''fasti'' continued to be used for simil ...

'', the

nymph A nymph ( grc, νύμφη, nýmphē, el, script=Latn, nímfi, label=Modern Greek; , ) in ancient Greek folklore is a minor female nature deity. Different from Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature, are ty ...

Lotis fell into a drunken slumber at a feast, and Priapus seized this opportunity to advance upon her. With stealth he approached, and just before he could embrace her,

Silenus In Greek mythology, Silenus (; grc, Σειληνός, Seilēnós, ) was a companion and tutor to the wine Greek god, god Dionysus. He is typically older than the satyrs of the Dionysian retinue (''thiasos''), and sometimes considerably older, ...

's donkey alerted the party with "raucous braying". Lotis awoke and pushed Priapus away, but her only true escape was to be transformed into the

lotus tree The lotus tree ( grc-gre, λωτός, ''lōtós'') is a plant that is referred to in stories from Greek and Roman mythology. The lotus tree is mentioned in Homer's ''Odyssey'' as bearing a fruit that caused a pleasant drowsiness, and which was sai ...

. To punish the donkey for spoiling his opportunity, Priapus bludgeoned it to death with his gargantuan phallus. When the same story is recounted later in the same book, Lotis is replaced with the virginal goddess

, who avoids being changed into a tree as the other Olympians come to her rescue. Ovid's anecdote served to explain why donkeys were sacrificed to Priapus in the city of

Lampsacus Lampsacus (; grc, Λάμψακος, translit=Lampsakos) was an ancient Greek city strategically located on the eastern side of the Hellespont in the northern Troad. An inhabitant of Lampsacus was called a Lampsacene. The name has been transmitt ...

on the Hellespont, where he was worshipped among the offspring of

. Once, a donkey that had been given human speech by Dionysus challenged Priapus to a contest about which between them had the better

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 do n ...

. Priapus won the contest, and then killed the donkey, which was put by Dionysus among the stars.

Worship and attributes

Bust Priapus Bronze Roman 100BCE Museo Archeologico Nazionale Naples found in the Villa di Papiri 1

The first extant mention of Priapus is in the eponymous comedy ''Priapus'', written in the 4th century BC by

Xenarchus Xenarchus ( el, Ξέναρχος; 1st century BC) of Seleucia in Cilicia, was a Greek Peripatetic philosopher and grammarian. Xenarchus left home early, and devoted himself to the profession of teaching, first at Alexandria, afterwards at Athen ...

. Originally worshipped by Greek colonists in

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, the cult of Priapus spread to mainland Greece and eventually to Italy during the 3rd century BC.Robert Christopher Towneley Parker. "Priapus". ''The Oxford Classical Dictionary.'' Ed. Simon Hornblower and Anthony Spawforth. Oxford University Press 2003.

Lucian Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer Pamphleteer is a historical term for someone who creates or distributes pamphlets, unbound (and therefore ...

(''De saltatione'') tells that in

Bithynia Bithynia (; Koine Greek: , ''Bithynía'') was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey), adjoining the Sea of Marmara, the Bosporus, and the Black Sea. It bordered Mysia to the southwest, Pa ...

Priapus was accounted as a warlike god, a rustic tutor to the infant

Ares Ares (; grc, Ἄρης, ''Árēs'' ) is the Greek god of war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for success in war b ...

, "who taught him dancing first and war only afterwards,"

Karl Kerenyi Karl may refer to: People * Karl (given name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Karl der Große, commonly known in English as Charlemagne * Karl Marx, German philosopher and political writer * Karl of Austria, last Austria ...

observed.

Arnobius Arnobius (died c. 330) was an early Christian apologist of Berber origin during the reign of Diocletian (284–305). According to Jerome's ''Chronicle,'' Arnobius, before his conversion, was a distinguished Numidian rhetorician at Sicca Vener ...

is aware of the importance accorded Priapus in this region near the

Hellespont The Dardanelles (; tr, Çanakkale Boğazı, lit=Strait of Çanakkale, el, Δαρδανέλλια, translit=Dardanéllia), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli from the Gallipoli peninsula or from Classical Antiquity as the Hellespont (; ...

. Also, Pausanias notes: In later antiquity, his worship meant little more than a cult of sophisticated pornography. Outside his "home" region in Asia Minor, Priapus was regarded as something of a joke by urban dwellers. However, he played a more important role in the countryside, where he was seen as a guardian deity. He was regarded as the patron god of sailors and fishermen and others in need of good luck, and his presence was believed to avert the

evil eye The Evil Eye ( grc, ὀφθαλμὸς βάσκανος; grc-koi, ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός; el, (κακό) μάτι; he, עַיִן הָרָע, ; Romanian: ''Deochi''; it, malocchio; es, mal de ojo; pt, mau-olhado, olho gordo; ar ...

. 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. Long after the fall of Rome and the rise of

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

, Priapus continued to be invoked as a symbol of health and fertility. The 13th century

Lanercost Chronicle The ''Lanercost Chronicle'' is a northern English history covering the years 1201 to 1346. It covers the Wars of Scottish Independence, but it is also highly digressive and as such provides insights into English life in the thirteenth century as we ...

, a history of northern England and Scotland, records a "lay

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint ...

brother" erecting a statue of Priapus (''simulacrum Priapi statuere'') in an attempt to end an outbreak of cattle disease. In the 1980s, D. F. Cassidy founded the

St. Priapus Church St. Priapus Church (french: Église S. Priape), also known as Temple of Priapus, is a North American pagan religion founded in the 1980s that centres on the worship of the phallus. Formation and tenets St. Priapus Church was founded in M ...

as a modern church centred on worship of the

phallus A phallus is a penis (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 precisel ...

Patron of merchant sailing

Priapus' role as a patron god for merchant sailors in ancient Greece and Rome is that of a protector and navigational aide. Recent shipwreck evidence contains apotropaic items carried on board by mariners in the forms of a terracotta phallus, wooden Priapus figure, and bronze sheath from a military ram. Coinciding with the use of wooden Priapic markers erected in areas of dangerous passage or particular landing areas for sailors, the function of Priapus is much more extensive than previously thought.Neilson III, Harry R. 2002. "A terracotta phallus from Pisa Ship E: more evidence for the Priapus deity as protector of Greek and Roman navigators." ''The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology'' 31.2: 248–253. Although Priapus is commonly associated with the failed attempts of

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

against the nymphs Lotis and Vesta in Ovid's comedy Fasti and the rather flippant treatment of the deity in urban settings, Priapus' protection traits can be traced back to the importance placed on the

in ancient times (particularly his association with fertility and garden protection). In Greece, the phallus was thought of to have a mind of its own, animal-like, separate from the mind and control of the man. The phallus is also associated with "possession and territorial demarcation" in many cultures, attributing to Priapus' other role as a navigational deity.

Depictions

Priapus' iconic attribute was his

(permanently erect

); he probably absorbed some pre-existing

ithyphallic A phallus is a penis (especially when Erection, erect), an object that resembles a penis, or a mimesis, mimetic image of an erect penis. In art history a figure with an erect penis is described as ithyphallic. Any object that symbolically— ...

deities as his cult developed. He was represented in a variety of ways, most commonly as a misshapen gnome-like figure with an enormous erect phallus. Statues of Priapus were common in ancient Greece and Rome, standing in gardens. The

Athenians Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

often conflated Priapus with

, the god of boundaries, and depicted a hybrid deity with a winged helmet, sandals, and huge erection. Another attribute of Priapus was the sickle which he often carries in his right hand. This too was used to threaten thieves, doubtless with castration: Horace (''Sat.'' 1.8.1–7) writes: :''Olim truncus eram ficulnus, inutile lignum,
cum faber, incertus scamnum faceretne Priapum,
maluit esse deum. deus inde ego, furum aviumque
maxima formido; nam fures dextra coercet
obscenoque ruber porrectus ab inguine palus;
ast importunes volucres in vertice harundo
terret fixa vetatque novis considere in hortis.'' :"Once I was a trunk of fig, a useless piece of wood,
when a carpenter, unsure whether he should make a bench or a Priapus,
decided to make a god. So I am a god, of thieves and birds
a very great scarer; for my right hand curbs thieves,
as does the red pole which projects from my indecent groin;
but as for the importunate birds, the reed fixed on my head
terrifies them and forbids them to settle in the new gardens." A number of

epigram An epigram is a brief, interesting, memorable, and sometimes surprising or satirical statement. The word is derived from the Greek "inscription" from "to write on, to inscribe", and the literary device has been employed for over two mille ...

s, apparently written as if to adorn shrines of Priapus, were collected in the ''

''. In these, Priapus frequently threatens sexual assault against potential thieves:Craig A. Williams, ''Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity''
p. 21
Oxford University Press US, 1999. :''Percidere, puer, moneo; futuere, puella;
   barbatum furem tertia poena manet.'' :"I warn you, boy, you will be screwed; girl, you will be laid with;
   a third penalty awaits the bearded thief." :''Femina si furtum faciet mihi virve puerve,
   haec cunnum, caput hic praebeat, ille nates. :"If a woman steals from me, or a man, or a boy,
   let the first give me her cunt, the second his head, the third his buttocks." :''per medios ibit pueros mediasque puellas
   mentula; barbatis non-nisi summa petet.'' :"My dick will go through the middle of boys and the middle of girls,
   but with bearded men it will aim only for the top." A number of Roman paintings of Priapus have survived. One of the most famous images of Priapus is that from the

House of the Vettii The House of the Vettii is a domus located in the Roman town Pompeii, which was preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The house is named for its owners, two successful freedmen: Aulus Vettius Conviva, an Augustalis, and Aulus Vett ...

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

. A

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...

depicts the god weighing his phallus against a large bag of coins. In nearby

Herculaneum Herculaneum (; Neapolitan and it, Ercolano) was an ancient town, located in the modern-day ''comune'' of Ercolano, Campania, Italy. Herculaneum was buried under volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Like the nea ...

, an excavated snack bar has a painting of Priapus behind the bar, apparently as a good-luck symbol for the customers.

Modern derivations

Medical terminology

The medical condition

derives its name from Priapus, alluding to the god's permanently engorged penis.

Natural history

* The group of worm-like marine burrowing animals known as the Priapulidea, literally "penis worms", also derives its name from Priapus. * '' Mutinus caninus'', a woodland fungus, draws its first name from Priapus's Roman name, due to its phallic shape.

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Brown, Emerson, Jr. "Hortus Inconclusus: The Significance of Priapus and Pyramus and Thisbe in the Merchant's Tale". ''Chaucer Review'' 4.1 (1970): 31–40. * “Priapus and the Parlement of Foulys”. ''Studies in Philology'' 72 (1975): 258–74. * Coronato, Rocco. “The Emergence of Priapism in the Two Gentlemen of Verona”. ''In Proteus: The Language of Metamorphosis'', ed. Carla Dente, George Ferzoco, Miriam Gill and Marina Spunta. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005, chapter 8, 93–101. * Delord, Frédéric.
Priapus
. 2009. In A Dictionary of Shakespeare's Classical Mythology (2009–), ed. Yves Peyré.
"'O, the difference of man and man!' (IV.ii.26): Références et différences génitales dans King Lear"
in ''Autour de King Lear'', ed. A. Lafont and M.-C. Munoz, with F. Delord. Montpellier: IRCL, February 2009. * ''Érubescences et turgescences dans l’imaginaire shakespearien et la culture de la Renaissance'', thèse dactylographiée (Ph.D). Montpellier : Université Montpellier III – Paul Valéry, 2008. * Franz, David O. "Leud Priapians and Renaissance Pornography". ''SEL: Studies in English Literature 1500–1900'' 12, n°1 (winter 1972): 157–72. * Morel, Philippe. "Priape à la Renaissance: Les guirlandes de Giovanni da Udine à la Farnésine". ''Revue de l’Art'' 69 (1985): 13–28. * Peyré, Yves. "Priape dénaturé: Remarques sur les Apotheseos…Deorum Libri Tres de Georges Pictor et leur adaptation anglaise par Stephen Batman". ''Influences latines en Europe'' (Cahiers de l’Europe Classique et Néo-Latine). Toulouse: Travaux de l’Université de Toulouse – Le Mirail, A.23 (1983): 61–87.

External links

*
Britannica Online Encyclopedia

{{Authority control Fertility gods Priapists Agricultural gods Children of Aphrodite Children of Dionysus Children of Zeus Greek gods Sexuality in ancient Rome Phallic symbols Deeds of Hera LGBT themes in Greek mythology Mythological Greek tutors of gods Harvest deities Donkey deities Children of Hermes Sexuality in ancient Greece