Veronika Kolomaznik

The phallus: a tasteless icon of antiquity? Insights into the social and religious spheres of Greco-Roman societies and the potential of images.

In my research project, I have examined the numerous ancient depictions and reproductions of an autonomous penis/phallus (i.e. without the male body). As can be seen from the compiled catalogue, which lists over 400 objects, these have been depicted in various visual media. Even today, these individual artworks still allow for complex attributions of meaning and approaches to interpretation based on their respective functions and the contexts in which they were created and viewed (spaces of experience). 

Fundamentally, different stylistic variations of the phallus can be identified in the images, which are linked to cultural notions. Either it was depicted as small and with a long foreskin covering the glans: in these cases, erotic beauty and appropriate restraint were conveyed, and I have therefore termed such depictions ‘beautiful’. At the other end of the spectrum are the ‘obscene’ ones, i.e. those depicted as (excessively) long with a clearly visible glans, often transformed into fantastical hybrid creatures such as phallus-birds and phallus-cats. These visual obscenities, evident in the artworks, were perceived differently by people and imbued with meaning depending on their experiential context. At times, they were staged as apotropaic objects intended to invoke protective and luck-bringing divine powers, or they served as aeschrological symbols illustrating the divine forces at work during religious festivals. Various gods and their powers (including, above all, Dionysus) were frequently associated with phalluses, whereby humour, wit and laughter in the presence of the gods and the stark realities of life were always key factors in their associative perception and meaningful interpretation. 

Using the example of the multifaceted Dionysus/Bacchus, who was worshipped throughout the Mediterranean region in his various guises and spheres of influence, I have argued how his powers were illustrated and demonstrated through the depictions and replicas of phalluses. The consumption of wine made the Dionysian powers tangible and perceptible to people: this is shown above all by the diverse phallic vessels produced from the 6th century BC to the 2nd century AD and used during drinking gatherings. The wooden phalluses of Dionysus, carried through the streets annually as votive offerings during the Dionysia in the Archaic, Classical and Hellenistic periods, have not survived, yet their effects on and for people can still be traced through pictorial and written sources. Finally, the phallus, which was unveiled as a tangible object of revelation in the Dionysian-Bacchic mystery religions and imbued with secret meaning are now accessible to us only through images. Nevertheless, the imagery of the unveiling and the presentation of a phallus within the context of an initiation was widespread from the mid-1st century BC into the 2nd century AD, providing insights into the physical experiences (whether anticipated or idealised) of the mystes.

The ‘beautiful’ and ‘obscene’ phalluses are therefore not always to be understood as tasteless, yet precisely because taste and humour are matters of opinion, and in some situations, tastelessness is simply part of the appropriate tone. These images and objects thus offer us various insights into the social and religious spheres of experience within Greco-Roman societies and exemplify the fundamental potential of images to engage with people’s worlds of action and imagination in diverse ways.