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In Greek mythology, Priapus (; ) is a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his oversized, permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism. He became a popular figure in Roman erotic art and Latin literature, and is the subject of the often humorously obscene collection of verse called the Priapeia.
Priapus joined Pan and the as a spirit of fertility and growth, though he was perennially frustrated by his impotence. In a ribald anecdote told by Ovid,Ovid, Fasti, vi.319ff he attempted to rape the goddess Hestia but was thwarted by an donkey, 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."Priapus." Who's Who in Classical Mythology, Routledge. 2002. 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 tree plant."Priapus." Bloomsbury Dictionary of Myth. 1996.
"Priapos" is a title given to Phanes in the Orphic Hymn to Protogonos, the "firstborn" god of the Greeks who came from the Cosmic egg. In The Orphic Hymn to Dionysus, Dionysus is given epithets similar to Protogonos and was thought of as the incarnation of Protogonos, so he was considered both the father of fertility god Priapus and also the incarnation of the primordial Priapus.
In Ovid's Fasti,Fasti, 2.391ff. the nymph 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'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. 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 Hestia, who avoids being changed into a tree as the other Olympians come to her rescue.Ovid, Fasti 6.319–344. Ovid's anecdote served to explain why donkeys were sacrificed to Priapus in the city of Lampsacus on the Hellespont, where he was worshipped among the offspring of Hermes.Hyginus, Fabulae, 160.
Once, a donkey that had been given human speech by Dionysus challenged Priapus to a contest about which between them had the better Human penis. Priapus won the contest, and then killed the donkey, which was put by Dionysus among the stars.Hyginus, Astronomica 2.23.3 (1996). 9789004104181, Brill. ISBN 9789004104181 (2025). 9780198716983, Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780198716983
In later antiquity, his worship meant little more than a cult of sophisticated pornography.Mark P.O. Morford, Robert J. Lenardon, Michael Sham. (2011, 9th ed.). "Classical Mythology" (New York, NY.: Oxford University Press)
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."Priapus." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007
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, Priapus continued to be invoked as a symbol of health and fertility. The 13th-century Lanercost Chronicle, a history of northern England and Scotland, records a "lay Cistercian brother" erecting a statue of Priapus ( simulacrum Priapi statuere) in an attempt to end an outbreak of cattle disease.Yves Bonnefoy, Roman and European Mythologies, pp. 139–142. University of Chicago Press, 1992.
In the 1980s, D. F. Cassidy founded the St. Priapus Church as a modern church centred on worship of the phallus.J. Gordon Melton (1996, 5th ed.). Encyclopedia of American Religions (Detroit, Mich.: Gale) p. 952.Andy Nyberg, "St. Priapus Church: The Organized Religion", The Advocate, Sep. 1983, pp. 35–37.
Although Priapus is commonly associated with the failed attempts of rape against the nymphs Lotis and Vesta in Ovid's FastiElaine Fantham. 1983. "Sexual Comedy in Ovid's Fasti: Sources and Motivation". Harvard Studies in Classical Philology 87: 185. and the rather flippant treatment of the deity in urban settings, Priapus' protection traits can be traced back to the importance placed on the phallus 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.Csapo, Eric. 1997. "Riding the Phallus for Dionysus: Iconology, Ritual, and Gender-Role De/Construction". Phoenix 51.3/4: 260. The phallus is also associated with "possession and territorial demarcation" in many cultures, attributing to Priapus' other role as a navigational deity.
Another attribute of Priapus was the sickle which he often carries in his right hand. This tool was used to threaten thieves, doubtless with castration;Lloyd deMause (ed.) (1976), The History of Childhood, p. 46.For the sickle used for the castration of sacrificial animals, see Burkert, Walter (1983) Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek Ritual and Myth, translated by Peter Bing, p. 68, quoting Martial 3.24. Horace ( Sat. 1.8.1–7) writes:Moul, V. A. (2016). "The Source for Priapus in Cowley’s Ode “To The Royal Society” (1667)", p. 3.
A number of , apparently written as if to adorn shrines of Priapus, were collected in the Priapeia. 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.
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 in Pompeii. A fresco depicts the god weighing his phallus against a large bag of coins. In nearby Herculaneum, an excavated snack bar has a painting of Priapus behind the bar, apparently as a good-luck symbol for the customers.
Depictions
Priapus' iconic attribute was his priapism (permanently erect penis); he probably absorbed some pre-existing phallus 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 Athens often conflated Priapus with Hermes, the god of boundaries, and depicted a hybrid deity with a winged helmet, sandals, and huge erection.
Modern derivations
Medical terminology
The medical condition priapism derives its name from Priapus, alluding to the god's permanently engorged penis.
Natural history
See also
Notes
Bibliography
External links
Categories: 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, Lgbtq Themes In Greek Mythology, Mythological Greek Tutors Of Gods, Agricultural Deities, Donkey Deities, Children Of Hermes, Sexuality In Ancient Greece
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