No, no, no…not THAT “wonderful time.” It’s the wonderful time of the year when my Topics in Ancient History class gives their presentations on Pompeii and Herculaneum. As always, the first topics snatched up were those relating to sexuality, brothels and prostitution. I am currently on a countdown to when the famous Priapus fresco from Pompeii will make an appearance. For those who have not met him, Priapus was a Roman deity associated with the harvest and fertility whose most marked attribute was his ithyphallic appearance. The anticipation of running into Priapus and the subsequent student reaction to him is killing me! (my classroom pleasures on this level are few and far between…don’t judge me 😉 )
What makes it even better this term is that thanks to my RL Facebook feed, I can see that Priapus fresco and raise with this little gem…
Priapus de Rivery – Musee de Picardie, Amiens
This bronze piece, dating to first half of the first century CE, was found in Rivery France in 1771, and is said to be the earliest known piece of Gallo-Roman art in the Musee de Picardie collection. Pretty big statistics for such a little guy. I’ve blown him up here to show his details. (although I can’t find his actual dimensions, looking at images of him in situ in the museum case, I’d say he’s about 8-10″ (20-25cm) in height.) Here Priapus is depicted wrapped up in a cucullus…a cloak with a hood of a variety that is apparently typical of Gaul (modern France). I love the beautiful bits of patina on the piece and especially the detailed treatment of his feet and footwear. (I have a thing for tiny bronze toes). But speaking of his details, one seems to be noticeably absent doesn’t it? A certain ithyphallic element seems to be missing. Or is it…
Au contraire! This Priapus doesn’t have a phallus…he IS a phallus. Always models of efficiency, this Roman sculptor made a kind of two-in-one piece! I know that I should look at this with the appropriate level of scholarly seriousness, but honestly…this amazing running phallus immediately calls to mind a fine summer tradition in Wisconsin –
The Klement’s Sausage Races at Milwaukee’s Miller Park
*wiping tears of hilarity* Ahem, yes. Sorry. Scholarly seeking of Richard Armitage in the Classical Tradition…right. Thanks to today’s image from Pilgrimage, I have fresh material to work with…
The intense gaze, the Gallic garments, the “pointy” imagery of the heads…the mind does wander as to what’s under that hauberk.
All in a day’s work people, all in a day’s work 🙂
Mwahahahaha!! This was a delightful read… and leaves things to ponder… 😉
*curtsy* I try 😉
Sausage races!!! Now that sounds like a race I’d like to see! And the Priapus bronze is just *coughs* magnificent! LOL
The run on the warning track during the 7th inning stretch…
Is this actually an ancient dildo????? I mean, seriously…is it? Interesting marketing tie in for Pilgrimage. I’ll take one in the guise of a certain Knight, please.
Sorry, is my question stating the obvious. I feel somewhat embarrassed I asked that. Sort of.
Not at all…it’s a logical question.
Did that reply post? I think it is a totally logical question to ask.
ok, thanks. I still think it would be a good movie tie in for Pilgrimage…much better than Lego Thorin.
The mind boggles! 😀
There is such a thing…the Greeks called it an olisbos (leather covered wood) I thought about it with this one, but I think it’s rather…um….petite?
Rough job, but someone’s gotta do it. I wondered when Priapus would make his appearance and agree he’s more like Raymond than like Thorin.
Reblogged this on Me + Richard Armitage and commented:
Obscura provides us with sophisticated cultural reflections on Armitage’s image in Pilgrimage.
*Cough* Sophisticated…check.
high cultural. Symptomatic of the great tradition of the West.
Western tradition encapsulated in a series of sausage races…now that you mention it…
Würstchen (little sausage) in German is a double entendre, too.
My inner pre-teen is blushing and giggling. My outer *ahem* mature self is yelling, “Honey, c’mere, you gotta see this!” And laughing hysterically … I seriously love your “day’s work”! 😉
LOL…it’s good work if you can get it! (Did somebody cue The Bodeans?)
Thank you for educational post. For me, it brought to mind the traveling gnome and what he might be hiding under his cute little coat. I need to turn off the TV.
LOL! I will never look at the roaming gnome the same way again!!
Me neither!
[…] 1) Ancient Armitage, Obscura looks at other “pointy” objects and hair styles in her post (PG-13) (right): https://ancientarmitage.wordpress.com/2015/06/08/its-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-year-richard-armi… […]
Thanks for the link love Grati!
LOL! Brilliant post 😀
When I was 15 I was visiting Pompeii with my parents and we had a guide. He took my father in to what I assumed was the brothel to show him the frescoes, but wouldn’t allow my mother and me to see them. 😉 (it was a LONG time ago!) I wonder if it was the priapus freize? And will I finally get to see it? 🙂
Thanks!!
If it was a brothel (there are several…the big one juts out at a crossroads as a kind of triangular space) there would have been all sorts of frescoes deemed inappropro to you and your mother. The famous Priapus fresco (there’s a link to the image above) is from the House of the Vettii, but it was long ago removed from the wall and moved to the “secret cabinet” in Naples. I haven’t been to Pompeii since the early 90’s, so there may be a reproduction in the original spot now.
Ha! Someone is still protecting my innocence (!) as the link won’t let me see the freize 🙂 First of all it made me register with WordPress even though I have no intention of writing my own blog, and nice even though I’m registered it just tells me that I’m not allowed to edit this item. Didn’t want to, dear WordPress, I just wanted to ogle 😉
How vexing! Try this one:
http://www.pbase.com/doowopper/image/3076500
Thank you! Ah, yes. Splendid 😉
And I was waiting for you to point out that RA’s legs are shaped rather like Priapus’s. Look at those thighs! Sadly, I mean this as a serious observation. Yup, It’s official. I’m a goner with only one man on the brain. Really funny post—thanks.
You know, I did notice the well developed quads here…I guess I got distracted and forgot! 😉 Thanks for pointing them out. As to the one track mind? No worries…I think that’s a fairly common condition in these parts!
Interesting indeed (I mean it).
hum…Sausage races, Priapus gaulois and R.A 🙂
I never heard about sausage races.
Have you got this link about Priapus in Musée de Picardie ? (it gaves you its height):
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/public/mistral/joconde_fr?ACTION=CHERCHER&FIELD_1=REF&VALUE_1=08120004458
Thank you so much for the link!!! My French is pretty rusty but it looks like I wasn’t too far off on my guesstimate 🙂
No, you were close to it 😉
LOL – those Romans… Man, they were really a dirty bunch 😉 Now, I didn’t quite catch this from your post: DID this sculpture have a practical purpose or not?
Practicality is a relative right? For the Romans, it was more than just an object…I’d think it would have been part of a household shrine or something of the sort (it was found in the context of a tomb ultimately). I don’t think it had any kind of “applied” practicality…if you get my drift. 🙂
*Note to self…future post on olisboi in order…*
haaaa, says she with utter glee! 😀 A topic i am well informed on 😉 Honestly! I’ve actually seen all this before in great detail… in prime time on the BBC 🙂 I love their Romans & Greeks documentaries and there have been a couple of great series and a whole episode was dedicated to this nifty deity. With all practical examples and depictions in frescos, paintings, statues and all manner of household objects. Boggles the mind that even today these are ‘hidden’ in museums…. As if a bit of fun and giggle would do students harm in studying the historical facts….
But what i wanted to say was, did you know there is a contemporary version of the god in statue form in London?
Priapus sculpture by Alexander Stoddart at 68 Vincent Square, Pimlico, London SW1
And if you wonder where is the one important symbol? well sadly left out although he has created it, the documentary i saw actually completed the sculpture, the artist was part of the documentary; explanations in this interesting article 🙂
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3556356/Alexander-Stoddart-talking-statues.html
That little one has uncanny resemblance to that Norman knight 😉
And now i want a Wurst for my dinner. Ta 🙂
Thanks so much for the links! I think this little guy is fantastic, but I’ll admit that my favorite in the corpus of Roman phallic objects are the wind chimes…I wonder if I can get a replica set to hang in my big tree?
oh i loved those! there is something fun about seeing it dangling in the winds so to speak 🙂 and it is about nature and the seasons and fertility (in nature!) 🙂 Good omen! The British Museum has quite a few, i’ll have a search and enquire if they sell any replicas 🙂 for example of this one
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/gr/b/bronze_phallic_wind_chime.aspx
Reblogged this on Nowhere in Particular RA and commented:
The review of the classic myth is a taste not much in vogue, but when it surfaces, i get a kick out of it, almost like a private/public joke.