Phallism : a description of the worship of lingam-yoni in various parts of the world, and in different ages: with an account of ancient & modern crosses, particularly of the crux ansata (or handled cross), and other symbols connected with the mysteries of sex worship.

Date:
1889
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Phallism : a description of the worship of lingam-yoni in various parts of the world, and in different ages: with an account of ancient & modern crosses, particularly of the crux ansata (or handled cross), and other symbols connected with the mysteries of sex worship. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    iXMr- \X ^'' u‘A'->PS'ACv.-, $ pinnacles of the beautiful church in the temple are regarded by scholars and antiquarians as such relics—“ perfectly intelligible to the poetic mind of the Hindu,” remarks Bonwick, “yet con¬ veying no thought to the Londoner, who would be shocked enough if the primitive symbol had been retained. Our love of what is old, our reverence for what our fathers used, makes us keep still in the church, and on the very altar cloths, symbols which would excite the smile of an Oriental, and lead him to wonder why we send missionaries to his land while cherishing his faith in ours.” In allusion to Egypt and this phallic worship, Herodotus says: “To Bacchus, on the eve of his feast, every Egyptian sacrifices a hog before the door of his house, which is then given back to the swineherd by whom it was furnished, and by him carried away. In other respects the festival is celebrated almost exactly as Bacchic festivals are in Greece, excepting that the Egyptians have no choral dances.” He further says that in celebrating these orgies they fabricated certain obscene images, a cubit in height, so artificially contrived with nerves that the pudenda, equal in magnitude to the rest of the body, might be moved at pleasure, and these images the women carried about in procession, singing all the time the praises of Bacchus, and dancing to the sound of the flute. He adds that it was Melampus who first introduced among the Greeks the sacrifices in honour of Bacchus, the pomp of the phallus, and all the other ceremonies of that Egyptian superstition. Aristotle traces the origin of comedy to the ribaldry and the improvised jokes customary at these festivals. In ancient Rome, Greece, and certain parts of Italy, phallism assumed the form of the worship of Priapus. There was a town of Mysia, on the Propontis, of this name, whose origin was some¬ what obscure ; according to some it being a colony of Miletus, while others regarded it as a settlement of Cysicus—anyhow, it derived its name from its worship of the god Priapus. Priapus is also a term sometimes applied to the genital parts of men, viz., the penis and testes. The name took its rise from Priapus, a fabulous deity particularly adored at Lampsacus, the place of hiS birth, who for the extraordinary size of his parts was exceedingly revered by the women. From the scriptures and profane history we learn that Maachah, the queen and mother of Asa, had made and consecrated a grove to Priapus, at whose sacrifices she presided. In I. Kings, 15, and II. Chronicles, 14,