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Encyclopedia Britannica



PRIAPUS

This article appears in Volume V22, Page 313 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: PRE-PYR
PRIAPUS , in Greek mythology, son of Dionysus (or Adonis or Hermes) and Aphrodite (or Chione). He is unknown to
Homer
  and Hesiod. The
chief
  seat of his
worship
  was the
coast
  of the Hellespont, especially at Lampsacus, which claimed to be his birthplace. Thence his cult extended to
Lydia
 , and by way of the islands of Lesbos and Thasos to the whole of
Greece
  (especially Argolis), whence it made its way to Italy, together with that of Aphrodite. Priapus is the personification of the fruit-fulness of nature. Sailors invoked him in distress and fishermen prayed to him for success. He gradually came to be regarded as the god of sensuality. His symbol was the phallus, an emblem of productivity and a
protection
  against the evil eye. The first fruits of the gardens and fields, goats, milk and honey, and occasionally asses, were offered to him. He was sometimes represented as an old man, with a long beard and large genitals, wearing a long Oriental robe and a turban or garland of vine-leaves, with fruit and bunches of grapes in his lap. Amongst the Romans, rough wooden images, after the manner of the
hermae
 , with phallus stained with vermilion, were set up in gardens. His image was placed on tombs, as symbolizing the
doctrine
  of regeneration and a future life, and his name occurs on sepulchral
inscriptions
 . In his hand he carried a bill-hook or club, while a reed on his head, shaking backwards and forwards in the wind, acted as a scarecrow.


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