A stone sculpture of a penis recently discovered at an ancient Roman site in Spain is about 18 inches (46 centimeters) long, which may make it the largest carving of a Roman phallus ever discovered. According to experts, the severed genitalia may have been carved and displayed to ward off bad luck.
Archaeologists have discovered a long sculptural shaft in El Higerón, a site near the city of Nuevo Cortéa in the Córdoba region of Spain. The Nuevo Cortes Historical Museum, which is excavating the site, shared the find on August 19. Facebook post.
El Higuerón dates back to the fourth century BC. and was originally an Iberian settlement before it was captured and built by the Romans who conquered the region in 206 BC. reflected in the base of a tower built by the Romans.
An important symbol in ancient roman culture; they were often used to ward off bad luck or help improve courage. As a result, phalluse carving is commonly found on ancient Roman monuments. However, the recently discovered phallus has surprised researchers due to its above-average size.
“It’s unusually large,” Andres Raldan DÃaz, an archaeologist at the University of Extremadura in Spain and director of the Nuevo Cortes Historical Museum, told a Spanish news outlet. El Pais. “We are currently investigating whether one of these measurements has been found before.” However, it may be the largest Roman phallus ever found, reports El PaÃs.
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Phalluses are thought to have been important to the Romans because of their supposed ability to ward off the evil eye, the ancient personification of bad luck often depicted as a large, unblinking eye. As a result, folds were often carved into building exteriors, around windows and doors, and even appeared as a design motif in public gathering places, Adam Parker, a PhD student at the Open University in the UK who studies Roman folds, wrote for Conversation June 13.
“In the Roman psyche, these spaces were at particular risk of supernatural danger because meeting and crossing points were places where people naturally interacted,” Parker wrote. “The malignant powers of the evil eye were thought to be especially powerful there.”
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In addition, phali were often worn as pendants or jewelry in an attempt to improve virility and fertility. UK metal detectors in June discovered a silver pendant on his peniswhich is a particularly valuable example of these erotic amulets, and probably had a wealthy owner.
It is not clear how many phallus paintings have been discovered to date in regions that were once colonized Roman Empire, but at least 92 examples of carved genitalia have been found in the UK alone, according to The Conversation. Objects in this collection range from a a simple phallus carved in millstones to a a winged penis made of animal bones.
However, these phallic images were not always created with beneficial intentions. In May, researchers at a Roman fort near Hadrian’s Wall in Great Britain unearthed a stone slab decorated with graffiti on the penis combined with an obvious insultpresumably engraved by soldiers to embarrass his brother-in-arms.
The carvings from El Higerón are not the only noteworthy finds found there. Researchers previously found that the Roman fortifications at the site – a tower with a phallus and a 6-foot-thick (1.8-meter) perimeter wall – were built on top of existing Iberian buildings, which is unusual, El PaÃs reported.
This unusual construction activity at El Higerón, combined with the potentially record-breaking phallus, highlights “a much more complex history than would be expected from these archaeological sites,” DÃaz told El PaÃs.
Originally published on Live Science.
