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PRIAPUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 313 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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PRIAPUS , in See also:

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

In his See also:

hand he carried a See also:bill-See also:hook or See also:club, while a See also:reed on his See also:head, shaking backwards and forwards in the See also:wind, acted as a scarecrow.

End of Article: PRIAPUS

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