DC Photojournal 150


	Apollo playing the cithara (marble ) - Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. 2nd century AD. I call this photo: "Apollo Citharoedus -2" ( ... cont. from page 134) I still have not gotten any credit for the Ostrich female phallus ! In my book thats a major advance for science ... And it's not that rare - an elephant penis does not tell you the sex of the elephant ... But Ostriches are rare in that the penis is female only. That's a form of transgressive sexuality - male chastity and female led relationships - the theory is if men curb their libido it sparks the female libido ... Males and females have nothing in common when it comes to sex - Curbing male libido was practiced by the Romans. Gladiators for example - they were not gelded, but had a removable surgical procedure that prevented self-pleasure. Ancient Greek athletes too. ... The practice probably comes from ancient Egypt. :Infibulation " ... Greek and Roman slave owners tried various methods to prevent sexual activity between their slaves, or between slaves and members of the household. Substances, such as hemlock juice, for instance, would be applied to the male testes of slaves at puberty. Far more often, though, they employed a sadistic means of genital control called infibulation. On the uncircumcised phalluses of boys approaching puberty they made a series of perforations in the foreskin, using a needle. After the holes healed, they inserted a fibula, a large bronze forerunner of the safety pin, through the foreskin. Sometimes the luckless wearer was fitted with larger bronze rings that were welded shut by applying red-hot charcoal. This horrendous practice is on visual display at the Louvre Museum in Paris, where two larger-than-life, very nude statues of Roman slaves can be seen. They clearly show infibulation and what it did to phalluses—as well as what infibulated life must have been like. Believe it or not, infibulation was thought to be the more “humane” approach. Masters ordered male slaves to be infibulated rather than subject them to castration, given the much higher likelihood of their death in surgery. It was also a common practice to infibulate gladiators—the rationale being to preserve their vigor. (Three-quarters of all gladiators were slaves and thus had no say in the matter.) Flesh-crawling as it sounds, in Roman times a few free men actually infibulated by choice, to be hip and desirable. Comedy actors, dancers, and musicians did it, hoping to attract well-heeled sexual partners who would pay to play by unchaining them temporarily. Members of religious sects, including the early Christian church and ascetics of various persuasions, also used infibulation to control their earthly desires. From Greco-Roman times forward, the practice of infibulation has had staying power. Some statuary and art from the Renaissance, for example, depicts piercing of the male genitalia, often with oversize metal rings. In the eighteenth century, population control advocates like Malthus and his followers lobbied for compulsory infibulation for anyone over fourteen years of age who was deemed unfit to procreate. His list included criminals, those with chronic diseases, beggars, unmarried servants (!!), apprentices, and rank-and-file soldiers. During the Victorian era, prudish Western societies went hysterical over masturbation, again warming to the idea of locking up the sexual organs in a variety of ways. .... ""Infibulation: Genital lockups, male & female" erenow.net Wikipedia on male infibulation: " ... Infibulation also referred to placing a clasp through the male foreskin. In ancient Greece, male athletes, singers and other public performers used a clasp or string to close the foreskin and draw the penis over to one side, a practice known as kynodesm (literally "dog tie"). Many kynodesm are depicted on vases, almost exclusively confined to symposiasts and komasts, who are as a general rule older (or at least mature) men. In Rome a fibula was often a type of ring used similarly to a kynodesme. Kynodesm was seen as a sign of restraint and abstinence, but was also related to concerns of modesty; in artistic representations, it was regarded as obscene and offensive to show a long penis and the glans penis in particular. Tying up the penis with a string was a way of avoiding what was seen as the shameful and dishonorable spectacle of an exposed glans penis, something associated with those without repute, such as slaves and barbarians. It therefore conveyed the moral worth and modesty of the subject. ... " - My intuition is infibulation was not for slaves only in the Greco-Roman world. In ancient Greece it was practiced by aristocrats and probably in Rome too. My guess is male infibulation was the mirror of the vestal virgins. There was probably a male priesthood that practiced strict abstinence for the 30 years that was required for the vestals. - The lyric poet Anacreon (570-485 B.C.) Copenhagen, New Carlsberg Glyptotek " ... Origin: Found by Francesco Capranesi in 1835 at Monte Calvo in the Sabine Mountains. Acquired in 1881 from the Villa Borghese. Description: 1. Fantasy portrait of Anacreon On the basis of a portrait herm bearing an inscription (Rome, Nuovo Museo Capitolino, A. Hekler, Bildnisse berühmter Griechen, 18 and 52) the lyric poet Anacreon (570-485 B.C.) has been identified as the statue’s subject. The elderly man, standing naked, is covered only around his shoulders by a light mantle, a claina. He sings and plays a lyre, no longer extant. There are traces of a poet’s ribbon, a taenia, running through the hair. The penis is infibulated. It was not only in the fashioning of the hair and the beard that the running drill was put to use.This tool was utilized as well in differentiating the left leg from the form of the statue’s support. As a copy, the statue dates from the 2nd cent. A.D., the late Hadrianic period, a fact especially indicated by the special form of the statue’s support (see F. Muthmann, Statuenstützen und dekoratives Beiwerke an griechischen und römischen Bildwerke, 1951, 37-467). The present work is a Roman copy of a statue, supposedly created by Phidias, which was placed on the Acropolis in Athens around the year 440 B.C. According to Pausanias (1, 25, 1), this statue was positioned next to the statue of Pericles’ father, Xanthippus. ... " ancientrome.ru Also according to "The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity" by Paul Zanker (1996) " ... The way the mantle is draped actually emphasizes the poet's nudity and calls attention to a striking detail that has barely been noticed before: he has tied up the penis and foreskin with a string, a practice known as infibulation (or, in Greek, kynodesme ) . The explanations for this practice in ancient authors—as a protective measure for athletes or a token of sexual abstinence in a professional singer ... —all come from relatively late sources and are not satisfactory in the present instance. But many examples of kynodesme in contemporary vase painting suggest another explanation. Here it is almost exclusively symposiasts and komasts who have their phallus bound up in the same manner as Anacreon, and as a rule they are older men, or at least mature and bearded. Satyrs are also so depicted, evidently for comic effect.To expose a long penis, and especially the head, was regarded as shameless and dishonorable, something we see only in depictions of slaves and barbarians. ... " "The Mask of Socrates: The Image of the Intellectual in Antiquity" by Paul Zanker (1996) If we look at the modern day practice in BDSM culture the practice is said to improve marriages by making the husband more attentive to his wife or the "keyholder". It also heightens the sexual energy of both partners. There's a deeply important idea here - the flow of energy and where it goes. ...In modern day corporate culture the "keyholder" is business, not the wife and family . That's probably the direct cause of the ED "Erectile Dysfunction " epidemic in the west ... But that's a taboo subject as is quickly revealed when you try to research this subject on the Internet ... Also see: "Preputial infibulation: from ancient medicine to modern genital piercing" D. Schultheiss J.J. Mattelaer F.M. Hodges (2003) " ... Medical procedures designed to prevent the eversion and retraction of the foreskin, such as binding it shut or perforating it and holding it closed with a metal clasp, have been in use since antiquity, and have been carried out until the modern era for various reasons. However, the term ‘male infibulation’ is commonly used with an imprecision that has obscured its precise historical meaning. Infibulation refers specifically to the process of piercing the lips of the foreskin to fit it with a metal clasp or ring. The devices used for this varied from a silver, gold or bronze ring (later referred to as circellus or annulus), to a metal clasp (referred to as a fibula), and even to safety-pins. The simple binding of the foreskin to keep it securely closed was accomplished with a simple leather lace, called in Greek a kynodesme. Whether secured by a simple lace or by a metal clasp, the object of these procedures was the same; the temporary narrowing or closing of the foreskin to keep it securely over the glans penis. Closure of the introitus vaginae as part of ‘female circumcision’ procedures is also called infibulation. This procedure is still practised in some African and Muslim cultures today, but is not the focus of this article. THE ROMAN METHOD: INFIBULATION The first written report on this method of infibulation was provided by the Roman writer Aulus Cornelius Celsus (25 BCE to 50 AD). Celsus gives the following detailed description of the surgical procedure: The foreskin covering the glans is stretched forwards and the point for perforation marked on each side with ink. Then the foreskin is let go. If the marks are drawn back over the glans too much has been included, and the marks should be placed further forward. If the glans is clear of them, their position is suitable for the pinning. Then the foreskin is transfixed at the marks by a threaded needle, and the ends of this thread are knotted together. Each day the tread is moved until the edges of the perforations have cicatrized. When this is assured the thread is withdrawn and a fibula inserted, and the lighter this is the better. But this operation is more often superfluous than necessary. . Celsus provides no information on the objective behind infibulation, except to state obliquely and disapprovingly that it was mainly performed on youths, sometimes on account of the voice and sometimes for the sake of health. This possibly refers to an earlier idea, reported by Aristotle (384–322 BCE): This development [of the voice at age 14]is greater in those who attempt sexual intercourse; for in those who indulge vigorously the voice even changes to that of a man, while in those who abstain the opposite is the case; and if they help to check it through exercises, as some do who are engaged in the choruses, the voice remains the same for a long time and the change that it undergoes is altogether slight.. A more detailed understanding of male infibulation can be found in the works of other ancient writers. For example, the Roman poet Martial (38–100 AD) often referred to infibulation in his epigrams. In one epigram, he implies that comedy actors and singers who played the cithara wore a fibula, apparently to enhance their sexual attractiveness and thereby to increase their income. This is corroborated in the satires of the poet Juvenal (58–140 AD). In a satire devoted to the subject of Roman wives, he charges that: ‘Some pay a lot to undo the pin of a comic actor. In another epigram, Martial describes a young athlete whose ‘swollen penis has been unpinned by the smith’and is now ready for sexual intercourse. As some fibulae were apparently more easily removed than others, it is likely that, at least among hired singers, preputial fibulae were worn more as an eye-catching genital adornment and as part of the standard costume of the cithara player, rather than a medical device. As such, the fibula would have raised the stakes in subsequent bargaining for supplementary sexual services. . ... The Greek medical writer Oribasius (325–403 AD) also gave a detailed description of male infibulation, which he calls krikôsis. Oribasius implied that this procedure was still common in his day. One variation between his technique and that of Celsus is that the perforations made in the foreskin are widened with palm fibres before a tin stud is inserted to aid in cicatrix formation . Unfortunately, the manuscript is incomplete and no description of the fibula or the rationale for the operation have survived. ... " "Preputial infibulation: from ancient medicine to modern genital piercing" D. Schultheiss J.J. Mattelaer F.M. Hodges (2003) * My conclusion is the Greco -Roman binding of the penis was directly tied to activation of the mythical "female phallus". Roman wives paid good money to temporarily unpin the pinned phallus' of handsome bound men - probably both slave and free ... * (Feb 8, 2020) A lot of sexual energy was released by that update in the dreamspace! The images are the erect and rutting female phallus, the white light of the Fon rainbow serpent and fanged serpent women of the night ... I've been doing a little more searching on the Internet and my conclusion is binding of the penis was universal in the greco-roman world .... What a strange set of images - the sexual aggression is all female! Highly pleasurable - I will not argue - but very strange ... The image is a permanent metal ring was inserted at 14 and not removed until 25 - when the man was eligible for marriage; - that's more than an image - I read a text to that effect. And even after that, my intuition is the metal or leather binding was not removable unless paid for by an amorous female ... I suppose in marriage the ring came off when the wife wanted it to.... The casual assumption that Rome and Greece were homosexual with non-sexual women needs revision - Infibulated Greek bronze statue of an Athlete after a boxing match, 1st cent BC. That's a rare clear example of the "dog leash". You could argue that that's just a slave - however a quick review of Greek and Roman statues - from gods to emperors always shows the penis as much smaller than the testicles. ... - Infibulated roman emperor: Bronze statue of the emperor Trebonianus Gallus A.D. 251–253 The Roman world was "bound" as they say in Japanese futanari. In futa the binding is done by the semen of the "female phallus" ... My guess is the dog was unleashed when access to the spirit world was desired. Kind of the way papa Legba is worshiped at the beginning of a voodoo service. - The unleashed dog - or erect penis was an icon of the Vestal Virgins - however, my suspicion is that's a female phallus, not male - Vesta is a goddess with a penis - She's probably the goddess doing the binding of Roman men. The dog was also unleashed when sex was desired - but the spiritual component was probably more important. ... - Unleashed dog - winged erect fascinus - Unleashed dog (wind chime) - winged erect fascinus - Unleashed dog (wind chime) - woman riding an erect fascinus - Unleashed dog - winged erect fascinus - Unleashed dog - winged erect fascinus - Roman Woman with a penis - Probably a Roman "keyholder" - or "leashholder" - or a phallic goddess - Unleashed dog (wind chime) - winged erect fascinus However as modern BDSM shows, sex can occur without removing the dog leash - with gay sex that's straight forward - but the dream images are female on male femdom! Rome probably had the female strap-on genre - although I have not seen images of it in the physical world ... On the other hand I may be projecting the present onto the past ... But the images are the images ... - Blastgoogles futa cartoon - female on male BDSM - thats the inner image that was conveyed in the dream space last night - What probably ruled Rome ... The key gift is the futa semen - it has alchemical powers The page was blocked though. I had to use my workaround - The ritual unleashing of the dog was also probably a key component of the Eleusinian Mysteries -Dmitrys Ostrich sex- Probably a more accurate picture of roman sex. Roman wives worshiped Vesta and her massive and proudly erect penis , while Roman men were sexually caged from 14 to 25 - and even after that expected to maintain a very small infibulated and dog-leashed penis Roman wives, not husbands were known for paying to unleash infibulated men for sex be they singers or athletes or gladiators and roman brothels seem to have serviced roman women - emperors wives were famous for frequenting them for sex marathons. A famous brothel sexual position was female on top - or Horse -riding" : " ... Mulier equitans "Riding" is a common metaphor for the sex act, particularly used of the woman-on-top position. The mulier equitans ("woman riding") does not appear in Greek vase painting but is popular in Roman art. Ovid recommends it for the petite woman, as a tall woman may not wish to seem too towering in relation to the man. Supposedly favored by the mythological couple Hector and Andromache, even though she was of legendary height, it was jokingly called "the Hector horse". One relief from Roman Gaul showing the mulier equitans plays on the metaphor by picturing a galloping horse within a frame in the background . In art, the mulier equitans convention has the woman posed frontally to expose her body in full to the viewer, often emphasizing her depilated pubic area. The significance of this position in Roman culture has been interpreted variously. Kenneth Dover thought it might represent the relative sexual emancipation of Roman women. From a woman's perspective, the position would grant an independence of movement for her own pleasure. Paul Veyne, however, thought it emphasized that the woman had to do the work of servicing the man, who lies there and receives pleasure without effort. The position may have been favored for art because it pleased both male and female viewers: for men, it offered an unobstructed view of the woman's body, as recommended by Ovid, and of the penis entering the vagina; women saw the visually dominant female figure playing the active role. ... " Wikipedia Horse riding in the brothel was probably literal in the Roman world - ie the stud was probably a slave who had to perform. My guess is Roman brothels were to service women only - men were dog leashed and stayed leashed unless a woman uncaged them ... - Roman brothel: dominant female figure playing the active role - nude woman receiving oral sex from a clothed, kneeling and probably infibulated man - "Serving the Deva" - or awakening the female phallus - Roman brothel: dominant female figure playing the active role - Mulier equitans or "horse riding" - Roman brothel: dominant female figure playing the active role - Mulier equitans or "horse riding" - Roman brothel: dominant female figure playing the active role - Mulier equitans or "horse riding" - Roman brothel: dominant female figure playing the active role - Mulier equitans or "horse riding" - " "Venus pendula aversa, "perpendicular Venus with the woman facing away", the man lies down with the woman on top, but she turns her back and faces his feet. This version is rarely mentioned or depicted, but is found in Roman art set in Nilotic Egypt." The Dirty Classicist - Facebook - Roman brothel: dominant female figure playing the active role - Mulier equitans or "horse riding" - medallion - The" horses" being ridden were probably not slaves - a better possibility was the "horses" were paid for. ie an amorous roman wife had paid the "horse" to unleash the infibulated penis she was riding. That was not a casual transaction as it required a trip to the blacksmith to break the metal fibula and another trip to the smith to re-cage the penis - Amorous Roman wives may seen strange - but that is basic in bdsm female dominant/male chastity - the "cuckold fantasy". Yes, Rome may have been famous for orgies - but these were almost certainly female dominant affairs with Roman husbands having no active sexual participation -- Caged Penis - Pompeii -- Caged Penis - 2- Pompeii -- Caged Penis - 3- Pompeii - marble Roman copy of a Greek original. Ancient Greece was also caged - probably by a phallic earth goddess -- Caged Penis - 4 Greek athlete wearing the kynodesme or "dog leash". Triptolemos painter 480 BC -- Caged Penis -5 Victorious Youth, 300–100 B.C. - Getty Villa -Caged penis - 6 Riace Warriors, Greek , 460–450 BC - Caged Penis - 7 Riace Warriors, Greek , 460–450 BC -Caged Penis - 8 Riace Warriors, Greek , 460–450 BC - - Roman matron revealing an erect phallus. Roman 200-300 AD - Louvre. That erect phallus is visible all over Pompeii - It's probably a shorthand for a common Roman experience - the female phallus - and more specifially the fiery female phallus in the temple of Vesta - - Roman Hermaphrodite - penis looks caged - - Roman Hermaphrodite - 2- penis looks caged - - Roman Hermaphrodite - 3- penis looks caged - - Roman Hermaphrodite -4- penis not caged " ... The Sleeping Hermaphroditus is an ancient marble sculpture depicting Hermaphroditus life size. In 1620, Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini sculpted the mattress upon which the statue now lies. The form is partly derived from ancient portrayals of Venus and other female nudes, and partly from contemporaneous feminised Hellenistic portrayals of Dionysus/Bacchus. It represents a subject that was much repeated in Hellenistic times and in ancient Rome, to judge from the number of versions that have survived. Discovered at Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome, the Sleeping Hermaphroditus was immediately claimed by Cardinal Scipione Borghese and became part of the Borghese Collection. The "Borghese Hermaphroditus" was later sold to the occupying French and was moved to The Louvre, where it is on display. The Sleeping Hermaphroditus has been described as a good early Imperial Roman copy of a bronze original by the later of the two Hellenistic sculptors named Polycles (working ca 155 BC);the original bronze was mentioned in Pliny's Natural History. ... " Wikipedia - - Roman Hermaphrodite -5 Satyr and Hermaphrodite 100-200 AD Rome - Villa Aldobrandini Satyr has a caged penis - looks like he is about to pleasure the goddess ... The description that came with this photo makes no sense to me. It says that this is an aborted rape attempt. Aborted because of the discovery of a female phallus. I do not think that small guy would think of raping that big woman. Plus rape does not work when you are caged. - - Roman Hermaphrodite -6 "Pan meets hermaphrodite" Pompeii Fresco from the House of the Dioscuri Looks like he's going to pleasure her whether he wants to or not! Roman brothels were for women not men .... The caged penis is of no use in a brothel - - - Roman Hermaphrodite 7 Erect female phallus - - - Roman Hermaphrodite 8 Erect female phallus Women with a penis were the real rulers of Rome - the men served their female "dogleash-holders" ; - it was literally true with the vestal virgins - the vestals has veto power over Roman legislation - Rome was carnal and communal but not in the hollywood way ... - - - Roman Hermaphrodite - 9 Bronze hermaphrodite figures in the Louvre. That's a girl hermaphrodite next to the mother hermaphrodite. That was probably the state of the upper class roman family. As I said before curbing the male libido sparks the female libido - - - Roman Hermaphrodite - 10 Hermaphroditus fighting off a Satyr from the Villa of Poppaea Not sure who is fighting off who, knowing what I know now! - - - Roman Hermaphrodite - 11 Hermaphroditus fighting off a Satyr - Pompeii To me the opposite is happening in that mural. The dark skinned horse looks like he's resisting "mounting" - thats an example of the reverse Roman Egyptian Mulier equitans or horse riding : "Venus pendula aversa, "perpendicular Venus with the woman facing away", the man lies down with the woman on top, but she turns her back and faces his feet. " - - - Roman Hermaphrodite - 12 Hermaphroditus fighting off a Satyr - Villa of Poppaea, Oplontis. - - - Roman Hermaphrodite 13 Erect female phallus - - - Roman Hermaphrodite 14 Erect female phallus - - Roman Hermaphrodite -15- Statue of a hermaphroditus anasyromenos, at the Torlonia Museum in Rome, from the Giustiniani collection. Penis looks caged - Probably a "manly" goddess like Athena - the gods are always caged - even Zeus! The god on page 29 of this website is caged. I used to think it was just a small penis - some sort of artist convention on depicting male genitals ... Now I know he's caged - - Roman Hermaphrodite -16 Hermaphrodite sarcophagus- Diocletian baths, Rome c. 300 AD (Jesse Waugh) Her penis is not caged. There is a whole iconography of hermaphrodite as Dionysus in late Rome. For example, There is a bronze plate at the Freer from pre-Islamic Persia that depicts a triumphal procession of Dionysus but on closer examination, he has breasts and the figure of a woman! I could never make sense of that ... My conclusion is late Roman sex was ruled by the uncaged female phallus - probably women members of the Vesta cult. They rode male horses that were temporarily uncaged ... There were only 6 vestals - but all roman women participated in the annual rites of the fire goddess - and one of those rites was almost certainly mounting a horse ... - Extrapolating from there - all Roman men were probably expected to be sexually uncaged and mounted at one point or another. - - Roman Hermaphrodite -17 Hermaphroditus and Silenus. On the right a maenad with thyrsus. Hermaphroditus, Silenus and maenad with thyrsus. Roman fresco. Pompeii, House of M. Epidi Sabini, IX-1-22. 1st century AD. National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Italy. Hermaphrodite as Dionysus. Or Hermaphrodite as Vesta - the goddess with a penis . - - Roman Hermaphrodite -17 Hermaphroditus and Silenus. On the right a maenad with thyrsus. Hermaphroditus, Silenus and maenad with thyrsus. Roman fresco. Pompeii, House of M. Epidi Sabini, IX-1-22. 1st century AD. National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Italy. Hermaphrodite as Dionysus. Or Hermaphrodite as Vesta - the goddess with a penis . She's enthroned and is proudly displaying an erect phallus - Probably the roman "potomitan" - - Roman Hermaphrodite -18 Hermaphroditus and Silenus. Roman fresco from Pompeii. - - Roman Hermaphrodite -19 Fragment of a wall fresco dated to the second half of the third century depicting a hermaphrodite . Capua, Campania, Italy. Museo di Scultura Antica Giovanni Barracco - - Roman Hermaphrodite 20 "Bacchus - Hermaphrodite" 2nd century AD - Naples, Archaeological Museum Hermaphrodite as Dionysus - not ambiguous - there was a female version of the rites of Dionysus - Probably drunken horse riding orgies ... - Erect penis icon - Pompeii - The mythical female phallus - Erect penis icon - 2- Pompeii - The mythical female phallus - - Roman Hermaphrodite 21 Satyr and Hermaphroditus - Berlin - - Roman Hermaphrodite 22 Satyr and Hermaphroditus - Berlin - Mulier Equitans "Horse riding" - Naples archeology museum Mulier equitans or the "Hector horse" position was named after an Amazon and her horse/husband Hector: " ... In Greek mythology, Andromache ... was the wife of Hector, daughter of Eetion, and sister to Podes. She was born and raised in the city of Cilician Thebe, over which her father ruled. The name means "man battler" or "fighter of men" (note that there was also a famous Amazon warrior named "Andromache," probably in this meaning) or "man's battle" (i.e. "courage" or "manly virtue") ... "Wikipedia The Amazons played a sinister and unbelievable trick on the men of ancient world: concede the erect penis to women. But it worked out - the men became happy sex toys and energy theft was shut down - They probably reached critical mass - and evolved up and out to a higher plane ... - Erect penis icon -- Pompeii - The mythical female phallus - Erect unleashed Penis in penis temple - wall detail Pompeii - probably Vesta or another female phallus. Vesta had a fire temple that was off-limits to men. It seems that the unleashed erect penis was also off limits to men in the Roman world - up to and including the emperor. Once "bound" by the goddess, she took over control of the penis. To me this indicated a heightening - not dampening of eros. Eros expanded out from the genitals into the entire body - and beyond - into nature itself. There had to have been a major benefit associated with male genital lock-up. Just looking at the bodies of greco- roman studs proves my point. Also , the reason most of the "mounts" in the Pompeii brothel murals are dark brown as contrasted to the white skin of their riders is the brothel horses were probably sexually caged 100% of the time outside the brothel - creating a "perma-tan". Some of the mounts are Negroes - but most just have deep tans - Erect unleashed Penis in penis temple - wall detail Pompeii. probably a female phallus - Vesta or an egyptian goddess - Erect unleashed winged Penis - Pompeii - 2 wall mounted erect unleashed Phalli - Pompeii - - Roman Hermaphrodite 23 Labeled as a male Roman copy of a Greek original. The weight of evidence points to female with a penis in the Roman context though. Capitaline museums, Italy Shot blocked. I used workaround - - Roman Hermaphrodite 24 - Late roman plate found in Persia. Freer Gallery. From the Sackler's Sassanian dynasty "A taste for luxury" ancient Iran show. It's a Dionysian procession - but at the center is a woman. If more details were available - that would be a woman with a penis. That's the end result of caging the male libido. A very powerful aphrodisiac for both sexes - but maybe more so for women - it caused a male brothel culture in ancient Rome The appearance of this new archetype - a female Dionysus in the 200's means there was a movement to rule by queens in the late classical world - More research needs to done here - a beehive/fire commune formed then suddenly vanished leaving behind a massive collapse of civilization - where did they go? Muslims would say this is the world of the "smokeless fire" of the "jinn" and the queen of Sheba ... That tells me at one point caging of the male penis was once practiced in east Africa and south Arabia. That's not easy to do, but if it's a common event and starts just as puberty is hitting - it can be done. It's a pain for men at first - but ultimately a huge windfall sexually. Circumcision was probably invented as a guarantee that the female phallus did not form. It's a big deal in Africa but many tribes do not do it. - - Roman Hermaphrodite 25 Roman 200-300 AD - Louvre. Shot blocked. I used workaround. I am not "mounted" just now! But these ideas are like dreamwork - they can't be scheduled ... - African in Pompeii brothel - he is probably the sex worker - although the easy assumption is he is the customer. - African in Pompeii brothel - 2 It's more clear here that the African is the "horse" thats about to be mounted by a roman matron. She must have been rich - she has servants waiting around with refreshments - and the horse has a golden laurel on his head ... Roman women did not have to fear rape as the men were sexually caged ! - African in Pompeii brothel - 3 - Passionate inter-racial kiss! - this is still a taboo in Hollywood ... Although that's starting to loosen up - but the trend remains to kill the relationship before it becomes too permanent - - Roman Hermaphrodite 26 She has a caged penis - probably a vestal virgin - - Roman Hermaphrodite 27 She has a caged penis. Caption says she is cradling an infant eros. Thats probably a "manly" goddess. Very similar to Hermaphrodite 23 except penis is undamaged. - - Roman Hermaphrodite 28 She has a caged penis. - - Roman Hermaphrodite 29 She has a caged penis. Figurine found in British river. - - Roman Hermaphrodite 30 She has a caged penis. " ... Parian marble terminal figure of a hermaphrodite feeding a bird. Restored in the 18th century. ... Townley's description; ‘A Hermaphrodite ending from the waist downwards in a Terminus; it holds in the right hand a bunch of grapes, at which an Ibis, held under the left arm, is pecking. it was found 1774 at the Lake of Nemi’..." The British Museum - - Roman Hermaphrodite 31 She has a caged penis. " ... Thomas Hope: Regency designer. Hermaphrodite (left)about AD 70-100 Roman. /Maiden (center), 25 BC-AD 25, Roman marble. /Aphrodite or Nymph (right) about AD 150, Roman. ... " Nils Jorgensen/Shutterstock - - Roman Hermaphrodite 32 She has a proudly erect penis. Hermaphroditos, Stuttgart, Landesmuseum Württemberg - - Roman Hermaphrodite 33 Sleeping hermaphrodite. My guess from the famous sleeping hermaphrodite is that is not a caged penis. The House of D. Octavius Quartio, Pompeii - - Roman Hermaphrodite 34 Female Dionysus - Metropolitan Museum of Art From the age of Augustus. Marble Statue of Dionysos Leaning on an Archaistic Female Figure, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Labeled "male" - but the image is not male. Compare with hermaphrodite 20 above. My analysis of the female with a penis is an anima figure - the anima controls the penis for a male and is centered in the earth- or in other language - an earth goddess - Spintria were Roman brothel coins used to pay male prostitutes - they depict male/female sexual positions - " ...A spintria (plural, spintriae) is a small bronze or brass Roman token, possibly for use in brothels, although none of the literature on the spintriae contains any evidence to support this assertion. The tokens usually depict on the obverse a motif of sexual acts or symbols and a numeral in the range I - XVI on the reverse. Spintria was used by Suetonius to refer to young male prostitutes. ... " Wikipedia ex: Mulier equitans & Spintriae from Pompeii & other Spintria Brothels were a service offered to roman women not men - a caged penis has no use for a brothel - Going by the bird model Rome was probably Polyandrous at the elite level. ie women were expected to take lovers in addition to their husbands. And as the "dog-leash-holders" they controlled property and wealth and were probably expected to have children by as many men as they wanted to. The typical bird alpha female has 3 mates - this was probably normal for the roman elites: " ...It is difficult to get a clear understanding as to how licentious things might have become in terms of wife swapping and lending out one’s own wife. There’s one anecdote which has the Christians being laughed at for sharing all their belongings and the Christians laughing back for sharing everything except their wives. Tertullian (Apology chpt. 39) writes a fairly explicit account of the practice and singles out Socrates and Cato as freely lending out their wives to their friends. There was however a law which demanded a penalty of husbands who hired out their wives for money so we can guess that wife swapping fell short of actual prostitution. Strabo gives the following account: “…that it is counted lawful among them (the Tapyrians) to give away their wives to other men after they have had two or three children by them: As Cato in our time, upon the request of Hortensius, gave him his wife Marcia, according to the old custom of the Romans“. ...""Marriage in Ancient Rome" Maria Melani That's Polyandry! With Ostriches the female mounts a male and gives him 2 or 3 children to raise then moves to the next mount. It was more than children that was desired - sex for the sake of sex in brothels was expected of the roman wife: " ... Extra Marital Affairs in ancient Rome ... I take the opportunity to repeat an earlier quote from Horace who lived around the year 0 as the Roman Republic became an Empire, comments (book 3, ode VI) and makes satire of the manners of the age. “A marriageable virgin rejoices to be taught Ionic Dances…and meditates from her very infancy on unchaste amours. Soon after marriage, she seeks after younger men…” ... Messalina, wife of Emperor Claudius is equally well remembered for her amorous affairs. According to Juvenal (Satires) she would wear a cloak and blond wig in order leave the palace as soon as her husband was asleep and make haste to a house of disrepute in the most infamous area of Rome called the Suburra ...." Marriage in Ancient Rome" Maria Melani Also see wikipedia: " ... Two accounts especially have supplemented the gossip recorded by historians and added to Messalina's notoriety. One is the story of her all-night sex competition with a prostitute in Book X of Pliny the Elder's Natural History, according to which the competition lasted for 24 hours and Messalina won with a score of 25 partners. The poet Juvenal mentions Messalina twice in his satires. One story told there is that she compelled Gaius Silius to divorce his wife and marry her. In his sixth satire appears the notorious description of how the Empress used to work clandestinely all night in a brothel under the name of the She-Wolf. ... " Wikipedia Roman men were "belted and bound" to their wives - There probably a reference to the dog leash that all Roman men wore: " ... Roman couple joining hands; the bride's belt may show the knot symbolizing that the husband was "belted and bound" to her, which he was to untie in their bed (4th century sarcophagus)" That dog leash - the kynodesme was the reason Roman wives were so amorous As far as marriage the husband had authority over his children , but not his wife - she came into the marriage with a dowry and could walk out of the marriage with the dowry at any time. The unspoken truth is the dog-tie meant the Roman husband was under the authority of his wife: " ...Under early Roman law, the oldest living male was the head of a family, or pater familias, and had absolute authority (patria potestas) over his children and, to a lesser extent, his wife. His household was thus understood to be under his manus (literally, "hand").He had the right and duty to seek a good and useful match for his children, and might arrange a child's betrothal long before he or she came of age. To further the interests of their birth families, sons of the elite should follow their fathers into public life and daughters should marry into respectable families. If a daughter could prove the proposed husband to be of bad character, she could legitimately refuse the match. The age of lawful consent to a marriage was 12 for girls and 14 for boys. Most Roman women seem to have married in their late teens to early twenties, but noble women married younger than those of the lower classes, and an aristocratic girl was expected to be virgin until her first marriage. Roman mores idealised a married daughter's relationship to her father as deferential and obedient, even at her husband's expense. "Deference" was not always absolute. After arranging his daughter's first two marriages, Cicero Marcus disapproved — rightly, as it turned out — of her choice to marry Dolabella, but found himself unable to prevent it. A daughter kept her own birth-family name (nomen) for life; and although children usually took the father's name, some might take their mother's family name as part of theirs. In the early Empire, the legal standing of daughters differed little, if at all, from that of sons; either could inherit a share of the family estate if their father died intestate. ... "Wikipedia - - Roman Hermaphrodite 35 Marble from Temple of Apollo, Pompeii. Nat. Archaeological Museum, Naples. Snapshots of the careers wives and mothers of roman emperors reveal "women with a penis;" - that was probably a coded reference of the popular Hermaphroditus For example Livia Drusilla the wife of Augustus who moved on from her marriage to her cousin and caused an already married Octavian to leave his wife and marry her. The throne passed to her and her son by a previous marriage on the death of Augustus: " ... Livia Drusilla ... was the wife of the Roman emperor Augustus throughout his reign, as well as his adviser. She was the mother of the emperor Tiberius, paternal grandmother of the emperor Claudius, paternal great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula, and maternal great-great-grandmother of the emperor Nero. She was deified by Claudius who acknowledged her title of Augusta. She was born on 30 January 59 or 58 BC as the daughter of Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus by his wife Aufidia, a daughter of the magistrate Marcus Aufidius Lurco She was married around 43 BC. Her father married her to Tiberius Claudius Nero, her cousin of patrician status ... After peace was established between the Triumvirate and the followers of Sextus Pompeius, a general amnesty was announced, and Livia returned to Rome, where she was personally introduced to Octavian in 39 BC. At this time, Livia already had a son, the future emperor Tiberius, and was pregnant with the second, Nero Claudius Drusus .... Legend said that Octavian fell immediately in love with her, despite the fact that he was still married to Scribonia. Octavian divorced Scribonia in 39 BC, on the very day that she gave birth to his daughter Julia the Elder. Seemingly around that time, when Livia was six months pregnant, Tiberius Claudius Nero was persuaded or forced by Octavian to divorce Livia. On 14 January, the child was born. Augustus and Livia married on 17 January, waiving the traditional waiting period. Tiberius Claudius Nero was present at the wedding, giving her in marriage "just as a father would." ... Livia and Augustus remained married for the next 51 years, despite the fact that they had no children apart from a single miscarriage. She always enjoyed the status of privileged counselor to her husband, petitioning him on the behalf of others and influencing his policies, an unusual role for a Roman wife in a culture dominated by the pater familias. ... Livia would set the pattern for the noble Roman matrona. ... In 35 BC Octavian gave Livia the unprecedented honour of ruling her own finances and dedicated a public statue to her. She had her own circle of clients and pushed many protégés into political offices, including the grandfathers of the later emperors Galba and Otho. With Augustus being the father of only one daughter (Julia by Scribonia), Livia revealed herself to be an ambitious mother and soon started to push her own sons Tiberius and Drusus into power. ... Augustus died on August 19, 14 AD, being deified by the Senate shortly afterwards. In his will, he left one third of his property to Livia, and the other two thirds to Tiberius. In the will, he also adopted her into the Julian family and granted her the honorific title of Augusta. These dispositions permitted Livia to maintain her status and power after her husband's death, under the new name of Julia Augusta. ... For some time, Livia and her son Tiberius, the new Emperor, appeared to get along with each other. Speaking against her became treason in AD 20, and in AD 24 he granted his mother a theater seat among the Vestal Virgins. Livia exercised unofficial but very real power in Rome. Eventually, Tiberius became resentful of his mother's political status, particularly against the idea that it was she who had given him the throne. At the beginning of his reign Tiberius vetoed the unprecedented title Mater Patriae ("Mother of the Fatherland") that the Senate wished to bestow upon her, in the same manner in which Augustus had been named Pater Patriae ("Father of the Fatherland") ... The historians Tacitus and Cassius Dio depict an overweening, even domineering dowager, ready to interfere in Tiberius’ decisions, the most notable instances being the case of Urgulania (grandmother of Claudius's first wife Plautia Urgulanilla), a woman who correctly assumed that her friendship with the empress placed her above the law .... A notice from AD 22 records that Julia Augusta (Livia) dedicated a statue to Augustus in the center of Rome, placing her own name even before that of Tiberius. Ancient historians give as a reason for Tiberius' retirement to Capri his inability to endure his mother any longer. Until AD 22 there had, according to Tacitus, been "a genuine harmony between mother and son, or a hatred well concealed;" Dio tells us that at the time of his accession already Tiberius heartily loathed her. In AD 22 she had fallen ill, and Tiberius had hastened back to Rome in order to be with her. But in AD 29 when she finally fell ill and died, he remained on Capri, pleading pressure of work and sending Caligula to deliver the funeral oration. ... It was not until 13 years later, in AD 42 during the reign of her grandson Claudius, that all her honors were restored and her deification finally completed. She was named Diva Augusta (The Divine Augusta), and an elephant-drawn chariot conveyed her image to all public games. A statue of her was set up in the Temple of Augustus along with her husband's, races were held in her honor, and women were to invoke her name in their sacred oaths. In AD 410, during the Sack of Rome, her ashes were scattered when Augustus' tomb was sacked. ... " Wikipedia - Livia married as she wanted to; - shared power with Augustus during his lifetime; and passed on the crown to her son by a previous marriage ... that was just the roman way. Husbands deferred to their "dog-leash-holder" and unmarried sons were also probably leashed to their mothers until married off to a another "dog-leash-holder..." In BDSM femdom/male chastity, a basic principal is financial domination - this usually means the finances are controlled by the domme or "keyholder" with the male given an allowance - that was probably the roman way too. The fact pattern from wikipedia says Livia had financial independence - the reality was probably absolute control of the property and finances of Caesar Augustus ... And control of the finances of her son the nominal emperor Tiberius as well. ... Tiberius was married off to Octavian's daughter - Julia - and she maintained the Roman pattern of amorous wives taking many lovers after marriage: " ... Octavian divorced Julia's mother the day of her birth and took Julia from her soon thereafter. Octavian, in accordance with Roman custom, claimed complete parental control over her. She was sent to live with her stepmother Livia when she was old enough and learn how to be an aristocrat. ... Julia's social life was severely controlled, and she was allowed to talk only to people whom her father had vetted. However, Octavian had a great affection for his daughter and made sure she had the best teachers available. Macrobius preserves a remark of Augustus: "There are two wayward daughters that I have to put up with: the Roman commonwealth and Julia." ....Among contemporary writers Julia is almost universally remembered for her flagrant and promiscuous conduct. Thus Marcus Velleius Paterculus (2.100) describes her as "tainted by luxury or lust", listing among her lovers Iullus Antonius, Quintius Crispinus, Appius Claudius, Sempronius Gracchus, and Cornelius Scipio. Seneca the Younger refers to "adulterers admitted in droves";Pliny the Elder calls her an “exemplum licentiae” (NH 21.9). Dio Cassius mentions "revels and drinking parties by night in the Forum and even upon the Rostra" (Roman History 55.10). Seneca (De Beneficiis 6.32) tells us that the Rostra was the place where "her father had proposed a law against adultery", and yet now she had chosen the place for her "debaucheries". ..." Wikipedia - - Roman Hermaphrodite 36 Fresco painting of Hermaphroditus - Herculaneum c. 50 AD - National Archaeological Museum of Naples - - Roman Hermaphrodite 37 African male vagina Not sure how to read that! Probably a nubian pleasure center for all those Roman matrons with a penis Bronze lamp in the shape of a Nubian head - Pompeii, roman 1st century AD - - Roman Hermaphrodite 38 Female Dionysus at the met - From the age of Augustus. I call this the "Roman Potomitan" Dionysus was originally from Nysa which was black Africa - and was probably originally a woman. - - Roman Hermaphrodite 39 Mulier equitans - "Horse riding" - - Roman Hermaphrodite 40 Roman male "belting and bonding" - The commentary on line is the knotted belt around the roman bride is a chastity belt. But in ancient Rome chastity was for males not females: the "dog - leash". Young roman brides probably felt free to emulate Empress Messalina - the "she-wolf" who would spend all night in the brothels riding male prostitutes while her husband slept at home. The "she-wolf" Messalina was probably emulating the empress before her - Livia Drusilla , and Octavian's daughter Julia and other roman women down the ages ... That's the line of transmission of power and wealth - the sexual domme - and in the roman case that was female ... The "Hector horse" - Mulier equitans- model is probably the key to roman society. Towards the end of the empire - the roman upper classes were probably a single commune focused on a single queen Marriage sarcophagus (known as sarcophagus of cardinal Guglielmo Fieschi.) Front panel with wedding scenes. Marble. Ca. 210-220 CE. Rome, Basilica di San Lorenzo fuori le Mura - - Roman Hermaphrodite 41 Satyr and Hermaphrodite There was a female-only roman religion that worshiped a female version of the god Faunus Faunus was a pan-like god of hyper-sexuality - he is often depicted in roman art as trying to have sex with a hermaphrodite:: " ... In ancient Roman religion and myth, Faunus was the horned god of the forest, plains and fields ... He came to be equated in literature with the Greek god Pan. Faunus was one of the oldest Roman deities, known as the di indigetes. According to the epic poet Virgil, he was a legendary king of the Latins. His shade was consulted as a goddess of prophecy under the name of Fatuus, with oracles in the sacred grove of Tibur, around the well Albunea, and on the Aventine Hill in ancient Rome itself. Marcus Terentius Varro asserted that the oracular responses were given in Saturnian verse. Faunus revealed the future in dreams and voices that were communicated to those who came to sleep in his precincts, lying on the fleeces of sacrificed lambs. ... " According to Wikipedia: " ...Bona Dea (Latin: 'Good Goddess') was a goddess in ancient Roman religion. She was associated with chastity and fertility in Roman women, healing, and the protection of the state and people of Rome. According to Roman literary sources, she was brought from Magna Graecia at some time during the early or middle Republic, and was given her own state cult on the Aventine Hill. Her rites allowed women the use of strong wine and blood-sacrifice, things otherwise forbidden them by Roman tradition. Men were barred from her mysteries and the possession of her true name. Given that male authors had limited knowledge of her rites and attributes, ancient speculations about her identity abound, among them that she was an aspect of Terra, Ops, Cybele, or Ceres, or a Latin form of the Greek goddess "Damia" (Demeter). Most often, she was identified as the wife, sister, or daughter of the god Faunus, thus an equivalent or aspect of the nature-goddess Fauna, who could prophesy the fates of women. The goddess had two annual festivals. One was held at her Aventine temple; the other was hosted by the wife of Rome's senior Annual Magistrate for an invited group of elite matrons and female attendants. The latter festival came to scandalous prominence in 62 BC, when the politician Publius Clodius Pulcher was tried for his intrusion on the rites, allegedly bent on the seduction of Julius Caesar's wife, whom Caesar later divorced because "Caesar's wife must be above suspicion". The rites remained a subject of male curiosity and speculation, both religious and prurient. Bona Dea's cults in the city of Rome were led by the Vestal Virgins, and her provincial cults by virgin or matron priestesses. Surviving statuary shows her as a sedate Roman matron with a cornucopia and a snake. Personal dedications to her are attested among all classes, especially plebeians, freedmen and women, and slaves. Approximately one third of her dedications are from men, some of whom may have been lawfully involved in her cult. ... Festival rites The house was ritually cleansed of all male persons and presences, even male animals and male portraiture. Then the magistrate's wife and her assistants made bowers of vine-leaves, and decorated the house's banqueting hall with "all manner of growing and blooming plants" except for myrtle, whose presence and naming were expressly forbidden. A banquet table was prepared, with a couch (pulvinar) for the goddess and the image of a snake. The Vestals brought Bona Dea's cult image from her temple and laid it upon her couch, as an honoured guest. The goddess' meal was prepared: the entrails (exta) of a sow, sacrificed to her on behalf of the Roman people (pro populo Romano), and a libation of sacrificial wine. The festival continued through the night, a women-only banquet with female musicians, fun and games (ludere), and wine; the last was euphemistically referred to as "milk", and its container as a "honey jar". The rites sanctified the temporary removal of customary constraints imposed on Roman women of all classes by Roman tradition, and underlined the pure and lawful sexual potency of virgins and matrons in a context that excluded any reference to male persons or creatures, male lust or seduction,. According to Cicero, any man who caught even a glimpse of the rites could be punished by blinding. Later Roman writers assume that apart from their different dates and locations, Bona Dea's December and May 1 festivals were essentially the same. ... " - The Female phallus - the snake - - that had to be what was celebrated here - the female pan - the sexual domme of the roman world ... . That's probably what I saw in a dream as the "rutting fanged serpent women of the night." Bona Dea was a goddess of chastity and fertility - but that was probably male chastity or "the dog -leash"- the behavior of Roma matrons told the real story - chaste husbands and aggressively sexual and promiscuous roman matrons. - - Roman Hermaphrodite 42 2 Hermaphroditus from Thebes, Boetia, Greece. Roman imperial period - - Roman Hermaphrodite 43 Labeled Statue of Pan and Olympus (Daphnis) - but that's not a male on the right! The correct answer is probably Faunus and Bona Dea - - Roman Hermaphrodite 44 Labelled : Pan Teaching Daphnis to play the pipes by sculptor Heliodorus of Rhodes from the 2nd Century BC . Uffuzi gallery. Florence , Italy Again - that does not look like a male on the right The correct answer is probably Faunus and Bona Dea - - Roman Hermaphrodite 45 Labeled: Pan Teaching Daphnis to play the flute. Roman copy of Hellenistic Original. Palazzo Altemps, Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, Italy The correct answer is probably Faunus and Bona Dea The flat chest just means this was probably a ritual of early puberty in ancient Rome. There's a more mature fresco of this scene above Hermaphrodite 19 - - Roman Hermaphrodite 46 Labelled: Pan Teaching Daphnis to play the pipes. Uffuzi gallery. Florence , Italy The correct answer is probably Faunus and Bona Dea - - Roman Hermaphrodite 47 Ceramic figurine of Hermaphroditus. Yortanli Dam salvage excavation, near Pergamon. Bergama Archaeological Museum, Turkey. - -Trojan Hermaphrodite 48 Hermaphroditus. 3nd century B.C., Pergamon. Istanbul Archaeological Museum , Turkey - Labeled Greek, but this is probably the essence of ancient Troy - - Roman Hermaphrodite 49 Sculpture found in Pompeii : Pan teaches Daphnis to touch the Zampoña c. 100 AD The correct answer is probably Faunus and Bona Dea - - Roman Hermaphrodite 50 Sculpture found in Pompeii : Pan teaches Daphnis to touch the Zampoña c. 100 AD The correct answer is probably Faunus and Bona Dea - - Roman Hermaphrodite 51 Marble herm of Hermaphroditus-Priapus Roman, late 2nd - early 1st century BC., Theatre Quarter, Delos. Delos Archaeological Museum, Greece. Probably Faunus after "mounting" a female worshiper of Bona Dea - Faunus was probably the roman Legba. After being mounted by Faunus, amorous roman matrons probably mounted belted and bound roman men. That's the clear implication and was also the self evident behavior of upper class Roman wives ... The "Hector horse" and more - - Roman Hermaphrodite 52 - Labeled Priapus - Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican. Roman empire period Female body with erect penis covered in fruit basket and a male head Probably Faunus after "mounting" a female worshipper of Bona Dea - - Roman Hermaphrodite 53 Priapus - Temple of Artemis, Ephesus, Turkey Female body with erect penis covered in fruit basket Probably Faunus after "mounting" a female worshipper of Bona Dea - - Roman Hermaphrodite 54 Table support in the form of Hermaphroditus. 1st century BC - 1st century AD. Parian marble. Barracco Museum, Rome. Female body with erect penis - - Roman Hermaphrodite 55 Cameo. Sleeping Hermaphroditus Surrounded by Cupids. Egypt 1st century B.C. Medium two-layered onyx, gold (in a mount of a later date). Hermitage Museum, Russia This is from Cleopatra's days! She almost certainly had a large male harem ... Quick research here comes up empty though - besides terms like "prostitute queen" from Roman authors. We can't really rely on the testimony of infibulated roman men to describe a world they were not familiar with. This Cameo probably provides the basis for further inquiry into Cleopatra's sexuality. She was probably sexually insatiable like Empress Messalina or Julia the Elder - the daughter of Augustus - only without constraints ... We know she had a child with Julius Caesar and also"mounted" Marc Anthony - so Cleopatra was certainly aware of the rituals of unleashing a caged Roman penis ... ie she paid for it - an probably a great deal of money! - - Roman Hermaphrodite 56 Cameo - Hermaphroditus, 1st century BC, Sardonyx , Ancient Rome, Getty Museum - - Roman Hermaphrodite 57 Fresco - House of Holconius Rufus, Pompeii - Hermaphroditus among Dionysus' retinue including a maenad, satyr, eros and Silenus. The caption is wrong though - the Hermaphroditus is Dionysus ... - - Roman Hermaphrodite 58 - Etruscan Hermaphroditus The "venus with a penis" pre-dates the roman republic! - - Roman Hermaphrodite 59 'Pan copulating with goat' – Naples Museum Probably Faunus not pan - and the goat is probably the caged roman husband! Amorous Roman housewives were the avatar of Faunus - the all female Bona Dea cult... - - Roman Hermaphrodite 60 Farnese Sarcophagus with Bacchanal. National Archaeological Museum - Naples, Italy. Looks like a sexy dream after a night of heavy drinking. Roman matron's are being sexually mounted by Faunus and a Faunus statue and have grown a set of goat-legs. This is probably where the penis in the all those hermaphrodites comes form - the all night , and all female Bona Dea festival. The guy in the middle is probably Faunus himself and his attendants: " ... Faunus was one of the oldest Roman deities, known as the di indigetes. According to the epic poet Virgil, he was a legendary king of the Latins. His shade was consulted as a goddess of prophecy under the name of Fatuus ... " Wikipedia Thats what they call being "mounted" in voodoo - - Roman Hermaphrodite 61 Farnese Sarcophagus with Bacchanal. National Archaeological Museum - Naples, Italy. That's a dream scene of metamorphosis into a hermaphrodite after a drunken religious festival. In Rome and probably Greece and Egypt too this celebration of hyper-sexuality was an all female affair. This is also probably where Roman matrons did the serious business of selecting Roman men to mount - that's the other part of this festival - the selection of the "Hector Horses." Faunus taught Rome the secret of hyper-sexuality - the caged penis - - Roman Hermaphrodite 62 Figurine of Hermaphroditus + Hermaphroditus herm - - Roman Hermaphrodite 63 Marble Hermaphroditus - - Roman Hermaphrodite 64 Marble Hermaphroditus - roman cornucopia matron lifting her skirt to reveal an erect penis - - Roman Hermaphrodite 65 Bona Dea (The Good Goddess) holding a cornucopia - ancient Rome. There is almost certainly a large penis hidden under those skirts! A Horse Cock ... - - Roman Hermaphrodite 66 Bona Dea (The Good Goddess) holding a cornucopia + a ship's rudder - ancient Rome. Labeled: Marble Statue of Tyche Fortuna, Metropolitan Museum of Art My guess from that hair style, is that is a specific Roman empress as Bona Dea - thats where real power in Rome lived - the emperor's "dog-leash holder" That's the explicit meaning of the ship's rudder - the empress was the captain of the roman ship! - - Roman Hermaphrodite 67 Bona Dea (The Good Goddess) holding a cornucopia - ancient Rome. Labeled: Marble Statue of Tyche Fortuna " ... TYKHE (Tyche) was the goddess of good fortune. She was usually worshipped as the guardian spirit of a city's good fortune and her cult was fairly widespread. In this guise she was depicted with a turret-crown representing the city's walls and a horn of plenty brimming with the fruits of the earth. ... In most representations she is barely distinguished from the goddess Demeter--the crown, cornucopia and child Ploutos were attributes shared by both goddesses. In many cases, Tykhe was probably viewed as simply an aspect of that goddess. ... Tykhe has her three standard attributes of turret-crown, cornucopia and ship's rudder. ... "theoi - - Roman Hermaphrodite 68 Marble Hermaphroditus - - Roman Hermaphrodite 69 Penis temple Pompeii - almost certainly a female phallus - - Roman Hermaphrodite 70 Hermaphrodite (marble) from Roman, early Imperial period (about 20 B.C. — A.D. 40) Boston's Museum of Fine Arts - - Roman Hermaphrodite 71 Faunus with grapes - and a caged penis Labelled : Pan or "Della Valle Satyr" "Satyr "Della Valle” one of a pair depicting Pan were found near the Theater of Pompey and are thought to be part of its original decoration sculpted from a Hellenistic period original 1st century BC" Mary Harrsch - - Roman Hermaphrodite 72 Faunus with grapes - and a caged penis - - Roman Hermaphrodite 73 Female Dionysus and procession Labeled: Drunken Dionysos between Satyr and Maenads (late 2nd C AD). Ancient Roman relief in the Museo Archeologico of Naples - - Roman Hermaphrodite 74 Roman matron lifting dress to reveal an erect penis - - Roman Hermaphrodite 75 Labeled: Roman Sculpture of a Nymph pushing a Satyr away, 1st century AD, Herculaneum, Secret Museum or Secret Cabinet, Naples National Archaeological Museum - - Roman Hermaphrodite 76 Labeled: Satyr and a Maenad dancing. Ancient Roman Fresco, c.62-79, Casa Dei Dioscuri, Pompeii - - Roman Hermaphrodite 77 Pompeii: A Satyr with a winesack - - Roman Hermaphrodite 78 Reclining hermaphrodite: Roman 2nd century AD Described as male - but probably a female with a penis " ... Depicted as an effeminate youth reclining on his back upon a mantle, leaning to the left with the right shoulder elevated, supporting his raised head on his left hand, the right arm resting on his right thigh, the legs slightly drawn up with the knees bent, the twist of his torso prominently displaying his dual sexuality, the male genitalia of an adolescent youth, the small breasts of a young woman, his wavy hair center parted and tied in a fillet, the ties and long tendrils falling onto his shoulders, the mantle visible beneath his left arm, over his right leg and under his left, the figure restored in the 18th century, perhaps by Bartolomeo Cavaceppi (1716-1799), with the addition of limbs and an ancient head, not original to the torso, with some of the 18th-century restorations abandoned in the late 20th century, the current rocky plinth fashioned during this second restoration 43 5/16 in. (110 cm.) long Provenance: William Fitzmaurice, Earl of Shelburne, Marquis of Lansdowne (1737-1805), bought from Gavin Hamilton for #40, sent from Rome on May 6, 1775 on board the Tartar (according to a letter dated May 30, 1775). The Celebrated Collection of Ancient Marbles, The Property of the Most Honourable The Marquess of Lansdowne; Christie's, London, 5 March 1930 ... " Christies - - Roman Hermaphrodite 79 " ... Annia Galeria Faustina Minor..., Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger (born probably 21 September c. 130 CE, — 175/176 CE) was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was held in high esteem by soldiers and her own husband and was given divine honours after her death. ... "Wikipedia " ... Marcus Aurelius married Faustina the Younger in AD 145, due to the wishes of Antoninus Pius. Faustina was reported to have been overcome with passion for a certain gladiator, and that her son Commodus was the product of this union and not her marriage with the emperor. At any rate, the empress was well-known for her passions, particularly for low-life sailors and gladiators. Marcus Aurelius never divorced her, however, out of respect for the wishes of his father. He considered that the empire was the dowry for which he married Faustina, and even promoted several of her known lovers. ... " finds.org Faustina was given the title of Augusta on 1 December 147 after the birth of her first child, Domitia Faustina. The facts are confused. Marcus Aurelius was never really emperor - he was always sharing power with other men. The truth seems to have been power was centered in the office of Augusta and moved from Faustina's mother to Faustina them to Faustina's daughter Lucilla " ... Augusta was a Roman imperial honorific title given to empresses and honoured women of the imperial families. It was the feminine form of Augustus. In the third century, Augustae could also receive the titles of Mater Castrorum ("Mother of the Camp") and Mater Patriae ("Mother of the Fatherland"). The title implied the greatest prestige. Augustae could issue their own coinage, wear imperial regalia, and rule their own courts. In the third century, Julia Domna was the first empress to receive the title combination "Pia Felix Augusta" after the death of her husband Septimius Severus, which may have implied greater powers being vested in her than what was usual for a Roman empress mother. ... " Wikipedia - - Roman Hermaphrodite 80 Labeled Priapus But that might be a mistake - the dress and body is female - but a fecund male spirit seems to have inhabited it. To me this is Faunus possessing one of his female followers and not Priapus - - Roman Hermaphrodite 81 Same here - female form but large male erection and the face of Faunus - That's the roman Legba ... Or the roman Futa - and the all-important Futa semen ... - roman men were stingy with their semen - Roman matrons were forced to mount lower class men as men of their own class seem to have preferred the dog-leash ... - - Roman Hermaphrodite 82 Roman matron and Faunus herm - - Roman Hermaphrodite 83 Roman matron lifting her skirt to reveal an erect penis Terracotta anasyromenos figurine, from a Nymphs sanctuary in Locri, National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria; late 4th century BC. The roman female phallus goes back to Etruscan days - the Roman way was for the father to raise children while young wives mounted as many men as they could - Roman and Greek too it seems - this was the situation in the days of Socrates! It was not wife sharing - it was full-on polyandry! The female bulls ... - - Roman Hermaphrodite 84 Labeled: Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius and his wife Faustina the Younger in Capitoline Museum The label is misleading - Faustina is the emperor - Augusta and Marcus Aurelius is a dog leashed sex object ... Just one of many mounts of the empress - - Roman Hermaphrodite 85 Bona Dea (The Good Goddess) holding a cornucopia - - Roman Hermaphrodite 86 Labeled: Detail of Roman statue Pan and Daphnis But that's probably - a roman matron and Faunus - - Roman Hermaphrodite 87 - - Roman Hermaphrodite 88 - - Roman Hermaphrodite 89 " ...Julia Domna (c. 160 – 217 AD) was Roman empress consort from 193 to 211. As empress, Domna was famous for her political, social, and philosophical influence. She received titles such as "Mother of the Invincible Camps". After the elder of her sons, Caracalla, started ruling with his father, she was briefly co-empress with Caracalla's wife, Fulvia Plautilla, until the latter fell into disgrace. Following the death of Severus in 211, Domna became the first empress dowager to receive the title combination "Pia Felix Augusta", which may have implied greater powers being vested in her than what was usual for a Roman empress mother. Her sons succeeded to the throne. ... After the death of Domna, her older sister Julia Maesa successfully contended for political power. The Severan dynasty was restored to power with the accession of Maesa's grandson, Elagabalus, in 218. The dynasty maintained power until 235 when the reign of Severus Alexander, the cousin and successor of Elagabalus, ended. This marked the start of the Crisis of the Third Century. ... Unlike most imperial wives, Domna remarkably accompanied her husband on his military campaigns and stayed in camp with the army. As worded by Barbara Levick, Domna "was to exceed all other empresses in the number and variety of her official titles."Honorary titles were granted to Domna similar to those given to Faustina the Younger, including "Mother of the Invincible Camps",and Mater Augustus (Mother of Augustus). She was respected and viewed positively for most of her tenure, as indicators and evidence include the coins minted with her portrait, mentioning her with the titles and also simply as "Julia Augusta". The title Pia Felix Augusta which she received after Severus' death was "perhaps a way of implying that Domna had absorbed and was continuing her husband's attributes" after his death. Several medallions for Domna were issued by Severus as early as 207, on the reverses of which is "Vesta Mater" (Mother Vesta), which, according to Molly M. Lindner, "could refer to an invocation to Vesta during prayers and supplications that the Vestal Virgins made whenever they prayed publicly". According to Lindner, While some scholars have proposed that Julia Domna's medallions commemorate the restoration of the Temple of Vesta by the empress, Melanie Grunow Sobocinski pointed out that [the temple] burned down in 191, whereas Julia Domna's use of Vestal iconography does not occur until 207. Either the reconstruction of [the temple] took more than fifteen years, or Julia Domna had a different motivation, perhaps one connected to her role as the mother of Septimius Severus' heirs, as the legend on the reverses suggests. ... " Wikipedia - - Roman Hermaphrodite 90 " ...Julia Maesa (7 May before 160 AD – c. 224 AD) was a member of the Severan dynasty of the Roman Empire who was the major power behind the throne in the reigns of her grandsons, Elagabalus and Severus Alexander, as Augusta of the Empire from 218 to her death.Born in Emesa, Syria (modern day Homs), Maesa was the daughter of the high priest of Emesa's Temple of the Sun, and the elder sister of Roman empress Julia Domna. The Severan dynasty was dominated by powerful women, one of which was Maesa. Politically able and ruthless, she contended for political power after her sister's suicide.She is best known for her plotting and scheming which resulted in the restoration of the Severan dynasty to the Roman throne after the assassination of Caracalla and the usurpation of the throne by Macrinus. Afterwards she held power until she died in Rome. She was later deified in Syria along with her sister. The Severan dynasty ended in 235. ... " Wikipedia These 2 Roman empresses show that female power was still dominant as late a 235 AD in the Roman empire. I was surprised to read that women were so equal they even shared public baths naked with men in the late empire: " ... Wealthy women traveled around the city in a litter carried by slaves. Women gathered in the streets on a daily basis to meet with friends, attend religious rites at temples, or to visit the baths. The wealthiest families had private baths at home, but most people went to bath houses not only to wash but to socialize, as the larger facilities offered a range of services and recreational activities, among which casual sex was not excluded. One of the most vexed questions of Roman social life is whether the sexes bathed together in public. Until the late Republic, evidence suggests that women usually bathed in a separate wing or facility, or that women and men were scheduled at different times. But there is also clear evidence of mixed bathing from the late Republic until the rise of Christian dominance in the later Empire. Some scholars have thought that only lower-class women bathed with men, or those of dubious moral standing such as entertainers or prostitutes, but Clement of Alexandria observed that women of the highest social classes could be seen naked at the baths. Hadrian prohibited mixed bathing, but the ban seems not to have endured. Most likely, customs varied not only by time and place, but by facility, so that women could choose to segregate themselves by gender or not ... "Wikipedia From study of roman brothels and infibulation of the male penis we are left with the incredible conclusion that prostitution was a service offered to roman women not given by roman women - so I do not find it surprising that Clement of Alexandria could report naked female public bathing in Rome. Also , all these naked statues of women with a penis tell a story - women were quite comfortable nude and in public in the late roman empire. - - Roman Hermaphrodite 91 Hellenistic Bronze Figure of Hermaphrodite c. 2nd/1st Century B.C. (Sotheby's) - fully erect penis - - Roman Hermaphrodite 92 Aphroditus - MARQ Archaeological Museum of Alicante Roman Imperial Bronze, 1st-3rd century AD Roman matron lifting her dress to reveal an erect penis - - Indian Hermaphrodite 93 - erect penis Mother Goddess (Matrika) mid- 6th century India (Rajasthan, Tanesara) Metropolitan Museum of Art According to the Met: "This figure is one of a group of seven mother goddesses that sprang from an associated Hindu male god. Despite their alluring beauty, these matrikas represent dangerous and malevolent forces—the devourers of children and bearers of sickness and disease. Although they were integral to early temple iconographic schema, as seen at sixth-century Aihole, their power was so threatening that they were soon marginalized, consigned to dedicated shrines beyond city boundaries. The combined power of the matrikas is understood to be embodied in the mother goddess par excellence, Durga" I disagree with this analysis! The female with a penis is an anima figure - Fanged? Yes. Serpentine? Yes. Hyper-sexual? Yes - But that's it - the rest is up to the ego " ... Matrikas also called Matar or Matri, are a group of mother goddesses who are always depicted together in Hinduism. Matrikas are the different forms Adi Parashakti. Matrikas are the personified powers of different Devas. Brahmani emerged from Brahma, Vaishnavi from Vishnu, Maheshvari from Shiva, Indrani from Indra, Kaumari from Skanda, Varahi from Varaha and Chamunda from Devi, and additionals are Narasimhi, Vinayaki. The Matrikas are usually depicted in a group of seven called Saptamatrika(s) (Seven Mothers).However, they may be eight Matrikas called Ashtamatrika(s). In South India, Saptamatrika worship is prevalent whereas the Ashtamatrika are venerated in Nepal. The Matrikas assume paramount significance in the goddess-oriented sect of Hinduism, Tantrism. In Shaktism, they are described as "assisting the great Shakta Devi (goddess) in her fight with demons." Some scholars consider them Shaiva goddesses.They are also connected with the worship of warrior god Skanda. In most early references, the Matrikas are described as having inauspicious qualities and often described as dangerous.The Matrikas are fearsome goddesses, abductors and eaters of children; that is, they were emblematic of childhood pestilence, fever, starvation, and disease. They were propitiated in order to avoid those ills, that carried off so many children before they reached adulthood.They come to play a protective role in later mythology, although some of their inauspicious and wild characteristics still persist in these accounts. Thus, they represent the prodigiously fecund aspect of nature as well as its destructive force aspect. In the Brihat-Samhita, Varahamihira says that "Mothers are to be made with cognizance of (different major Hindu) gods corresponding to their names."They are associated with these gods as their spouses or their energies (Shaktis).Originally believed to be a personification of the seven stars of the star cluster the Pleiades, they became quite popular by the seventh century and a standard feature of goddess temples from the ninth century onwards. ... " Wikipedia - - Roman Hermaphrodite 94 dancing female with a caged penis Hermaphrodite Diana sculpture, Bronze, 1st century AD, Roman - - Egyptian Hermaphrodite 95 Egyptian amulet of a masturbating hermaphroditic god. c. Ptolemaic Period (332 -30 BC) - we do not see this scene, although through Freud and others we have heard about it . ... Isis and other Egyptian goddesses have a penis! - -Roman Hermaphrodite 96 " ... Vibia Sabina (83–136/137 AD) was a Roman Empress, wife and second cousin once removed to Roman Emperor Hadrian. She was the daughter of Matidia (niece of Roman Emperor Trajan) and suffect consul Lucius Vibius Sabinus. After her father's death in 84, Sabina, along with her half-sister Matidia Minor, went to live with their mother's mother, Marciana. They were raised in the household of Trajan and his wife Plotina. Sabina married Hadrian in 100, at the empress Plotina's request. Hadrian succeeded her great uncle in 117. Sabina's mother Matidia (Hadrian's second cousin) was also fond of Hadrian and allowed him to marry her daughter. Sabina accumulated more public honors in Rome and the provinces than any imperial woman had enjoyed since the first empress, Augustus’ wife Livia. Indeed, Sabina is the first woman whose image features on a regular and continuous series of coins minted at Rome. She was the most traveled and visible empress to date. In 128, she was awarded the title of Augusta. ... " Wikipedia - -Roman Hermaphrodite 97 " ... Pompeia Plotina Claudia Phoebe Piso, or simply Pompeia Plotina (died 121/122 AD) was a Roman Empress and wife of Roman Emperor Trajan. She was renowned for her interest in philosophy, and her virtue, dignity and simplicity. She was particularly devoted to the Epicurean philosophical school in Athens, Greece. She is often viewed as having provided Romans with fairer taxation, improved education, assisted the poor, and created tolerance in Roman society. Plotina was born and was raised in Tejada la Vieja (Escacena del Campo) in the province of Hispania, possibly during the reign of Roman Emperor Nero (r. 54–68). However, she could have been born in the 70s CE. She was the daughter of Lucius Pompeius and Plotia, who had extensive political and familial connections. Trajan married her before his accession and, although a happy marriage, they had no known children. Upon entering the imperial palace following Trajan's ascension, Plotina is said to have turned to those watching her and carefully announced, "I enter here the kind of woman I would like to be when I depart." It was through acts like this she sought to dispel the bad taste of domestic strife that had characterized the reign of Domitian as well as the Julio-Claudian dynasty, where she acted like a traditional Roman matron, and was associated with chaste goddesses like Vesta, the guardian of Rome's sacred fire, and Minerva, goddess of war and wisdom.In 100, Trajan awarded her with title of Augusta, but she did not accept the title until 105. Plotina did not appear also on the coinage until 112. ... When a letter Trajan was said to have composed on his deathbed appeared in Rome with Plotina's signature on it, in which he adopted Hadrian and naming him successor to the Empire, suspicions were raised. It was rumoured that Attianus and the Empress Plotina had been lovers, both were very fond of Hadrian their ward, both were present at Trajan’s deathbed at Selinus in Cilicia in August 117, and that the two had helped secure Hadrian's succession by forging Trajan’s will. Annelise Freisenbruch dismisses this accusation: "Plotina, the silent spouse of the second century, thus joined Livia, Agrippina Minor, and Domitia in the gallery of Roman imperial women accused of covering up or conspiring in their husband's deaths." Freisenbruch notes that there are many plausible explanations why Plotina's signature might legitimately be on this declaration: Trajan may have simply been too weak to sign the letter himself. Freisenbruch also notes these kinds of accusations have dogged the spouses of rulers through the centuries. ... It was while a widow that Plotina's best documented action took place. During the year 121, while the emperor Hadrian was inspecting the provinces, Plotina and he engaged in a series of letters discussing who should be the new head of the Epicurean school of philosophy in Athens. She petitioned for a change in the law, which would allow Popillius Theotimus, the acting head of the school, to become the actual head; in response, Hadrian agreed with her argument, and the relevant letters were preserved in a series of inscriptions. Freisenbruch notes, "In stark contrast to her passive anonymity in the literary record, this inscription from Athens recasts Plotina as a highly educated woman, active on behalf of causes close to her heart and with the kind of access to the emperor once enjoyed by Livia." When Plotina died of illness, she was deified. Hadrian built a temple in her honor at Nîmes, in Provence. ... " Wikipedia - -Roman Hermaphrodite 98 Statues of Claudius and Agrippina, Aphrodisias Museum - That's the classic Roman "bound and belted" marriage. A naked Emperor Claudius is being "dog-leashed " by his niece Agrippa the new Augusta. " ... Agrippina the Younger (Latin: Julia Agrippina; 6 November AD 15 – 23 March AD 59), also referred to as Agrippina Minor ... was a Roman empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Her father was Germanicus, a popular general and one-time heir apparent to the Roman Empire under Tiberius; and her mother was Agrippina the Elder, a granddaughter of the first Roman emperor Augustus. She was also the younger sister of Caligula, as well as the niece and fourth wife of Claudius. Both ancient and modern sources describe Agrippina's personality as ruthless, ambitious, violent, and domineering. ... She briefly served as the de facto ruler of Rome during the reign of her son, emperor Nero. In AD 59 Agrippina was executed on the orders of Nero. ... On the day that Agrippina married her uncle Claudius as her third husband/his fourth wife, she became an Empress and the most powerful woman in the Roman Empire. ... ... In 50, Agrippina was granted the honorific title of Augusta. She was only the third Roman woman (Livia Drusilla and Antonia Minor received this title) and only the second living Roman woman (the first being Antonia) to receive this title. ... Ancient sources claim that Agrippina successfully influenced Claudius into adopting her son and making him his successor. Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus was adopted by his great maternal uncle and stepfather in 50. Lucius' name was changed to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus and he became Claudius's adopted son, heir and recognised successor. Agrippina and Claudius betrothed Nero to Octavia, and Agrippina arranged to have Seneca the Younger return from exile to tutor the future emperor. Claudius chose to adopt Nero because of his Julian and Claudian lineage. ... Nero and Octavia were married on June 9, 53. Claudius later repented of marrying Agrippina and adopting Nero, began to favor Britannicus, and started preparing him for the throne. His actions allegedly gave Agrippina a motive to eliminate Claudius. The ancient sources say she poisoned Claudius on October 13, 54 (a Sunday) with a plate of deadly mushrooms at a banquet, thus enabling Nero to quickly take the throne as emperor. Accounts vary wildly with regard to this private incident and according to more modern sources, it is possible that Claudius died of natural causes; Claudius was 63 years old. ... " Wikipedia - -Roman Hermaphrodite 99 Relief sculpture of Nero being crowned emperor by Agrippina, Aphrodisias Museum, Aphrodisias, Turkey. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 100 " ... Valeria Messalina; c. 17/20–48 AD, sometimes spelled Messallina, was the third wife of the Roman emperor Claudius. She was a paternal cousin of Emperor Nero, a second cousin of Emperor Caligula, and a great-grandniece of Emperor Augustus. A powerful and influential woman with a reputation for promiscuity, she allegedly conspired against her husband and was executed on the discovery of the plot. ... Little is known about Messalina's life prior to her marriage in 38 to Claudius, her first cousin once removed, who was then about 47 years old. Two children were born as a result of their union: a daughter Claudia Octavia (born 39 or 40), a future empress, stepsister and first wife to the emperor Nero; and a son, Britannicus. When the Emperor Caligula was murdered in 41, the Praetorian Guard proclaimed Claudius the new emperor and Messalina became empress. ... After her accession to power, Messalina enters history with a reputation as ruthless, predatory and sexually insatiable, while Claudius is painted as easily led by her and unconscious of her many adulteries. ... In 48 AD, Claudius went to Ostia to visit the new harbor he was constructing and was informed while there that Messalina had gone so far as to marry her latest lover, Senator Gaius Silius in Rome. It was only when Messalina held a costly wedding banquet in Claudius' absence that the freedman Narcissus decided to inform him.The exact motivations for Messalina's actions are unknown—it has been interpreted as a move to overthrow Claudius and install Silius as Emperor, with Silius adopting Britannicus and thereby ensuring her son's future accession. Other historians have speculated that Silius convinced Messalina that Claudius' overthrow was inevitable, and her best hopes of survival lay in a union with him.Tacitus stated that Messalina hesitated even as Silius insisted on marriage, but ultimately conceded because "she coveted the name of wife", and because Silius had divorced his own wife the previous year in anticipation of a union with Messalina.Another theory is that Messalina and Silius merely took part in a sham marriage as part of a Bacchic ritual as they were in the midst of celebrating the Vinalia, a festival of the grape harvest. Tacitus and Dio state that Narcissus convinced Claudius that it was a move to overthrow him and persuaded him to appoint the deputy Praetorian Prefect, Lusius Geta, to the charge of the Guard because the loyalty of the senior Prefect Rufrius Crispinus was in doubt. Claudius rushed back to Rome, where he was met by Messalina on the road with their children. The leading Vestal Virgin, Vibidia, came to entreat Claudius not to rush to condemn Messalina. He then visited the house of Silius, where he found a great many heirlooms of his Claudii and Drusii forebears, taken from his house and gifted to Silius by Messalina. When Messalina attempted to gain access to her husband in the palace, she was repulsed by Narcissus and shouted down with a list of her various offences compiled by the freedman. Despite the mounting evidence against her, Claudius's feelings were softening and he asked to see her in the morning for a private interview.Narcissus, pretending to act on Claudius' instructions, ordered an officer of the Praetorian Guard to execute her. When the troop of guards arrived at the Gardens of Lucullus, where Messalina had taken refuge with her mother, she was given the honorable option of taking her own life. Unable to muster the courage to slit her own throat, she was run through with a sword by one of the guards. Upon hearing the news, the Emperor did not react and simply asked for another chalice of wine. The Roman Senate then ordered a damnatio memoriae so that Messalina's name would be removed from all public and private places and all statues of her would be taken down. ... " Wikipedia - -Roman Hermaphrodite 101 The Empress Livia Drusilla (58 BC-29AD) as Ops, with wheat sheaf and cornucopia, 1st century. Wife of Augustus and first Augusta. Collection of Musée du Louvre, Paris. " ... In ancient Roman religion, Ops or Opis (Latin: "Plenty") was a fertility deity and earth goddess of Sabine origin. ...The Latin word ops means "riches, goods, abundance, gifts, munificence, plenty".The word is also related to opus, which means "work", particularly in the sense of "working the earth, ploughing, sowing". This activity was deemed sacred, and was often attended by religious rites intended to obtain the good will of chthonic deities such as Ops and Consus. According to Roman tradition, the cult of Opis was instituted by Titus Tatius, one of the Sabine kings of Rome. Opis soon became the matron of riches, abundance, and prosperity. Opis had a famous temple in the Capitolium. Originally, a festival took place in Opis' honor on August 10. Additionally, on December 19 (some say December 9), the Opalia was celebrated. On August 25, the Opiconsivia was held. Opiconsivia was another name used for Opis, indicating when the earth was sown. These festivals also included activities that were called Consualia, in honor of Consus, her consort. Opis, when syncretized with Greek mythology, was not only the wife of Saturn, she was his sister and the daughter of Caelus. Her children were Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Juno, Ceres, and Vesta. Opis also acquired queenly status and was reputed to be an eminent goddess. By public decree temples, priests, and sacrifices were accorded her. When Saturn learned of a prophecy that stated his and Opis' children would end up overthrowing him as leader, he ate his children one by one after they were born. Opis, being the loving mother that she was, could not just stand by and let all of her children be eaten by her husband. So, instead of feeding Saturn their final child Jupiter, she wrapped a rock in swaddling clothes, and fed that to Saturn instead of Jupiter. Opis then went on to raise Jupiter, and then helped him free his siblings from their father's stomach. ... " Wikipedia - -Roman Hermaphrodite 102 Bust of the Empress Livia Drusilla (58 BC-29AD) . Wife of Augustus and 1st Augusta. Getty Villa.. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 103 Marble Statues of the Empress Livia Drusilla (left), and her son Tiberius (right), 14-19 AD, from Paestum, Italy. National Archaeological Museum of Spain. That's probably Livia as Bona Dea - the "good goddess" - The women-only roman cult where women aquired a penis from a fecund pan-like Faunus. This was the pattern of roman rule - the public, chaste "bound and belted" or infibulated emperor and the hidden phallic and promiscuous Augusta - the"mother of the invincible camp" " ... The Annals of Tacitus is a history of the Julio-Claudian dynasty beginning with the death of Augustus. In it, he portrays women as having a profound influence on politics. The women of the imperial family in particular are depicted by Tacitus as having a notable prominence in the public sphere as well as possessing a ferocity and ambition with which they pursue it. Tacitus presents them as living longer than the imperial men and thus being more wise as they advance in age. Among the most broad of his portrayals is that of Agrippina. He emphasizes their role in connecting genetically back to Augustus, a significant factor in the marriages of the emperors and princes of the dynasty. The Annals repeatedly has Agrippina competing for influence with Tacitus simply because she is related to Augustus biologically. Tacitus presents Agrippina as being kindred to aristocratic males, and has her reversing gender roles, which showcases her assumption of male auctoritas ("authority") with metaphors of her dressing and undressing. In an example of Agrippina assuming auctoritas, he says: But throughout those days, a femina, mighty of spirit, donned the apparel of a dux, and she distributed clothing or bandages to the soldiers, whoever might be needy or suffering. Gaius Plinius, the chronicler of the German wars, relates that she stood at the head of the bridge, offering congratulatory praises to the legions as they returned. —Tacitus, 1.69.1 —L'Hoir 2006, pp. 136–7 Using the above epithet, "(femina) ingens animi" ("..[a woman], great for her courage"), he assigns a haughty attitude to Agrippina that compels her to explore the affairs of men. He records her as having reversed the natural order of things when she quelled the mutiny of the Rhine in AD 14. In so doing, he describes her as having usurped her husband's power, a power rightfully belonging only to a general. ... "Wikipedia - - Egyptian Hermaphrodite 104 Akhenaten - Egyptian Museum, Cairo Looks like a female pharaoh Akhenaten! That statue leaves no room for doubt that Akhenaten was a woman That's an example of the female phallus - there must have been caging of the penis in the 18th dynasty ... - - Egyptian Hermaphrodite 105 Again - there is no doubt that Akhenaten is a woman! Not the first female pharaoh though - there was Cleopatra and Hatshepsut. The woman with a penis is an ancient event in Africa ... - - Egyptian Hermaphrodite 106 Akhenaten and female worshipers of the sun - -Roman Hermaphrodite 107 Female dionysus - in ceremonial robes. . The caption says that's a male, but those are female robes. Sarcophagus with Bacchanalian scenes, - The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia - Circa 210 AD - -Roman Hermaphrodite 108 Cameo - Reclining hermaphrodite Glass paste cameo - Farnese Gems - -Roman Hermaphrodite 109 Bronze dancing hermaphrodite figurine - -Roman Hermaphrodite 110 Bronze hermaphrodite figurine - -Roman Hermaphrodite 111 Mosaic of dancing Hermaphroditus, North Africa, Roman period, 2nd to 3rd century AD - -Roman Hermaphrodite 112 Hermaphroditus and Silenus. Roman fresco from Pompeii. Silenus has a deep tan - that's the "dog-leash" effect. These are probably the "ionic" dances that caused new roman wives to chase after younger men. The penis is symbolic - it probably means that the spirit of Dionysus incarnates though women - or "mounts" women as they say in voodoo - -Roman Hermaphrodite 113 Relief of a dancing Hermaphroditus - -Roman Hermaphrodite 114 Marble Hermaphroditus - -Roman Hermaphrodite 115 Labeled: "Pan surprising Hermaphroditus" Fresco c. 67 AD, Pompeii That's probably a seated female Dionysus with an erection and Silenius - -Roman Hermaphrodite 116 Julia Domna (c. 160 – 217 AD), Roman empress (Augusta) and her family: Septimius Severus and two sons. Septimius Severus was from Carthage but that is probably not the cause of his dark skin. That was probably caused by longterm use of the "dog-leash". His sons are still the skin tone of their mother - they have not yet been leashed. Julia Domna was the leash holder. - The Roman ruling classes were female led families with control over the children given to the father, and control over the father or more specifically his dog-leash , given to the mother. This is a counter-intuitive truth, but is borne out by the facts upon closer examination - -Roman Hermaphrodite 117 Messalina by Jack Oleck (1963) - cover by James Meese. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 118 Relief of Caracalla with Domna as Victoria, National Museum, Warsaw, Poland Caracalla being crowned by his mother Julia Domna (Augusta) According to Wikipedia: " ... Julia Domna was born in Emesa (modern day Homs) in Syria around 160 AD to an Arab family that was part of the Emesan dynasty. Her name, Domna, is an archaic Arabic word meaning "black."She was the youngest daughter of the high priest of Baal, Julius Bassianus, and sister to Julia Maesa. Through Maesa and her husband Julius Avitus, Domna had two nieces: Julia Soaemias and Julia Mamaea, the respective mothers of future Roman emperors Elagabalus (r. 218–222) and Severus Alexander (r. 222–235). Domna's ancestors were priest kings of the famous temple of Elagabalus. The family had enormous wealth and was promoted to Roman senatorial aristocracy. Before her marriage, Domna inherited the estate of her paternal great-uncle Julius Agrippa, a former leading centurion ... " Not sure about the Arab part knowing the way colonial power works. They were probably Romans living in Arabia. On the other hand - the epithet Domna as "black" probably means that she was neither ethnically roman nor Greek. Julia Domna is probably the archetype of "she"- the pre-Islamic Arab queen with a penis Not mentioned is her mother - which is probably where her authority emanated from ... - -Roman Hermaphrodite 119 Roman matron lifting her dress to reveal a penis - -Roman Hermaphrodite 120 Erect penis Roman bronze figure of Hermaphroditos c early 1st Century A.D. " ... The nude ithyphallic figure depicted standing, the body turned to peer back over the proper right shoulder to gaze down at a double-mirror held in the lowered proper right hand, angled to catch a reflection of the buttocks, the proper left hand raised to touch the fillet binding the hair, the ribbons of which trail below, the figure atop a ribbed socle, ancient but slightly later in date, ... Reputedly discovered in Spain in the 1950s. Private collection, Spain. ... " Bonhams - -Roman Hermaphrodite 121 Roman bronze figure of Hermaphroditos - -Roman Hermaphrodite 122 Dancing Hermaphrodite - Roman statue, 1st century-2nd century. Bronze. From Roman village of El Ruedo, Almedinilla (province of Cordoba), Andalusia, Spain. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 123 Coin of Septimus Severus with Hermaphroditus as female Dionysus and Faunus on back side " ... Septimius Severus. 193-211 AD. Hadrianopolis, Thrace; Æ 28. Obv: His laureate and draped bust, r. Rev: To right, Pan, with goat legs, holding lagobolon and facing HERMAPHRODITOS ... on the left ... " akropoliscoins The Severan dynasty seems to have been the last days of the hermaphrodite cult - a cult that probably stretched back to ancient Egypt. Later roman dynasties show a growing tendency towards Christian Augusta's Hermaphroditus and Augusta - the "Mother of the Invincible Camps" - or a woman with a penis are probably the same thing. Once Christian civilization began, the "dog leash" or Kynodesme tradition probably fell out of fashion and with it the corresponding "woman with a penis" or hyper-sexual Roman matron went extinct - -Roman Hermaphrodite 124 Roman matron incarnating the spirit of Faunus lifting her dress to reveal an erect penis and a fruit basket - -Roman Hermaphrodite 125 Roman herm figurine with an erect penis " ... Roman copper alloy statuette of herm of Priapus from Pakenham, Suffolk. Priapus promises the fertility of gardens and the safety of seafarers. Roman in origin, but rare outside of Italy. From the British Museum's collection. ... " Getty Images Based on the previous examples from this period in roman history - that is probably not Priapus. It's probably a naked roman matron proudly displaying a full erection. - Once a Roman matron had "bound and belted" a husband, she was expected to take pride in her virility by bedding as many men as she pleased ... - -Roman Hermaphrodite 126 Bacchus and Ampelus - British museum Shot blocked - used workaround " ... Ampelos (Greek: μπελος, lit. "Vine") or Ampelus (Latin) was a personification of the grapevine in Greek and Roman mythology. In Nonnus's etiology, Ampelos is a beautiful satyr youth, who was loved by Dionysus, and whose death was foreseen by the god. ... " Wikipedia That's a goddess with a penis, not a god though - or maybe an amazon - with a penis - -Roman Hermaphrodite 127 Bacchus and Ampelus - Uffizi Museum, Florence, Italy Shot blocked - used workaround Again, thats a woman with a penis - the hair and head is female , the body mostly male. - The Dionysus on the "Triumph of Dionysus sarcophagus" at the Walters with his head scratched out is probably a female - from the arrangement of the hair - that's probably a female Dionysus - -Roman Hermaphrodite 128 Bacchus and Ampelus - Or " ... Dionysos with His panther, and Oinosthe Wine-God, 150-200 BC, British Museum ... " Shot blocked - used workaround Not ambiguous - thats a goddess or amazon with a penis - -Roman Hermaphrodite 129 Bacchus and Ampelus - Shot blocked - used workaround Thats a goddess or amazon with a penis - -Roman Hermaphrodite 130 " ... Dionysus & satyr w/ panther"-ca.160-180 AD Roman marble copy after 4th c. BC Greek original w/ some 16th c. restoration -Museo Nazionale Romano in Palazzo Altemps" Michel Lara Or: Bacchus and Ampelus - Shot blocked - used workaround That's a goddess or amazon with a penis. She goes back to the 4th century BC. This was the female phallus that was ruling the world of Plato and Socrates. - Literally so in in the case of Athena and the Acropolis - Athena was a masculine goddess and probably had a large female phallus. While always modestly dressed , Athena's cult images were always accompanied by a very large snake - that's the female phallus by another name ... Athenian marriages were like Roman marriages - on the surface they seemed conservative - but on closer examination they were polyandrous with females moving from man to man as they felt like it, and men responsible for raising children (patria potestas)- all control flowing from the bound or dog-tied penis of the Athenian man. Athena and her female proxies were the penis "key-holders". - Athenian female sexual promiscuity is only clear on a close reading of the sources - but there can be no doubt that the nude, bronzed, buff and and infibulated Athenian male was the sex object of the classical world. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 131 That's a female Dionysus on the left - or Ampelus ; a woman with a penis. That's s probably a sneak peak into the Greek holy dances - the bacchanals - which were evidently ruled by a female with a phallus ... " ... LEFT: Table support. Found at Megara. Decorated with a group of the drunken Dionysus supported by a Satyr holding a lagobolon (stick to catch hares). From an Attic workshop. A.D. 250-260. ... National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Athens, Greece. RIGHT: Table support. Found at Gytheion, Laconia. Decorated by a group of a dancing Maenad and a Satyr. From an Attic workshop. A.D. 250-275. ... National Archaeological Museum of Athens. Athens, Greece. ... " Wikipedia - -Roman Hermaphrodite 132 Labeled: "Pan discovers Hermaphroditus, Fresco, c. 67 AD" Pompeii That's probably Faunus with a lagobolon (stick to catch hares) and Hermaphroditus or Ampelus As usual the roman male is deeply tanned - or the "dog-leash" effect. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 133 Labeled: " Drawing of a cameo with Hermaphroditus reclining on a rock, 1768" That's probably Faunus and a male attendant and Hermaphroditus. Hermaphroditus, or Ampelus, or the woman with a penis was the ruler of the greco-roman world - -Roman Hermaphrodite 134 Renaissance cameo of Bacchus and Ampelus- Museo arheologico nazionale .Florence, Italy That's probably a fair copy of an ancient cameo. Ampelus is clearly female with male genitals. That's the famous female Dionysus or Hermaphroditus. Ampelus was a childhood companion of Bacchus who died and was transformed into a grapevine by Bacchus. The propaganda is the Greeks "civilized" the amazons after waging war with them. To me it seems the opposite happened. The amazons were a more civilized race that "dog-leashed" Greek men - and later Roman men. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 135 Bacchus and Ampelus mosaic. Ampelus has a dress that has fallen low enough to reveal male genitals. Bacchus with a lagobolon (stick to catch hares) Drunken Dionysus mosaic, from Antioch (Antakya) 2nd-3rd century AD, Hatay Archaeology Museum, Antakya, Turkey - -Roman Hermaphrodite 136 Bronze Bacchus and Ampelus - -Roman Hermaphrodite 137 Bacchus and Ampelus. Bacchus with a lagobolon (stick to catch hares) - -Roman Hermaphrodite 138 Gold shrine of Bacchus and Ampelus. Athens. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 139 Bacchus and Ampelus mosaic. Bacchus with a lagobolon (stick to catch hares) Thessaloniki - -Roman Hermaphrodite 140 Labeled: Bacchus - Pompeii. Roman copy of a Greek original Probably Ampelus - thats a dress being lowered to reveal a penis - -Roman Hermaphrodite 141 That's the scene on the Severan dynasty coin above. A female Dionysus and Faunus with a lagobolon (stick to catch hares) - -Roman Hermaphrodite 142 Labeled: Central panel of the Dionysus Mosaic, showing a drunken Dionysus (Bacchus) needing support from a friend Bacchus and Ampelus Mosaic 220-230 AD, Romisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne, Germany Following Roman fresco conventions Bacchus is the tanned and infibulated male figure and Ampelus is the light skinned female figure . The fact that she has a penis does not make her male. - -Roman Hermaphrodite 143 Bacchus and Ampelus and Maenad Mosaic, Poseidon Villa, Ancient Zeugama, 3rd century AD . Zeugma Mosaic Museum, Gaziantep, Turkey. Διονσιος at center above the tall figure means Dionysus. I do not know what the other words mean. But that's a genre scene of a young Bacchus and his companion Ampelus Ampelus is lowering her dress to reveal a penis - Rome had an amazon overlord! -Roman Hermaphrodite 144 Triumph of Dionysus, Mosaic from Baths of Roman Setifis (Algeria) c. 297 AD, Archaeological Museum of Setif, Algiers Rare images of original African inhabitants of Roman Algeria - captives That's probably the female Dionysus (Ampelus) in the chariot - That's a gown, not male clothing. Also she is not tanned - meaning no dog-leash ... Dionysus was still an infant during this scene. Alternately, Dionysus could be one of the two deeply tanned youths by the chariot - probably the one with the leopard skin. Dog-leashing was not for everyone it seems - the old guy at the front is not tanned. I noticed that with the Hawara portraits - Roman Egyptians did not have that deep tan. Dog-leashing was for a few privileged men, it seems ... " ... Sitifis was officially Colonia Augusta Nerviana Martialis Veteranorum Sitifensium, and from the time of Diocletian, (293 A.D.), was the capital of Mauretania Sitifensis (now eastern Algeria). Today vestiges of the third century and fourth century include city walls, temple, circus, mausoleum and "Scipio" Byzantine fortress. Numerous archaeological artifacts are exhibited at the archaeological museum of the city. ... Setifis (or Sitifis) was founded in 97 AD by the Romans, during the reign of Nerva, as a colony for Roman veterans. Although no buildings of this period are known, a cemetery excavated in the 1960s seems to have contained tombs from the early colony ... As the town grew, around 297 AD, the province of Mauretania Sitifensis was established, with Sitifis as its capital. In the newly prosperous town a bath building was built, decorated with fine mosaics: its restoration in the fifth century had a cold room (frigidarium) paved with a large mosaic showing the birth of Venus ... " Wikipedia Can't find any Augusta Nerviana during the reign of Emperor Nerva 96 to98 AD. However, it seems the colony was named for an empress. This was the pattern with Rome - the Augusta had more authority than the emperor. It's analogous to the relationship between Ampelus and Dionysus. Ampelus holds the dog-leash of Dionysus ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 145 Epiphany of Dionysus mosaic, from the Villa of Dionysus in Dion, Greece, Archeological Museum of Dion, Late 2nd-early 3rd century AD " ... In the center of the large mosaic, Dionysus is depicted in a chariot. Next to him stands a mature Silenus, who is more a helper of the god than a driver. The carriage is drawn by two panthers, two centaurs hold their reins. One of the two centaurs is a mature, bearded man carrying a vessel (krater) that probably contains wine. The other centaur carries on his shoulder a closed vessel in which presumably the sacred symbols of the Dionysus cult are located. ... " Wikipedia That's not Dionysus - it's the Amazon Ampelus - hugging her is probably a mature Dionysus -Roman Hermaphrodite 146 Dionysus. Bronze. 117—138 AD. Rome, Roman National Museum Found in the Tiber river-bed during the excavations for the foundation of a pier for the Ponte Garibaldi (1885). Thats not a man. It's a female with a penis and a Thyrus. -Roman Hermaphrodite 147 Basanite statue of Agrippina the Younger depicted as a priestess. 54-59 AD. Discovered during excavations in 1885 in Rome. " ... Agrippina the Younger AD 15 – AD 59 was a Roman empress and one of the more prominent women in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Both ancient and modern sources describe Agrippina's personality as ruthless, ambitious, violent and domineering. Physically she was a beautiful and reputable woman; according to Pliny the Elder, she had a double canine in her upper right jaw, a sign of good fortune. ... " Wikipedia Double canine? The girls were firmly in control of the roman empire at the time of Christ. The roman guys probably preferred it that way! I finally figured out who the seventh Vestal was - Augusta! Spiritual power was ruled by women in the office of the Vestals and physical power too - in the office of the Augusta ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 148 Dionysus. Marble copy of a 300 BC original. National Museum of Rome. Not Dionysus - probably his childhood companion Ampelus. Ampelus was from Africa - Africa was probably also under female domination. -Roman Hermaphrodite 149 Phallic Columns of the temple of Dionysus , Delos Island , Greek Cyclades islands. " ... The platform of the Stoivadeion dedicated to Dionysus bears a statue of the god of wine and the life-force. On either side of the platform, a pillar supports a colossal phallus, the symbol of Dionysus. The southern pillar, which is decorated with relief scenes from the Dionysiac circle, was erected around 300 BC to celebrate a winning theatrical performance. The statue of Dionysus was originally flanked by those of two actors impersonating Paposilenoi (conserved in the Archaeological Museum of Delos). The marble theatre is a rebuilding of an older one, undertaken shortly after 300 BC. ... " Wikipedia Based on what has been parading above - those are erect female phalli - not male ... there is an image of a bird with the head of a penis below each statue of an erect penis. From fragments recovered, these were erect winged phalli .... The only thing that could create these conditions is the caged male penis. The "Greek miracle" was firmly rooted in curbing the male Libido. -Roman Hermaphrodite 150 Phallic Bird Fertility Symbol - Dionysus Temple, Delos Island, Greece, 300 B.C. -Roman Hermaphrodite 151 An Apollo Citharoedus from the Palazzo Altemps. The National Roman Museum. Probably from 1st century AD based on similar work cited above. And that's probably not Apollo - its a woman with a penis ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 152 " ... The Apollo of Cyrene is a colossal Roman statue of Apollo found at the ancient city of Cyrene, Libya. It was unearthed at the site along with a large number of other ancient sculptures and inscriptions which were presented to the British Museum in 1861 ... This enormous sculpture was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century at the Temple of Apollo at Cyrene in Libya. It was excavated by the British explorers and amateur archaeologists Captain Robert Murdoch Smith and Commander Edwin A. Porcher. The statue was found broken into 121 pieces, lying near the large plinth where it originally stood. The fragments were later reassembled in the British Museum to create a relatively intact statue with only the right arm and left hand missing. The statue is made from high quality marble and would have originally been painted. The god is shown nude with the exception of a cloak wrapped around his hips. As the god of music, he is shown playing a lyre, with a python nestled below. The statue has a curious mixture of masculine and feminine characteristics, which reflects its Hellenistic origin. The statue was probably the main cult image in the Temple of Apollo at Cyrene. The deity would have acted as the focal point for worship and ritual activity. ... " Wikipedia Reminds me of the Amazon childhood companion of Dionysus. That's not a man -it' s a woman with a penis ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 153 Pothos Apollo (Musei Capitolini) Statue of Pothos, recreated as Apollo Citharoedus, From an original greek of Skopas, dated 4th century BC Again, I say its an amazon with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 154 " ... Apollo Kaitharoidos. Marble, original parts (torso and right leg): Roman copy from the Hadrianic period after an Hellenistic original. Heavily restored in the 17th century: head (after the Apollo Lykeios type), left arm and lyre, left leg, drapery and stick. ... " Wikipedia Museo nazionale romano di palazzo Altemps I say amazon with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 155 Colossal statue of Apollo Citaredo after a 2nd C. BC original attributed to Timarchides. Rome Capitoline Museum Italy I say amazon with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 156 Apollo citharoedus or Apollo with the griffin. Musei Capitolini (Palazzo Nuovo), Rome. I say amazon with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 157 Marble statue of Apollo Citharoedus, - Frigidarium of Baths of Faustina, Miletus, Turkey Again, I say amazon with a penis In this case the Augusta herself: " ... Baths of Faustina The construction of these baths (161-180 A.D.), one of the most remarkable buildings in Miletus, was made possible by money donated by Faustina, the wife of the Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Parts of this colossal building of brick and dressed stone blocks are still standing. One of the most remarkable features is the palaestra, the imposing remains of which lie immediately adjacent to the baths themselves. Beside the pool in one of the cool rooms (frigidaria) is a statue of Meandros, the river god. On the east is the hot room (caldarium) with walls reaching a height of 15 m. There is another frigidarium on the south, together with a dressing-room, or apodyterium. A stoa extends along the other side of the street. ... " turizm The amazons with a penis tell a story about roman society - literally! -Roman Hermaphrodite 158 Apollo citaredo - Uffizi Gallery, Florence , Italy I say amazon with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 159 Apollo Citharoedus (playing the lyre) from Casa del Protiro: Museo di Ostia, Italy. " ... The Baths at Ostia, otherwise known as the Thermae Gavii Maximi, are named after Gavias Maximus, who was the city prefect for 20 years.The baths were intended for public use in Ostia Antica and like many other thermae, created as a gift to the public and were therefore free. They were built during the reign of Emperor Antonius Pius and Septimius Severus (193-225AD). ... " Wikipedia I say amazon with a penis Or maybe , the female Apollo There is probably a specific myth about a female Apollo. The androgyny goes back to ancient Greece - its probably a representation of the "hierosgamos" - -Roman Hermaphrodite 160 Apollo Citharoedus (Apollo with a lyre). Roman greywacke (sandstone) copy from the 1st century AD after the Greek original by Timarchides dated from 179 BC. Statue from the Farnese Collection on display in the National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Campania, Italy Not Apollo though. It's a woman with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 161 Female centaur with a lyre, Roman fresco from Pompeii, National Archaeological Museum, Naples It's a starry girlfriend with a penis! -Roman Hermaphrodite 162 Statuetta di Apollo Citaredo No - it's more likely a female centaur - a "horse cock" girl ... " ... The Centaurides (Ancient Greek: Κενταυρδες, Kentaurides) or centauresses are female centaurs. First encountered in Greek mythology as members of the tribe of the Centauroi, the Centaurides are only occasionally mentioned in written sources, but appear frequently in Greek art and Roman mosaics. The centauress who appears most frequently in literature is Hylonome, wife of the centaur Cyllarus. ... In the "Imagines", the rhetorician Philostratus the Elder gives a brief description of the Centaurides: How beautiful the Centaurides are, even where they are horses; for some grow out of white mares, others are attached to chestnut mares, and the coats of others are dappled, but they glisten like those of horses that are well cared for. There is also a white female Centaur that grows out of a black mare, and the very opposition of the colours helps to produce the united beauty of the whole ... "Wikipedia -Roman Hermaphrodite 163 Roman bronze statuette of Apollo zither player. 2nd-3rd century AD 9 in. high (without the base). Private collection, acquired by family descent. No, its a woman with a penis! The confusion makes no sense - that means there is an archetype here - or psychological complex - my guess is this is where roman upper class women went to become phallic - roman women were the champions of the phallus and the female phallus probably had a religion or many religions attached to it - One possibility is the statuette of a masturbating Egyptian goddess above - in The Golden Ass or The Metamorphoses of Apuleius a roman man is transformed into a donkey and is forced to undergo a series of mis-adventures before he is saved by initiation into the secret rites of Isis. I am certain an encounter with the female with a penis was a part of this initiation ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 164 " ... The Apollon Citharède, an ancient bronze masterpiece Dated from the 2nd or 1 st century BC, this large bronze statuette of exceptional craftsmanship represents Apollo, Greek god of the arts, of male beauty and light. ... Known since 1922 in the Durighello collection, the Apollo citharède de Pompéi remained in French private hands for almost a century and was never presented to the general public. ... " liti No -the only male part of this statue is the penis! - The female Apollo could also be Athena without her robes on. - Maybe thats why in addition to the lyre - which is missing here, the figure of Apollo Citharede is always accompanied by a large python. -Roman Hermaphrodite 165 Centauress carrying a young man, playing the lyre with one hand and clashing cymbals with the other. " ....Painting removed from a wall of a room, possibly a triclinium or dining room, in a house in Pompeii in 1749. Copperplate engraved by Tommaso Piroli from his own Antichita di Ercolano (Antiquities of Herculaneum), Rome, 1789...." Alamy Passion in coded language - horse sex probably - roman women were insatiable - the hero of "the golden ass of Apuleius" for example, was forced to sexually service a female owner - as a donkey! That's how the minotaur was born - an insatiable Greek matron sexually serviced a bull ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 166 Pompeii fresco of a woman playing the lyre 50 -79 AD She's also wearing the purple - could be an Augusta! Her lover has the "dog-leash" tan ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 167 Centaur with Dionysus playing a cithara depicted in fresco from Pompeii (1-79 AD) - National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy. -Roman Hermaphrodite 168 Maenad forcibly mounting a Centaur - fresco from Pompeii, National Archaeological Museum, Naples, Italy Probably a coded reference to the "mulier equitan" female on top horse riding sexual position . Maenad is nude except a purple cloth hanging over her shoulder. Royal horse - rider probably has a female phallus too ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 169 "A ... centauress carrying a bacchant carrying a thyrsus or staff. The centauress holds a sprig of foliage in her left hand and with her right hand drapes a garland under the bacchant's arm ... " Alamy Centaurs and the lyre and the female phallus and horse sex - probably a better association than Apollo Citharede. When I think of Apollo , I think of reason and light - not bachhants ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 170 " ... Painting removed from a wall of a room, possibly a triclinium or dining room, in a house in Pompeii in 1749. Centaur carrying a youth and teaching him to play the lyre, as Chiron taught Achilles. The boy holds a thyrsus decorated with a ribbon and a gold tympanum drum. Copperplate engraved by Tommaso Piroli from his own "Antichita di Ercolano" (Antiquities of Herculaneum), Rome, 1789. Italian artist and engraver Piroli (1752-1824) published six volumes between 1789 and 1807 documenting the murals and bronzes found in Heraculaneum and Pompeii. ... " Alamy That's not a boy - there is no penis ... it's a girl being taught to play the lyre - like Achilles. Roman girls were trained just the same as boys; - evidently once Roman girls got married, they became the head of household - young roman wives put their husbands' penis on a dog-leash. That's probably the moment a roman woman was considered to have a penis - once she had belted and bound a roman man ... On a psychological level it's true- the anima controls a mans eros (penis). -Roman Hermaphrodite 171 Apollon citharède de Pompeí - Louvre That's clearly not a man. It's a woman with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 172 Apollo statue, 2nd century, Roman copy from a Greek original. That's a woman, lowering her dress to reveal a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 173 Chiron the centaur teaching Achilles to play the lyre. Relief of a Roman sarcophagus, Museum of the Baths of Diocletian The example above shows that this is probably a girl with a penis being taught to play the lyre -Roman Hermaphrodite 174 A statue of Apollo 2nd Century AD from Carthage in the Bardo National Museum (Tunis) That's a woman lowering her dress to reveal a penis This image was usually found in Roman baths - probably linked to female driven sexual activity in the 2nd century AD -Roman Hermaphrodite 175 -Statue of the type of Apollo Sauroctonus (lizard-killer) AD 1st century after a Greek original of ca. 350 BC Found in Rome, 17th century No, that's a woman with a penis - Many of these roman "female with a penis" statues were originally Greek. Which means Greek women in the time of Plato and Socrates were the sexual bulls of the Greek universe. This does not appear in the records, but can be inferred from the behavior of their deity's - ex. the martial Athena in Athens, or the domineering Demeter for all Greeks and from the physical evidence of statues of phallic women. -Roman Hermaphrodite 176 Statue of Apollo in the Temple of Apollo, Pompeii - 120 BC Upon closer examination - that's a woman with a penis. Looks like there was a raging amazon cult in ancient Rome! Or maybe not a cult - the day to day reality of the dogleashed Roman man -Roman Hermaphrodite 177 "Dionysus and Satyr, from the eastern tabernacle of the Antonine Nymphaeum, the statue was carved by an Aphrodisian artist, 160-180 AD, Burdur Museum (Turkey)" Carole Raddato That's a young Bacchus and his companion Ampelus - a female with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 178 Apollo, Roman sculpture in marble after a Hellenistic model, 2nd century AD, Pergamon Museum, Berlin, Germany That's a woman with a penis - the lyre probably has more to do with Bacchus, sex and bath culture than Apollo -Roman Hermaphrodite 179 Apollo Citharoedus (Apollo with a lyre) Really a woman with a penis " ... Statue of Apollo Lykeios, Altes Museum Berlin Acquired in Rome (Italy) in 1766, Marble, Roman copy around 140 AD (body) Head and body of two different Roman copies were combined in the 18th century. The god appears in the so-called Lykeios type with the right forearm resting across his head. The model was either an original created circa 340 BC in the circle around Praxiteles or Hellenistic remodelling from the time around 150 BC. ... " Carole Raddato -Roman Hermaphrodite 180 Apollo Citharoedus . Imperial Era. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek Probably a woman with a penis -Roman Hermaphrodite 181 Marble colossal-type statue of Apollo. Prado museum, Spain Thats probably an Amazon about to enter a public bath in imperial Rome -Roman Hermaphrodite 182 " ... Marble statue of Apollo. It follows the type of Apollo Lyceios, which is attributed to the great sculptor Praxiteles. The god is represented leaning on a tree and stepping on a heap of Gallic shields ..." To my eye that's a woman with a penis The Gallic shields held us identify this as Augusta Agrippina - who was known to don male military attire as she led Roman soldiers in the Germanic wars : " ... Tacitus presents Agrippina as being kindred to aristocratic males, and has her reversing gender roles, which showcases her assumption of male auctoritas ("authority") with metaphors of her dressing and undressing. In an example of Agrippina assuming auctoritas, he says: But throughout those days, a femina, mighty of spirit, donned the apparel of a dux, and she distributed clothing or bandages to the soldiers, whoever might be needy or suffering. Gaius Plinius, the chronicler of the German wars, relates that she stood at the head of the bridge, offering congratulatory praises to the legions as they returned. —Tacitus, 1.69.1 —L'Hoir 2006, pp. 136–7 Using the above epithet, "(femina) ingens animi" ("..[a woman], great for her courage"), he assigns a haughty attitude to Agrippina that compels her to explore the affairs of men. He records her as having reversed the natural order of things when she quelled the mutiny of the Rhine in AD 14. In so doing, he describes her as having usurped her husband's power, a power rightfully belonging only to a general. ... "Wikipedia Tacitus is not being fully truthful. As a roman man, he was born into a dog-leash culture - and all that implies ... The Roman indirect rule by women - Augusta and Vestals and roman wives and mothers and priestesses - was probably the main reason they were so successful - it's an unbreakable code for the enemy -Roman Hermaphrodite 183 "Hippodamia greeted by a seemingly genteel Centaur in a wall painting from Pompeii ... In Greek mythology, Hippodamia : πποδμεια, "she who masters horses" derived from ππος hippos "horse" and δαμζειν damazein "to tame" ..." Wikpedia That's a symbol of the roman woman - horse tamer ! Or man -rider ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 184 "Relief detail from the panel of a sarcophagus depicting Dionysus on his chariot being pulled by a centaur. Capitoline Museum, Rome. " Getty Images That's clearly the female Dionysus or Ampelus in the chariot riding the centaurs. This "female in a chariot" image can be seen above from the Algerian mosaic above . Conquest is by the female with a penis - not Dionysus -Roman Hermaphrodite 185 "Relief with an old man and a siren [having sex] " ... A winged female with large bird feet is about to bestride a sleeping old man. He has spread his cloak in a rocky landscape, a tree with Pan-pipes hanging from a branch, a rustic altar and a herm of Pan appearing at the upper right. The old man's staff, wicker produce basket, and sack for food or water lie beside him, the basket being used as a partial pillow. The winged creature holds a small vessel in her extended left hand. She is pouring something, perhaps a draught of the potion or drug which brings nightmares or perhaps a superabundance of wine that induced the old man's dream. ... " Boston Museum of Fine Arts Roman Marble, Imperial Period, 2nd century A.D. Spiritual "mulier equitans" or horse-riding - Roman graybeards submitted sexually to virile young roman women ... Although that's not a woman - its a winged and web-footed female creature . Which backs up my observation that birds are female dominant sexually. And he is probably not asleep - this was a prime and coveted experience, as would have been recognized from the genre woman on top position Also that's probably a shrine to Faunus, not Pan -Roman Hermaphrodite 186 Statue of Apollo, Petworth House Clearly not a male. The snake may point to a naked Athena. The penis to a well developed masculine side - the "animus" -Roman Hermaphrodite 187 "Dionysus and Satyr, from the eastern tabernacle of the Antonine Nymphaeum, the statue was carved by an Aphrodisian artist, 160-180 AD, Burdur Museum, Turkey" Carole Raddato That's a young Bacchus and his Amazon companion Ampelus -Roman Hermaphrodite 188 The Citharode Apollo Roman statue of Apollo citharoedus (probably early Imperial period). Staatliche Museen zu Berlin Those are sheer women's robes with a penis showing through and a lyre. Not Apollo. The lyre was probably a device to woo dog-leashed men into bed - In the roman upper classes, the women chased the men ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 189 Dionysus. Marble, Roman artwork after Praxiteles' Lykeios Apollo (4th century BC). Probably the female Dionysus - the Amazon Ampelus -Roman Hermaphrodite 190 Actor and mask, fresco from the House of the Tragic Poet, Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Napoli Clearly dog-leashed from the deep tan. Roman matrons were famous for paying lavishly to "break the pin" (fibula) of famous actors ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 191 No description available. It looks like the erect and aroused female Dionysus has made a bid to "break the pin" (fibula) of the deeply tanned seated man. He seems to have accepted, and is handing her papers to sign. Above is a panel of judges ... Another reading is the "binding" of the seated, dog-leashed man by the erect and aroused female Dionysus. -Roman Hermaphrodite 192 " ...coin of Marcus Aurelius from Augusta Traiana ... It portrays a very famous statue, now in the Louvre, Sleeping Hermaphrodite, which was copied and widely distributed in the Greco-Roman world ... " coin talk That's probably a coin of Augusta Faustina the Younger, not Marcus Aurelius. She was famous for "breaking the pin" of gladiators and many other men: " ... Annia Galeria Faustina Minor (Minor is Latin for the Younger), Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger born probably 21 September c. 130 AD was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was held in high esteem by soldiers and her own husband and was given divine honours after her death. .... ... The Augustan History mentions adultery with sailors, gladiators, and men of rank; however, Faustina and Aurelius seem to have been very close and mutually devoted. Faustina accompanied her husband on various military campaigns and enjoyed the love and reverence of Roman soldiers. Aurelius gave her the title of Mater Castrorum or ‘Mother of the Camp’. ... " She inherited the Roman empire from her mother ... Mater Castrorum probably meant head of the Roman military - she was the emperor ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 193 " ... Syria, Antioch Pseudo-Autonomous Issue. Time of Hadrian 117-138 AD. Dated Caesarean Year 177 (128/129). Obverse: MHTROPOLEWC Laureate and draped bust of Apollo right. Reverse: ETOYC ZOP B Kithara (Lyre). ... " That's probably not Apollo though. Based on the examples above it's probably a lyre playing hermaphrodite or female Dionysus - or the Augusta Sabina. . Sabina seems to have been erased from the record though ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 194 Apollo Citharoedus with the head of Dionysus - Female with a penis from the revealing sheer gown. Probably a female Dionysus. -Roman Hermaphrodite 195 "Fresco fragment depicting Apollo, from the House of Julia Felix in Pompeii, 62-79 AD" Wikipedia I say , the female with a penis -or female Dionysus. That's the roman "potomitan" - that's what did the "binding" of roman men ... -Roman Hermaphrodite 196 Apollo Citharoedus, showing a cithara with box tail-pieces (Museo Pio-Clementino). Thats a woman in a gown - my guess is the female Dionysus -Roman Hermaphrodite 197 Sleeping Hermaphrodite, Louvre The roman "potomitan" or queen bee -Roman Hermaphrodite 198 Pothos Apollo (Musei Capitolini) Statue of Pothos, recreated as Apollo Citharoedus, From an original Greek of Skopas, dated 4th century BC - Looks female to me - with a penis Maybe the Apollo cult was female only - like in Voodoo, Legba is expressed through female shamans -Roman Hermaphrodite 199 " ... Roman fresco depicting Pan playing the double flute with a nymph playing the lyre and two other nymphs accompanying them. ... House of Jason, Pompeii. National Archaeological Museum. Naples. Italy. ... " Alamy Note the deep tan on Pan - really Faunus though. That's the "dog-leash" effect. Also note the purple robes on the lyre player.. the Apollo Citharoedus cult was probably a royal cult -Roman Hermaphrodite 200 "Fragmentary fresco showing the god Apollo. He is seen here with a lyre, as was appropriate to the god of music and poetry. Country of Origin: Italy. Culture: Roman." Alamy Looks female to me -Roman Hermaphrodite 201 Bronze figurine of a young Bacchus and his companion Ampelus - a female with a penis. Walter Gallery, Baltimore -Roman Hermaphrodite 202 Vase painting by the “CA Painter”, c.340 BC -Alamy Ancient Greek brothel: note the deep tans on the men - a product of the "dog-leash" My guess is this was a women's brothel and those are male prostitutes. The dog-leash reverses the sexual dynamics - women pay to "break the pin" of dog- leashed men -Roman Hermaphrodite 203 Detail from: c.190 AD "Sarcophagus with the Triumph of Dionysus" at the Walters Gallery, Baltimore The Amazon Ampelus in chariot, an infant Dionysus riding a panther, and leading the panthers the goat-legged Faunus with a lagobolon (stick to catch hares) -Roman Hermaphrodite 204 Apollo Citharoedus, Roman copy of Greek original 5th century BC Looks like a woman to me - below the dress was probably a female phallus -Roman Hermaphrodite 205 Bronze statuette of Apollo Citharoedus - Staatiche Antikensammlingen, Munich Amazon! Woman with a penis and a lyre- music almost certainly for a male prostitute or sex-worker brothel event -Roman Hermaphrodite 206 Bronze Apollo with Lyre. Pompeii, House of Apollo Looks female to me Egyptian Hermaphrodite 207 Female Lyre - player having sex Note the darker skin on the male Egyptian. Egyptian men were probably sexually caged - although I don't know how they were caged with a circumcised penis. Can't locate the source of this picture, but it seems real. The lyre seems more Greek than Egyptian - maybe that's a Greek Egyptian lyre player Egyptian Hermaphrodite 208 Egyptian lady playing a cithara/ lyre 18th dynasty tomb painting in Veset (Thebes) c.1420-1411 B.C.' Artist: Unknown. Purpose was probably the same as Apollo Citharoedus Egyptian Hermaphrodite 209 'Egyptian arched harp, lute, double oboe and lyre; 18th dynasty tomb painting in Veset (Thebes) c.1420-1411 B.C.' Artist: Unknown. That was the Akhenaten time - a female pharaoh - the potency of the 18th dynasty is probably related to the caged male penis - - Caging of the penis can happen unconsciously - I think I went through the classic roman caging at 14 and release at 25 (summer of 1994) - not physically, but I had the subjective feeling of changes happening without my knowledge or consent "down there". - At 14 in Ethiopia I briefly felt my libido go off, then come back, but different than before - there was also an inner image of a tall woman doing the alteration - probably an Ampelus! This entire page is an Ampelus page for me - an amazon titan ... The libido has a life of its own! Roman Hermaphrodite 210 Painting of Pompeii. Chiron and Achilles. The centaur Chiron taught Achilles how tho work the lyre. However, in the Roman context - this is probably a girl with a penis being trained in the arts of lovemaking and love-taking. Roman women "took it" either by paying for it "breaking the pin" - or as suggested in The golden ass of Apuleius taking it from donkey endowned slaves ... Roman Hermaphrodite 211 Lycian Apollo, early Imperial Roman copy of a 4th century BC original - Louvre Looks female to me Roman Hermaphrodite 212 Roman wall painting of 'Aldobrandini Wedding' from villa of theEsquiline, c.1st century BC. Note the tanned bridegroom - "dog-leashed" The bride is about to assume the leash - or "take the penis" - and start hunting for unchaste amours - Only an Amazon spirit could devise such a salacious scheme! Roman Hermaphrodite 213 Apollo Citharoedus Could pass as a male, but I am sure a closer look will reveal a female with a penis Roman Hermaphrodite 214 Richelieu Apollo. Roman marble copy dated from the 1st or 2nd century AD after a Greek original from the 4th century BC on display in the Musee des Beaux-Arts de Tours, Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France Another amazon Egyptian Hermaphrodite 215 Sex scenes from the 19th dynasty Turin Erotic Papyrus ... Again , we see the Greek-like lyre associated with sex. Also the margin notes appear to be written by a female customer to a male sex worker and approve of the services rendered. " ... The Turin Erotic Papyrus (Papyrus 55001, also called the Erotic Papyrus or even Turin Papyrus) is an ancient Egyptian papyrus scroll-painting that was created during the Ramesside Period, approximately in 1150 B.C. Discovered in Deir el-Medina in the early 19th century, it has been dubbed "world's first men's mag." Measuring 8.5 feet (2.6 m) by 10 inches (25 cm), it consists of two parts, one of which contains twelve erotic vignettes depicting various sex positions. It is currently housed by the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy. ... The final two thirds of Turin Erotic Papyrus consist of a series of twelve vignettes showing men and women in various sexual positions. The men in the illustrations are "scruffy, balding, short, and paunchy" with exaggeratedly large genitalia and do not conform to Egyptian standards of physical attractiveness, but the women are nubile, and they are shown with objects from traditional erotic iconography, such as convolvulus leaves and, in some scenes, they are even holding items traditionally associated with Hathor, the goddess of love, such as lotus flowers, monkeys, and sistra. The scroll was probably painted in the Ramesside period (1292-1075 BC). Its high artistic quality indicates that it was produced for a wealthy audience. No other similar scrolls have yet been discovered. Depictions of sexual intercourse were not part of the general repertory of ancient Egyptian formal art, but rudimentary sketches of heterosexual intercourse have been found on pottery fragments and in graffiti. The various male images have also been interpreted as a single protagonist, who has several encounters with a courtesan. ... The severely damaged Erotic Papyrus is the only known erotic scroll-painting to have survived. Modern audiences often misconceive that ancient Egyptian art is devoid of sexual themes. After Jean-François Champollion saw the papyrus in 1824 in Turin, he described it as "an image of monstrous obscenity that gave me a really strange impression about Egyptian wisdom and composure." ... The real significance of the images is yet unknown since those fragments of text that have survived reasonably intact have so far not yielded any clear purpose for the Erotic Papyrus. The text appears to have been hastily written in the margins and would seem to express enjoyment and delight: "... come behind me with your love, Oh! Sun, you have found out my heart, it is agreeable work..." Wikipedia Egyptian Hermaphrodite 216 Those must be Greek Egyptian princesses having fun - the author of the wikipedia article is wrong - its not the world's first "mens magazine" - sex in the greco-roman world and apparently in Egypt was a women's world ... Or maybe Trojan princesses - Troy and ancient Egypt were tightly bonded together - usually against Greece. Roman Hermaphrodite 217 Bronze Apollo with Lyre. Luxury and decadence. Life on the Roman Gold Coast. Exhibition at the Museum Valkhof, Nijmegen, Holland Pompeii, House of Apollo It's a woman with a penis - romans considered themselves to be Trojans - so there is a continuity with the Egyptian sex scenes and the Pompeii male prostitute brothel life Roman Hermaphrodite 218 " ... The Apollon Citharède, an ancient bronze masterpiece Dated from the 2nd or 1 st century BC, this large bronze statuette of exceptional craftsmanship represents Apollo, Greek god of the arts, of male beauty and light. ... Known since 1922 in the Durighello collection, the Apollo citharède de Pompéi remained in French private hands for almost a century and was never presented to the general public. ... " liti That's an amazon ! Roman Hermaphrodite 219 Pothos (Desire), copy after a Greek original. 2nd century AD, Rome - The Uffizi Collection " ... Pothos was one of Aphrodite's erotes and brother to Himeros and Eros. In some versions of myth, Pothos is the son of Eros, or is portrayed as an independent aspect of him. Yet others called him son of Zephyrus and Iris. He was part of Aphrodite's retinue, and carried a vine, indicating a connection to wine or the god Dionysus. Pothos represents longing or yearning. In the temple of Aphrodite at Megara, there was a sculpture that represented Pothos together with Eros and Himeros which has been credited to Scopas. ... " Wikipedia Amazon to me ... Roman Hermaphrodite 220 Statue of Pothos at the Centrale Montemartini That's a female with a penis not a man Roman Hermaphrodite 221 Statue of Pothos at the Centrale Montemartini - (back side) That's a female with a penis not a man Life with the dog-leash! It's more erotic, and more amazon ... Roman Hermaphrodite 222 Priapus - marble, House of the Vettii, Pompeii That's an unauthorized erection ! The dog-leash won't allow it The dog-leash works even during sleep! That's where most energy theft occurs .... Roman Hermaphrodite 223 Priapus the God of Good Fortune in entrance of Villa of the Vettii, Pompeii Dog-leash is blocking blocking full erection ! The artist is conveying the commercial nature of the dog-leash -i.e. for a certain amount of coin, the leash can be removed ... Note the deep tan - that's the famous dog leash effect In ancient Rome and Greece women paid for sex, not men Roman Hermaphrodite 224 Apollo Citharoedus A potential client to "break the pin" of the Vetti villa Priapus - that's a woman with a penis - or a woman with a sexual appetite Roman Hermaphrodite 225 " ... Apollo citharist The colossal statue portrays Apollo sitting on a rocky spur. All bare parts, namely the head and hands, as well as the lyre, were originally made of bronze and were replaced by C. Albacini with those visible today in white marble. Engravings and testimony of that period confirm that the statue represented a female subject, that is the personification of Rome, before the restorer altered its features. The use of porphyry, for the intrinsic value of the material and for the exclusively imperial exploitation of quarries, suggests that the statue should be destined to a temple or a private residence of the emperor. The statue, belonged to the Sassi family, was acquired by the Farnese family in 1546 and then it was inherited by the Bourbons through Charles III; it was moved to Naples in 1799 when most of the Farnese collection had already been transferred there. ... " Museo Archelogico nazionale di Napoli Seated Apollo with Lyre, porphyry and marble, 2nd Century AD Almost certainly a penis under those skirts! The 2nd century AD was a sensually hot century ... That's probably one of the purple clad Augusta's of the 2nd century AD - the true and absolute rulers of the 2nd century roman world - from financial to political to religious and especially sexual female domination - the "dog-leash" effect. The lyre tells the story - it's a male brothel signifier as the ancient Egyptian example above , plus all the aggressive sensual nudity proves. I guess the message is in the 2nd century - and even before - going back to ancient Greece, women ,not men were the sexually aggressive avatars of Apollo See for example : "The Emperor from Africa" - Aramco World Magazine. - the reign of Septimius Severus of Carthage. Although this article misses the raging eros of the 2nd century ... Roman Hermaphrodite 226 Fresco portraying Terentius Neo and his wife. - Pompeii Note the famous dog-leash tan on Neo. " ... The Portrait of Terentius Neo is a famous, unique and exquisite fresco that was found in Pompeii in the House of Terentius Neo ... It is currently preserved at the Naples National Archaeological Museum. It is considered one of the finest pieces of art from the area of Vesuvius. An inscription was found on the outside of the house was an election recommendation for Terentius Neo. The fresco depicts a pair of middle-class Pompeians believed to be man and wife. Terentius Neo was a baker as the house had been modified to include a bakery, and the portrait shows the couple as equal members of a confident and fashionable mercantile class. The man wears a toga, the mark of a Roman citizen, and holds a rotulus, suggesting he is also involved in local public and/or cultural events. The woman is in the foreground and holds a stylus and wax tablet, emphasising that she is of equal status, educated and literate. The fact that the portrait shows imperfections or peculiarities in the faces is rare in similar frescoes and brings to life the characters. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 227 Female Dionysus Roman Hermaphrodite 228 Marble statue of Dionysus, Roman period - Athens, Greece, Archaeological museum of Eleusis Shot blocked. Used workaround Thats a woman with a penis to me! That's one of the scenes pilgrims to the Eleusinian Mysteries mysteries would encounter - the female phallus .... Roman Hermaphrodite 229 2nd century AD Roman sculpture of Pothos, a copy of a 4th century BC Greek original attributed to Skopas of Paros. (Naples, National Archaeological Museum) Shot blocked. Used workaround Borderline male or female - my guess is female with a penis. Also probably not Pothos - that's a famous lyre playing scene - signaling male brothel time - Apollo Citharoedus Roman Hermaphrodite 230 Apollo Citharoedus Shot blocked. Used workaround Woman with lyre to me - and almost certainly a penis under those skirts Roman Hermaphrodite 231 Apollo Citharoedus - Royal purple robes! - Pompeii Shot blocked. Used workaround Roman princess with lyre - and a young apprentice Late Republican wall painting with seated woman holding a kithara, from Room H of the Villa of P. Fannius Synistor at Boscoreale, c. 40–30 BC Roman Hermaphrodite 232 Ionian dances - Pompeii Nude dancing, wine , then "breaking the pins" of brothel workers and orgy-time Shot blocked. Used workaround Fresco from the Sala di Grande Dipinto, Scene VIII in the Villa de Misteri (Pompeii). " ... The Villa of the Mysteries ... is a well-preserved suburban ancient Roman villa on the outskirts of Pompeii, southern Italy, famous for the series of exquisite frescos in one room, which are usually thought to show the initiation of a young woman into a Greco-Roman mystery cult. These are now among the best known of the relatively rare survivals of Ancient Roman painting. ... The Villa is named for the paintings in one of its numerous rooms. This space may have been a dining room (triclinium in Latin) and is decorated with very fine frescoes, which are dated to about 70-60 BC. Although the actual subject of the frescoes is debated, the most common interpretation is that they depict the initiation of a woman into the Dionysian Mysteries, a mystery cult devoted to the god known to the Romans as Bacchus. Specific rites were required to become a member. A key feature that helps to identify these scenes as Bacchic is the depiction of maenads, the deity's female followers. These devotees are often shown dancing with swirling drapery on painted Greek pottery from the sixth century BC onward, centuries before the cult spread to the Romans. ... " Roman Hermaphrodite 233 Apollo Citharoedus Turkey, 2nd century B.C. relief depicting a woman playing cithara. From Babakoy. Istanbul, Arkeoloji Muzerleri (Archaeological Museum) Almost certainly a penis beneath that skirt That's where the assumption that the Greeks and Romans were a homosexual community comes from. The evidence tells another story - the dog-leash effect on the female libido Roman Hermaphrodite 234 Bronze Apollo Citharoedus Rome - female with a penis Egyptian Hermaphrodite 235 Thebes in Egypt, Valley of the Nobles, tomb of Nakht. Female musicians. Lyre, double flute and lute. 18th dynasty Almost nude and nubile ancient Egyptian lyre players. Ritualized sex was probably held at the same time Egyptian Hermaphrodite 236 Nakht and Lady Taui : " ... Nakht was an Ancient Egyptian official who held the position of a scribe and astronomer of Amun, probably during the reign of Thutmose IV in the Eighteenth Dynasty. He is buried in the Theban Necropolis in tomb TT52. ... " Wikipedia Nakht is much darker than his wife - that has to be the dog-leash effect. The 18th dynasty must have been in the penis cage I noticed this with prince Rahotep of the 4th dynasty also. Rahotep is much darker than his wife. He was probably in the penis cage. Egyptian Hermaphrodite 237 Egyptian culture: a dancing scene on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs of the 5th dynasty (2500 B.C.) Nude dancers! They clearly have agency - i.e. they are not dancing for men, but for themselves - and making their own music. Ritual sex was almost certain to follow with selected male "mounts" Egyptian Hermaphrodite 238 Prince Rahotep of the 4th dynasty and his wife Princess consort Nofret . He's much darker than his wife - probably because he has a caged penis. The conclusion to draw, is that was a matriarchy - as was long speculated by the Greeks. " ... Prince Rahotep's statue has six columns of text, naming his titles and duties, with columns three and six, each ending with his name, Ra-Hotep. Nofret has identical texts, one column both right and left. Her name appears at the bottom, with the determinative for 'women'. Her complete name is "Nsw-r(kh)-t, Nfr-t". The last, nfr-t means "beautiful woman" (the t being the bread bun for feminine); nsw-r(kh)-t, means "King's Acquaintance". Curiously, her likeness is depicted with blue eyes, rare among Egyptian artwork as it almost always portrays Egyptians as having dark eyes; it's possible she may have been a Berber as her appearance bears heavy resemblance as to how Ancient Egyptians portrayed Libyans in murals. ... " Wikipedia Princess Nofret had blue eyes! - maybe they were an inter-racial couple - my guess is Nofret is from the mythical Troy The roman (ie Trojan) model probably applies to ancient Egypt - i.e. you have to pay attention to the wife and mother of the king to understand the power dynamics of the situation Egyptian Hermaphrodite 239 Princess consort Nofret - 4th dynasty Egypt - that was probably Rahotep's "key-holder" - circumcision was practiced in Egypt , but it seems to have been restricted to the priestly class: " ... The Greeks were highly skeptical about any of the religious rationales used by certain foreigners in an attempt to justify their blood rites of penile reduction. The History of Herodotus (484–420 B.C.E.) is the earliest Greek text reporting the practice of genital mutilation of various degrees, such as circumcision. Herodotus ascribes circumcision to the Colchians, Ethiopians, Phoenicians, Syrians, and Macrones, as well as to the Egyptian priestly caste. He also reports, however, that the salutary influence of Greek culture induced the Phoenicians to abandon circumcision. In an oft-repeated passage, always quoted out of context, Herodotus describes the topsy-turvy world of the Egyptian priestly caste with obvious disapproval: Everywhere else in the world, priests have long hair, but in Egypt they shave their heads. In times of mourning, it is the norm elsewhere for those most affected by the bereavement to crop their hair; in Egypt, however, in the period following a death, they let both their hair and their beards grow, when they had previously been shaved. Everywhere else in the world people live separately from their animals, but animals and humans live together in Egypt. Other people live off barley and ordinary wheat, but Egyptians regard it as demeaning to make those grains one's staple diet; their staple is hulled wheat, or "emmer" as it is sometimes known. They knead dough with their feet and clay with their hands, and they pick up dung with their hands too. Other people, unless they have been influenced by the Egyptians, leave their genitals in their natural state, but the Egyptians practice circumcision. Later in the following paragraph, Herodotus repeats the revelation about the circumcision of the priests and places it in the context of their impenetrable cultic fastidiousness: Because they are exceedingly religious, more so than any other people in the world, they have the following customs. Everyone, without any exceptions, scrubs clean the bronze cup he uses for drinking every day. The linen cloaks they wear are always freshly washed; this is something they are very particular about. Their concern for cleanliness also explains why they practise circumcision, since they value cleanliness more than comeliness. The ironic tone of this passage, which has hitherto been poorly appreciated, underscores Herodotus's dismay at the Egyptian priestly caste's illogical notions of cleanliness and religiosity and their unfathomable disregard for physical beauty. Clearly, he is emphasizing that the notions of genital cleanliness that he ascribes to a people who routinely handle dung bare-handed and prepare food with their bare feet are necessarily at variance with those of the civilized Greeks. ... An important clue to the Greeks' assumptions about the association of circumcision with the Egyptian priesthood is to be found on the fifth-century B.C.E. Attic red-figure pelike by the Pan painter, depicting Herakles overthrowing Busiris, a mythological priest-king of Egypt, and his bald-headed priestly attendants who have attempted to make of Herakles a human sacrifice. The painter has taken great pains to depict the priests as having fat, ugly, wrinkled, circumcised penises with a bulbous externalized glans, which contrast sharply with the neat and attractive penis of Herakles, with its elegantly long and tapered prepuce. Likewise, the snubbed noses and monkey-like faces of the Egyptians could hardly be more dissimilar to the heroic Greek profile of Herakles. To paraphrase K. J. Dover, if a circumcised penis goes with a hideous face and a long and tapered prepuce goes with a handsome face, it is the long and tapered prepuce that was admired. Later Greek writers, such as Strabo (b.64 B.C.E) and Diodorus Siculus (first century B.C.E, horrified their readers with accounts of the genital mutilation practices of various primitive, sometimes cave-dwelling tribes living around the Red Sea, as well as those of the Hebrews and Egyptians. While some of these tribes amputated only the prepuce, others amputated the glans, and still others amputated the entire penis. Strabo also provides a secular account of the origin of circumcision among the Hebrews. He writes that they are partly descended from Egyptians who left their homeland to follow an apostate priest named Moses, who was displeased with the state of affairs in Egypt and sought to worship his "Divine Being" divorced from animal imagery. Moses led his followers to Judaea and established an autocratic theocracy at what is now Jerusalem: His [Moses'] successors for some time abided by the same course, acting righteously and being truly pious toward God; but afterwards, in the first place, superstitious men were appointed to the priesthood, and then tyrannical people; and from superstition arose abstinence from flesh, from which it is their custom to abstain even to-day, and circumcisions and excisions [of females] and other observances of the kind. Strabo's statement that the Hebrew priesthood imposed male and female circumcision for tyrannical and superstitious reasons supports Wilhelm Reich's theory of circumcision as a mechanism of social control. Additionally, these Greek accounts of the bodily mutilations practiced by some primitive Near Eastern tribes underscore the association between circumcision and more severe penile mutilations. They also highlight the association between the circumcised penis (and, therefore, the exposed glans) and the linked concepts of primitiveness, barbarity, backwardness, superstition, and oppression. ... " The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome. HODGES (2001) - The counter argument is the beautiful Greek uncircumcised penis was also a form of social control - in this case by the "key-holder" which for most men was the wife! The circumcised man was the king of his own penis, while the Greek surrendered that to the females ... Towards the end of the roman empire only Jews and Egyptian priests were allowed to circumcise, and even they were prohibited to force their slaves to follow the practice: " ... Considering that the name of the part being cut off—posthe—could also designate the whole penis, the idea of circumcision might well have evoked the same feelings aroused by penile castration. Freud points out the widespread tendency to equate penile castration with circumcision, which, he maintained, must have been a relatively milder substitute that was designed to take the place of penile castration in primeval days. Thus, to the Greeks and Romans, both mutilations must have seemed to be the ultimate in mindless, barbaric irreverence, excess, and depravity. In this context, it is immediately understandable why the Seleucid and later the Roman imperial administrations, charged with the self-imposed task of civilizing the known world, unhesitatingly criminalized the ritualized disfigurement of the penis. For instance, in the Hellenistic era, the Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175–165 B.C.E.) consolidated the empire of Alexander and, according to Tacitus, "endeavoured to abolish Jewish superstition and to introduce Greek civilization." Although the corroborative accounts of Josephus and the first book of Maccabees are afflicted with a bias that undermines their value as historical sources, it is notable that one product of superstition that these sources name as being banned by Antiochus was the ritual circumcision of infants. Clearly, the Hebrew religious element emphatically disagreed with the Greeks' positive evaluation of the prepuce. Although it is most likely a convenient post hoc rationalization of ritual male circumcision rather than the original reason for its introduction into Hebrew religious ritual, there can be no escape from the devastating cultural implications of the Talmudic dictum, echoing the Mishnah: "The foreskin is disgusting." Here we witness one of the fundamental and irreconcilable points of discord between the Greek and Hebrew views of the body. With evident hostility, Josephus and the authors of 1 Maccabees also report that circumcised Hebrew males during this era voluntarily sought foreskin restoration therapies, interpreting this as an illicit attempt at assimilation into Greek culture. It is regrettable that, if any Hellenophile Israelites committed alternative perspectives to writing, nothing of this nature seems to have survived. What has survived, however, is documentary evidence that the Romans picked up where the Greeks left off in the campaign to rid the world of sexual disfigurements of all degrees. Upholding a standard of beneficence all their own, the Romans united the Greeks' high regard for the intact body with a greater gift for administration. Accordingly, Emperor Domitian (81–96 C.E.) and his successor Nerva (96–98) issued proscripts against the castration of citizens and slaves. Although there remains no direct and indisputable contemporary Roman legal or literary confirmation for it, Hadrian's late biographer, Aelius Spartianus, as well as modern scholars, have argued convincingly that, around 132 C.E., Hadrian issued a universal decree outlawing circumcision, under penalty of death.There is, however, conclusive documentation that Hadrian reiterated the ban on castration, and he and his successors seem not to have made any ethical distinction between castration and circumcision, for the wording of the laws as well as the extreme penalties for both crimes are nearly identical: forfeiture of all property and execution of the perpetrators—or, for those of higher rank, deportation to an island.The fact that circumcision was punished with the maximum penalty allowed under the law attests to the strength of Greek and Roman views on the subject. Taking into account the compassionate spirit of the almost identically framed laws banning castration, the ban on circumcision was most certainly motivated by humanitarian and ethical considerations rather than by a purely theological discord with those groups, such as the Hebrew priesthood, whose rationale for the ritualized circumcision of infants was defended (ineffectively, as far as the Greeks were concerned) by an appeal to the supernatural. Yet, of the various peoples affected by this ruling, apparently only the conservative religious element among the Hebrews took umbrage, leaving behind a series of elaborated, mythologized, and, not untypically, contradictory accounts, alleging the interdiction to have been religiously motivated. It is interesting to note, however, that the abundance of special rules and regulations regarding the cultic activities of "uncircumcised" Hebrew priests, as preserved in the Talmud, strongly hints that even in the highest circles of the Hebrew ruling classes there existed, for a period, a measure of active pluralism on the question of infant circumcision that was independent of Roman legal persuasion. The Digest of Justinian (a legal compilation collected by learned jurists at the behest of Justinian in 533), however, documents that, around 140, Emperor Antoninus Pius at least modified the ruling of Hadrian to allow only the Hebrews to circumcise their children, while upholding the legal protections from circumcision for all other peoples: Jews are permitted to circumcise only their sons on the authority of a rescript of the Divine Pius; if anyone shall commit it on one who is not of the same religion, he shall suffer the punishment of a castrator. While Pius limited the exemption to Hebrews, papyrological documents in Greek, dating from 155 to 189 C.E. indicate that complex bureaucratic mechanisms were provisionally established to grant individual exemptions to this edict for certain members of the Egyptian priestly caste. Few such exemptions, however, appear to have been granted. The widespread approval for the abolition of circumcision was limited by neither space nor time, for by the end of the third century, Pius's interdiction against circumcision was enhanced by the enactment of an additional legal prohibition: Roman citizens, who suffer that they themselves or their slaves be circumcised in accordance with the Jewish custom, are exiled perpetually to an island and their property confiscated; the doctors suffer capital punishment. If Jews shall circumcise purchased slaves of another nation, they shall be banished or suffer capital punishment. The incorporation into the Digest of Pius's more recent revisions of the law banning circumcision would explain why the sixth-century compilers of the Digest did not include the obsolete original decree of Hadrian. The two rescripts of Pius, coupled together, were reenacted under Constantine the Great in the fourth century, and, of course, under Justinian in the sixth century. Simultaneously, the church adopted these as well as additional bans on circumcision into canon law and into its regional legal codes. Furthermore, the secular Roman law of the Byzantine Empire and the countries of Western Europe, at least through the Middle Ages, preserved and enhanced laws banning Hebrews from circumcising non-Hebrews and banning Christians or slaves of any religious affiliation from undergoing circumcision for any reason. It is important to note that one of the reasons for the seemingly continuous need to reenact laws banning Hebrews from circumcising non-Hebrews stems from the unavoidable conflict that arose over the issue of Hebrew religious freedom. From the pagan reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius and through the Christian imperial administrations of the Middle Ages, with a few notable and isolated exceptions, the freedom of the Hebrews to practice Judaism was guaranteed by law.Hebrew law, however, requires that Hebrews circumcise their slaves and servants, although this circumcision does not constitute a conversion to Judaism. The Torah, the Talmud, and the later Schulchan Aruch all attest to the Judaistic imperative for forcibly circumcising non-Hebrews in this context. Although the periodic need to reenact anticircumcision laws indicates that they were frequently violated (and specific instances of violation have been preserved), Roman and church law agreed in principle that the absolute freedom of the Hebrews to practice Judaism ended at the beginning of the preputial epidermis of non-Hebrews. ... " The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome. HODGES (2001) Roman Hermaphrodite 240 The Lillebonne Apollo Female with a penis to me - the dog-leash effect! It's literally true - the roman wife "bound and belted " her husband upon marriage. She, not he controlled the erection process ... Rome and Greece were in a permanent erotic tension " ... Discovered in 1823, near the ancient theater in Lillebonne, this is the largest bronze statue of a deity to have survived from ancient Gaul. Apollo, considered a beneficent god, held a lyre in his left hand - a configuration that was particularly favored in northern and central-eastern Gaul. The proportions and balance of the figure, and the way the hair is arranged, testify to the strong influence of Greek forms from the fourth century BC on Gallo-Roman artists. ... " Louvre Roman Hermaphrodite 241 Apollino - Roman art, 1st century AD, Uffizi Gallery " ... This sculpture was moved to Florence from Villa Medici in Rome, together with the statues of the Medici Niobe Group, in 1770. Since its arrival in Florence, the Apollino has always remained in the Tribuna by Buontalenti, where a singular accident occurred around 1840: a painting fell on it and sculptor Lorenzo Bartolini was charged with restoring it. The right hand is also a modern reintegration, as well as the left arm from below the elbow, part of the base, the nose and the hair. The graceful, naked male figure of the young god, gently leaning against a trunk and with his right hand on his head, is a Roman copy - dating back to the middle of the 1st century A. D., the so-called Lycian Apollo (Lykeios), attributed to late-classic sculptor Praxiteles of Athens, who worked during the 4th century b. C. The name “Lycian” can be traced back to the root of the Greek word for “light” and to the fact that the newly born Apollo was taken by his mother, Leto, to Lycia (a peninsula to the east of the island of Rhodes, now part of the Turkish province of Adalar), or to the god’s fame as a slayer of wolves (since “Lykos” is the Greek word for “wolf”). As for the statue in question – or better, for the original on which it is based – the name “Lycian” would seem to be due to the fact that it was thought to have been placed in the “Lyceum”, the school founded by Aristotle on the southern slopes of Mount Lycabettus in Athens around 335 b. C., near a sanctuary dedicated to Apollo. The sinuous pose of the figure has been recognised as a characteristic of Praxiteles’ work: and it is not by chance that it can be seen in another of his works, perhaps the most copied statue in the ancient world, the famous Aphrodite of Knidos, also in the Tribuna, in the famous variation known as the Medici Venus.... " Uffizi Woman with a penis to me ... What was going on back in the days of Aristotle for all this phallic display of female form? -My answer is the caged penis and its (or her?) mirror the female phallus.... Roman Hermaphrodite 242 Lycian Apollo, Roman copy of Greek original by Praxiteles. 2nd - 1st century BC Woman with a penis to me Those are speculated to be the shields of vanquished Gauls beneath Apollo's foot Roman Hermaphrodite 243 Roman sculpture of Dionysus and a satyr, after a Hellenistic original (marble) Museo Nazionale Romano - Palazzo Altemps, Rome, Italy To me thats the young Bacchus and his companion Ampelus, the amazon with a penis Roman Hermaphrodite 244 Ionic dances - Pompeii Note the deep tan on the male dancer - that's the dog-leash effect Roman Hermaphrodite 245 Fresco scene Pompeii - probably Oedipus Rex from the tiny sphinx on armchair of seated woman Note the deep tans on the men - the "dog-leash" effect" The current attribution is : "Hippolytus and Phaedra" " ... The most common legend regarding Hippolytus states that he was killed after rejecting the advances of Phaedra, his stepmother, the second wife of Theseus. Spurned, Phaedra deceived Theseus saying that his son had raped her. Theseus, furious, used one of the three wishes given to him by Poseidon to curse Hippolytus. Poseidon sent a sea-monster—or, alternatively, Dionysus sent a wild bull—to terrorize Hippolytus's horses, who dragged their rider to his death. ..." Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 246 Apollo Citharoedus - Roman copy of Greek original by Praxiteles - Vatican Woman with a penis to me. Roman Hermaphrodite 247 Apollo Sauroktonos - Uffizi Gallery Roman marble copy of a bronze by Praxiteles from around 360 BC, the Apollo Sauroktonos (“lizard-killer”). Woman with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 248 Dionysus and panther - source unknown Woman with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 249 Apollo Sauroktonos (“Lizard-killer”).Marble. Roman copy after a bronze original ca. 360 BCE by Praxiteles. Rome, Vatican Museums, Pius-Clementine Museum, Gallery of statues, 62 Woman with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 250 " ... Roman imperial period, 2nd - 3rd century AD. Bronze cast, H with base 24cm. Naked Apollo putting his left foot on the Omphalos. The left elbow rests on the raised leg so that the upper body is slightly bent forward and the head is slightly extended. The long hair is tamed by a bandage and forms the typical curl motif over the forehead. The large base is richly profiled and decorated on the front with garlands, palm fronds and other decor in cold work. Somewhat provincial style, right arm broken. Delightful, velvety, dark green patina. ... " gmcoinart Woman with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 251 " ... A ROMAN BRONZE APOLLO CIRCA LATE 1ST-EARLY 2ND CENTURY A.D. The tall youthful god depicted nude, standing with his weight on his right leg, leaning to his left with his left foot resting atop the omphalos, his left forearm on his knee, his wrist hanging languidly, holding his right hand out before him with his fingers curled around a now-missing attribute, presumably a laurel branch, his long center-parted hair bound in a twisted band of copper and silver and tied in an elaborate top-knot, with long curling tresses falling in back onto his shoulders, his articulated eyes in silver, his phallus also in silver, the omphalos patterned with crosshatching, on a tall pedestal base with raking moldings ... " Christie's Woman with a penis to me Not sure what's going on here - but it probably ties in to the "female phallus" and the Fon "rainbow serpent" and the roman male caged penis Roman Hermaphrodite 252 Sitting Dionysus. Neo-Attic relief. Marble. 1st cent. A.D.... Naples, National Archaeological Museum Woman with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 253 " ... The II-century Roman statue is a replica after the bronze original of the celebrated Greek artist Praxiteles from 365-350 BC, representing Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer). In XVI century the statue looked very much fragmented and an extensive integration intervention was necessary. The scholars at the Medici Court of Cosimo I interpreted the god as Apollo Citharoedus, that is playing the lyre. The only ancient part of the sculpture is the torso with the thighs, whereas head, arms and legs are the result of the XVI-Century restoration, as well as the lyre with the soft elegant drape and the refined polychromatic tripod with the embossed griffin. A coeval document attests the colored marbles acquired for the making of the tripod were assigned to the Florentine sculptor and restorer Giovan Battista Caccini, who also sculpted the other missing parts. ... " friendsoftheuffizigallery The original head was probably like earlier examples of Apollo Sauroktonos (Lizard-Slayer) posted above - female with a penis Egyptian Hermaphrodite 254 Female Egyptian Apollo - King Akhenaten - that's what Moses was rebelling against Note the serpent in the sun ! That's the "female phallus" Roman Hermaphrodite 255 " ... So-called “Apollo Barberini”. The musician god holds in his left arm the “kithara” and in his right one a cup .... Eyeballs in white stone and lashes in bronze (iris and pupils, lost, were made in colored materials). Probable copy of the cult statue in the temple of Apollo Palatinus in Rome (free reproduction of a work from 4th century BC). 1st–2nd century CE. ... " Wikipedia Woman with a lyre to me Roman Hermaphrodite 256 Apollo statue, 2nd century, Roman copy from a Greek original. That's a woman's dress being lowered to reveal a penis Roman Hermaphrodite 257 " ... Art and sculptures from Hadrian’s Villa: Marble statue of Apollo holding a lyre ... It was found on the site of the round Temple of Venus (tholos) by the 18th century owner of the Villa, Conte Giuseppe Fede. The god is depicted with his attributes; the lyre and the sacred snake Python. The tree trunk around which the snake is wrapped is inscribed with the words “Apollonios made it”. Apollo, from the Temple of Venus (Casino Fede) at Hadrian’s Villa, Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket © Carole Raddato The statue dates to circa AD 150 (during the reign of Antoninus Pius) and was restored circa 1790 ... " followinghadrian Roman Hermaphrodite 258 Apollo Kitharoedos, Antonine, 100 AD - 199 AD, Parian marble, Petworth House and Park, West Sussex Looks like a woman with a lyre to me Roman Hermaphrodite 259 " Apollo Sauroctonos ... Statue of the type of Apollo Sauroctonus (lizard-killer) Roman copy from the AD 1st century ... after a Greek original of ca. 350 BC with 17th and 18th century restorations... Found in Rome, 17th century ... " Wikipedia (Louvre) My analysis is Greece was not that different from Egypt - the sun god was female, not male. - The evidence from the artefact's seems overwhelming to me. The penis does not mean male - it's the female phallus ... Roman Hermaphrodite 260 Apollo Saettante; detail, Roman, 100 B.C.–before A.D. 79; found in Pompeii, Italy, in 1817–18 Bronze - Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples " ... In the centre of Naples, Italy, the 16th-century Palazzo degli Studi houses the National Archaeological Museum, which holds one of the most important collections of classical antiquities, including ancient sculptures uncovered at Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae. The trio of cities were buried in the most violent eruption of Mt Vesuvius in Campania on a fateful day, August 24, 79 AD. ... For those not familiar with the Greek God Apollo, he was the ancient Greek God of archery, music, poetry, oracles, the sun, prophecy, medicine and knowledge. From all the images we have of him he was a handsome beardless athletic and radiant youth, a favourite of the rest of the gods, who were all meant to represent harmony, order and reason. ... In 2009 and 2010 the Getty Villa Museum in America, undertook analysis, conservation and re-stabilisation of the statue in consultation with the now re-named Museo Archeologico Nazionale at Naples as part of a cultural exchange program. Processes in archaeology and conservation of important artefacts have changed a great deal over the years and artistic license is not something embraced any more, so a number of changes were made. Getty conservator Erik Risser found that during the 1835 restoration Apollo had been reconstructed and re-assembled around an internal iron armature inserted through his left leg. The most considered change that took place had been major adjustments to the drapery, which had been found to have dramatic ends added possibly in the 1860’s, although documentary evidence is yet to be found. They had however compromised the ongoing integrity of the piece because of the added weight, which would add a considerable strain for the future. So the joint decision was made between the two institutions to remove them and for the drapery to be put back as original sketches made when it was first found and restored indicated it should be. A replica of the statue stands in the courtyard of the Temple of Apollo at Pompeii, while the original statue with its 19th century additions and 21st century removals, ... is held in trust for the nation of Italy in the National Archaeological Museum at Naples. ... " Carolyn McDowall, The Culture Concept Circle, 2013 That's a female head to me .... Roman Hermaphrodite 261 Apollo Saettante; detail, Roman, 100 B.C.–before A.D. 79; found in Pompeii, Italy, in 1817–18 Bronze - Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples Roman Hermaphrodite 262 Apollo Saettante; detail, Roman, 100 B.C.–before A.D. 79; found in Pompeii, Italy, in 1817–18 Bronze - Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples Roman Hermaphrodite 263 Statue of Young Centaur signed by Aristeas and Papias, Hadrianic period (117-138 AD) Lucullan marble, From Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa (1736) He's carrying a lagobolon (stick to catch hares) - which is usually associated with companions of the female Dionysus Roman Hermaphrodite 264 Statuette of Apollo, 100–1 B.C. - Bronze, The Getty Center and Villa -Looks female to me - with a penis Roman Hermaphrodite 265 Virgil Mosaic, 3rd century AD - Bardo National Museum, Tunis, Tunisia. " ... Virgil,wearing a toga and holding a scroll on his lap is attended by two Muses; Clio (history),stands on his left holding a scroll. Melpomene (tragedy),stands to the right with a tragic mask. The scroll is open at Aeneid I,line II: :O Muse! the cause and the crimes relate,What Goddess was provoked,and whence her hate!" Publius Vergilius Maro (70-19 BC),usually called Virgil or Vergil in English,was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. Virgil is ranked as one of Rome's greatest poets. His Aeneid has been considered the national epic of ancient Rome. Modeled after Homer's Iliad and Odyssey,the Aeneid follows the Trojan refugee Aeneas as he struggles to fulfill his destiny and arrive on the shores of Italy. According to the tradition,Virgil traveled to Greece around 19 BC in order to revise the Aeneid. While there he caught a fever and died in 19 BC. The mosaic,which dates from the 3rd Century AD,was discovered in Hadrumetum and is now on display in the Bardo Museum in Tunis. ... " Alamy - Note the tan - probably the "dog-leash" effect - Virgil might also be of African descent ... That's Troy - Asia minor blended with the world of 18th dynasty Egypt - or Negro Egypt Roman Hermaphrodite 266 Dionysus and Ampelos c. 1st Century BC - 1st century AD - Christie's Although Christie's has wrongly identified Dionysus as the tall figure and the small guy as the Satyr Ampelos - It's the other way around. Ampelos - the "female Dionysus" is a tall woman with a penis - as is proven by he Algerian mosaic above. Roman Hermaphrodite 267 Bacchic mosaic, Seville, Spain That's probably an adult Dionysus in a chariot driven by his childhood companion Ampelos Roman Hermaphrodite 268 Getty Center Statuette of Apollo (Getty Museum) Statuette of Apollo, Greek, about 100 B.C. " ... This Hellenistic silver statuette depicts Apollo, the Greek god of music and prophecy. He originally held a lyre in his left arm; the right hand may have held his lyre's pick. The god appears with long, wavy hair tied in a knot on the top of his head and locks escaping down onto his shoulders, a hairstyle also favored by the goddess Aphrodite. Apollo had always been represented as young and beautiful in Greek art, but in the Hellenistic period, his image became much softer and more effeminate. Statues of the gods in precious metals such as gold and silver were popular among the wealthy for display in household shrines. Such statues were also found in temple treasuries, to which they had been given as elaborate and expensive gifts to the gods. ... "Getty Museum - Woman with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 269 Triumph of Bacchus. Roman mosaic, 3rd century, Sousse Museum (Tunisia). That's Ampelos in the chariot and one of the tanned, nude and leopard-skinned men in front of and behind her chariot is probably Dionysus - or maybe the infant riding a lion and carrying a lagobolon (stick to catch hares). The tan on the men is caused by the penis "dog-leash" Roman Hermaphrodite 270 Mosaic of the Triumph of Bacchus, 3rd century AD, from Ecija (Roman Astigi), Museum of Archaeology, Seville, Spain The source for this got it wrong - thats not Dionysus on women's clothing - that's Ampelos with the nude Dionysus in the rear of the chariot Roman Hermaphrodite 271 Tomb of the Bulls, detail from an interior. Tarquinia (Lazio). Etruscan civilization, 6th Century BC Etruscans (Rome before Rome) had the female with a penis category - although its read as trans in modern discourse - Those are two Amazons. The one on the left is a female nearly nude soldier and the one on the right is a female with a phallus riding a stallion Roman Hermaphrodite 272 Tomb of the Bulls, detail from an interior. Tarquinia (Lazio). Etruscan civilization, 6th Century BC In Etruscan erotica, the darker "dog-leashed" is usually the penis - but in this case, we have a dark-skinned female with a penis penetrating a light -skinned man. The established reading of this scene is of homosexual love - but to me thats a woman with a penis - She has long blond hair - but deeply tanned skin - My reading of this is a futa or goddess "binding" a male - the dog-leash tan comes after this initiation Roman Hermaphrodite 273 Ritual Dance. Detail of a wall painting from the back wall of the Tomb of the Lionesses, Tarquinia. Ionian-Etruscan phase of the Etruscan Archaic style (c. 700-475 BC.) c. 530 BC, Paris. The darker skinned dancer is usually read as male, but to me that's a phallic female - from the hair and details of the head and body. On the left is a regular dancing female or male Roman Hermaphrodite 274 Etruscan Feast of Velthur Velch. 3rd—2nd centuries BC. Tarquinia, Tomb of the Shields Lyre playing before sex. All men are tanned - ie. dog-leashed. Roman Hermaphrodite 275 Tomb of the Bulls, detail from an interior. Tarquinia (Lazio). Etruscan civilization, 6th Century BC Tanned, i.e. dog -leashed men servicing light skinned women. The secret Rome - ie rule by the female phallus clearly flows from the previous Etruscan world. That's not the same as rule by women - American households are ruled by women - but that's not the same thing ... The phallus has been ghettoized to the point of non-existence in modern corporate culture It's probably fair to say the top layer of Roman society was etruscan: " ... The Greeks gradually pushed the Etruscan border back toward the north. Rome expelled its last Etruscan king in 510, and a century later began capturing towns in Etruria. As they colonized the country, its cultural influence remained colossal. Many Roman clans were known to be of Etruscan origin, including the Julii that Caesar came from. They adopted the fasces symbol (birch rods wrapped around an axe) and many Etruscan deities, notably the Capitoline triad of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva (Tinia, Uni, Menrva). Likewise Nethuns shifted to Neptunus, Maris to Mars, Velchans to Vulcanus. They adopted Etruscan technologies of stone-working, architecture, hydraulics and engineering, and their letters were derived from the alphabet as it was used in Etruria. Where the Romans differed most dramatically was in the status of women, with one exception that may be attributed to Etruscan influence: they retained women’s right of inheritance. ... " Women of Etruria by Mark Cartwright and Max Dashu - Another Etruscan inheritance that Rome received was the open or "poly" marriage - since property rights of women were protected, Roman marriages were easily dissolved. The one exception Rome had from Etruscan society was the control of children. In Rome and Greece - the father had absolute control. Etruscan woman were able to inherit both property and children after the dissolution of a marriage. Etruscan society has been mythologized as a true matriarchy in this sense Roman Hermaphrodite 276 Tomb of the Triclinium - Tanned - or dog-leashed lyre player and two women dancers: " ... Scenes of dancers occupy the flanking left and right walls. The left wall scene contains four dancers—three female and one male—and a male musician playing the barbiton, an ancient stringed instrument similar to the lyre. Common painterly conventions of gender typing are employed—the skin of females is light in color while male skin is tinted a darker tone of orange-brown. ... " Jeffrey A Baker The lyre - to me signals sex is about to begin - with the sex object being the tanned music maker .... Roman Hermaphrodite 277 Tomb of the Triclinium - Tanned - or dog-leashed lyre player Roman Hermaphrodite 278 Dancers from the walls of the Etruscan Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia, central Italy. c. 470 BCE. Scantily clothed male - clothed female - the Etruscan pattern was females chasing males Theopompus of Chios, 4th cent. BC (Histories Book 43) " ... Sharing wives is an established Etruscan custom. Etruscan women take particular care of their bodies and exercise often, sometimes along with the men, and sometimes by themselves. It is not a disgrace for them to be seen naked. They do not share their couches with their husbands but with the other men who happen to be present, and they propose toasts to anyone they choose. They are expert drinkers and very attractive. The Etruscans raise all the children that are born, without knowing who their fathers are. The children live the way their parents live, often attending drinking parties and having sexual relations with all the women. It is no disgrace for them to do anything in the open, or to be seen having it done to them, for they consider it a native custom. . .. " That's polyandry! - probably caused by the dog-leash... And the futa or earth goddess that "bound" Etruscan men Theopompus has been criticized by comparing the fully clothed women from the Etruscan tombs to his descriptions - but I think he was describing a basic truth - the "females with a penis" examples from Rome above back this up Roman Hermaphrodite 279 Etruscan girl tuning a lyre To me that's a pre-sex ritual Roman Hermaphrodite 280 Nearly naked and dog-leashed male flutist from the walls of the Etruscan Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia, central Italy. c. 470 BC. Roman Hermaphrodite 281 Nearly naked and dog-leashed male dancer from the walls of the Etruscan Tomb of the Triclinium, Tarquinia, central Italy. c. 470 BC. Roman Hermaphrodite 282 Bronze Etruscan votive figure with inscription c. 3rd century BC - Christie's Probably a female with a phallus Roman Hermaphrodite 283 Painted terracotta funerary urn lid of an Etruscan woman with a leaf shaped fan, from Chiusi, ca. 150-120 BC, Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe, Germany Roman Hermaphrodite 284 Etruscan Sarcophagus c. 150BC-140BC " ...Painted terracotta sarcophagus of Seianti Hanunia Tlesnasa, her name inscribed on the chest. She reclines upon a mattress and pillow, holding an open lidded-mirror in her left hand and raising her right hand to adjust her mantle. She wears a chiton with high girdle, a bordered mantle, and jewellery comprising a diadem, ear-rings, necklace, bracelets and finger-rings. ... " Wikimedia Roman Hermaphrodite 285 Etruscan Feast of Lars Velch, the Tomb of The Shields, Necropolis of Tarquinia Original in the Tomba degli Scudi (Tarquinia, after 350 B.C.). Larth Velcha and his wife Velia Seitithi, identified by inscriptions, are banqueting accompanied by a young girl with a fan. Above a dark wall several rows of inscriptions. Under the figure frieze a row of black wave pattern. (NY Carlsberg Glyptotek Catalogue) Note the tanned husband - the dog-leash effect! - This seems to be much more common in Etruscan art than in Roman art. In Roman art only a small percentage of men have the deep tan. I read that Pompeii is a purely Etruscan town - we can infer that Eros was the overlord of the Etruscan world- and specifically the erect female phallus Roman Hermaphrodite 286 Etruscan Komos scene/ komasts and hetaera in explicit and acrobatic positions, two kraters on the floor. Attic black-figure neck-amphora, ca. 560 BC. From Vulci Tanned dog-leashed men entertaining pale skinned women These appear and disappear on the internet - like the African Legba's Roman Hermaphrodite 287 Roman Basalt statue of Hermaphrodite Eros 2nd - 3rd century AD, Syria " ... A young naked standing figure sculpted in the Roman Province of Syria - characterised in the oriental taste. The left arm, folded on his chest, is encircled by an armilla. The body has a prominent belly, voluptuous hips and bottom, with tapering legs and to the rear the remainder of wings. Provenance: Property of an Italian Noble family since 1980s ... Dimensions: H 44cm (with stand 66cm) ... " Toad Gallery - That's not a man - its a female with a phallus - Syria seems to have been that mysterious in-between space between Rome and Islam - The world of "She" and the queen of Sheba .... Syria and Carthage Roman Hermaphrodite 288 Labeled: "Pan on the hoof, Bronze, Roman 1st to 3rd century AD, from southern Italy. On display at the British Museum" Really Faunus on the hoof though Faunus is not ambiguous to the believing Christian - that's Satan! Not to the Romans though - Faunus gave Roman wives a functioning penis ... With all that implies - The male chastity "dog-leash" that Roman women placed on their husbands penis was a transfer of penis in literal sense ... Roman Hermaphrodite 289 "Alchemy: Woodcut of hermaphrodite from Barthelemy Aneau, Picta Poesis, 1552. An Alchemy artwork." and: " On the top of the image two Pelicans nourishing their young ones with blood from their own breasts, a symbol both of the alchemical stage of 'cibation', or the nourishing of the Philospher's Stone born of the chemical wedding. " guity-novin.blogspot I mistook this for a Tarot card. But many of the themes of this page are condensed here - notably the hermaphrodite and Faunus - but in 1552 Faunus would have been the devil. That's why I initially called this the Devil Tarot card ... To the left is what I presume is the Magus. The hermaphrodite is in the shape of a living tree - which has parallels to the Haitian Potomitan, which has been described as the world tree or Axis Mundi. Another association for me is Bacchus and his tall female/male companion Ampelus - who died and was transformed into the grapevine. - In todays sacred plant culture - like Ayahuasca and Marijuana - the plant or weed is sometimes described as a vine growing out into the whole world ... And the vine is usually referred to as a "great mother" - a female spirit - The Roman's were probably closer to the mark, Mother Ayahuasca probably has a penis - a phallic goddess ... That's what's missing in the present day discourse - the female phallus ... Roman Hermaphrodite 290 Apollo Citaredo, Roman-age replica of an original dating from the late 2nd - early 1st century. B.C. - Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Italy Female with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 291 Drunken statuary group of Dionysus who leans with one arm around the neck of a satyr , Roman period / imperial age; original to be copied was in Athens - National Archaeological Museum of Venice Bacchus and his childhood companion, the Amazon with a penis Ampelus to me Roman Hermaphrodite 292 Etruscan Bronze statuette of Selvans. Third century BC. Cortona, Museo dell’Accademia Etrusca, Italy " ... A bronze statuette of an athlete ... has the following inscription :ecn:turce:avle:havrnas:tuθina:apana:selvansltularias ,‘‘This gave Avle Havrnas [tuthina apana,meaning unknown] to Selvans of the Boundaries.’ ... " The Religion of the Etruscans - Nancy Thomson de Grummond and Erika Simon, Editors (2006) Looks like a female with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 293 Bronze mirror from Volaterrae with Hercle nursing at Uni’s breast. 325–300 BC. Florence, Museo Archeologico, Italy " ... Bronze Mirror from Volaterra. Clearly religious in character is an engraved bronze mirror from Volaterrae (whose inscription, a legal-religious document, has important implications. An imposingly regal, enthroned female figure, Uni, is pictured nursing a full-grown Hercle, while four gods stand by as witnesses. Among these are Apollo, recognizable by his laurel branch, and an older god holding a trident or lightning bolt, either Nethuns or Tinia. He points to a tablet on which the Etruscan Inscriptions significance of the scene is explained :eca: sren: tva: iχnachercle:unialclan:θra:sce, ‘‘This picture shows how Hercle became Uni’s son (or: drank milk).’’ This mother goddess, Uni,is carrying out an adoption ritual witnessed by four other gods.While Greek myth tells the story of the nursing of Herakles by Hera, his jealous stepmother, in the context of the conflict between the goddess and the hero, the story is not illustrated in the Greek art that has come down to us, in contrast, there are a number of representations of this mythological nursing scene: as on this mirror, Uni is reconciled with Hercle by means of a ritual familiar from the Near East and Egypt but downplayed in Greece. It is in fact the Etruscan version that best illustrates for us the meaning of his name in Greek, ‘‘Glory of Hera.’’ ... " The Religion of the Etruscans - Nancy Thomson de Grummond and Erika Simon, Editors (2006) Apollo and the other witness god on the left seem to be female to me - but phallic female ... female hair, no beard My guess is the other female goddess with a penis is the Etruscan Dionysus - Fufluns or Pacha based on comparison with the necklace around her neck Roman Hermaphrodite 294 Etruscan Votive terracotta statue showing incision and internal organs, 300–200 B.C. , Terracotta, Getty Museum That's a vagina on a male torso - I suppose an offering to a goddess with a penis Roman Hermaphrodite 295 Apollo Liceo, 2nd to 3rd century AD, Imperial Roman " ... APOLLO LICEO DATING: II-III sec. d. C. MATERIAL AND TECHNIQUE: medium grain white marble, sculpted and polished PRODUCTION: Roman culture A slightly smaller size than the natural statue that depicts the naked god, with his right arm raised and resting on his head, his torso turned to the left, the weight resting on the right leg, while the other is flexed at the knee. Apollo is depicted young, with the characteristic hairstyle of the hair knotted at the top of the head and combed into large locks that join in a bun on the nape of the neck. The young god is pictured here with his body and musculature as a teenager still in training. ... " ITINERIS auction house Female with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 296 Apollo Licio " ... The Apollo Licio or Apollo Liceo (in Greek language ... Apollon Lukeios) is a sculpture attributed to Praxiteles and today only exists through copies of the Roman era of the first century BC and depictions on coins . The fame of the statue gave way to a whole type of statuary known precisely as "Apollo Licio type". ... " Wikipedia Looks like a female with a penis to me Roman Hermaphrodite 297 Apollo Licio - Roman copy attributed to Praxiteles, Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Italy Looks like a woman with a penis to me - Roman Hermaphrodite 298 Statue of Apollo - From Tivoli, Hadrian's Villa. 2nd cent. AD. Pergamon Museum, Berlin - Lyre added in 18th century Woman with a me a penis to me - Roman Hermaphrodite 299 Contest of Apollo and Marsyas. Relief from Mantineia, Greece. c. 350 BC. National Museum, Athens. " ...In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas is a central figure in two stories involving music: in one, he picked up the double oboe (aulos) that had been abandoned by Athena and played it; in the other, he challenged Apollo to a contest of music and lost his hide and life. In antiquity, literary sources often emphasise the hubris of Marsyas and the justice of his punishment. In one strand of modern comparative mythography, the domination of Marsyas by Apollo is regarded as an example of myth that recapitulates a supposed supplanting by the Olympian pantheon of an earlier "Pelasgian" religion of chthonic heroic ancestors and nature spirits. Marsyas was a devoté of the ancient Mother Goddess Rhea/Cybele, and his episodes are situated by the mythographers in Celaenae (or Kelainai), in Phrygia, at the main source of the Meander (the river Menderes in Turkey)..." Wikipedia - Not sure about that! The mother godess's were Athena and Apollo! I suppose there was a shift from earth mothers to sky mothers - but Apollo is a phallic mother ... The seated figure of Apollo with a lyre is female - Roman Hermaphrodite 300 Apollon Kitharodos - Heykeli Burdur Müzesi, Turkey Seated woman to me - Roman Hermaphrodite 301 The restored Antonine Nymphaeum, erected ca. 160-180 AD, Sagalassos, Turkey - Carole Raddato " .... A nymphaeum or nymphaion, in ancient Greece and Rome, was a monument consecrated to the nymphs, especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habitations to the local nymphs. They were sometimes so arranged as to furnish a supply of water, as at Pamphylian Side. A nymphaeum dedicated to a local water nymph, Coventina, was built along Hadrian's Wall, in the northernmost reach of the Roman Empire. Subsequently, artificial grottoes took the place of natural ones. ... " Wikipedia That's a replica of female Dionysus on the right - Ampelus - the goddess (with a penis) of the grape vine... - Roman Hermaphrodite 302 The restored western tabernacle of the Antonine Nymphaeum with replica statue of Dionysus and Satyr, erected ca. 160-180 AD, Sagalassos, Turkey - Carole Raddato That's Bacchus and Ampelus - Roman Hermaphrodite 303 Marble statue of Dionysus and Satyr, from the eastern tabernacle of the Antonine Nympheum, 160-180 AD, Burdur Museum © Carole Raddato That's Bacchus and Ampelus - Roman Hermaphrodite 304 Nemesis, from the Antonine Nymphaeum, 160-180 AD, Burdur Museum, Turkey - Carole Raddato " ... In ancient Greek religion, Nemesis, also called Rhamnousia or Rhamnusia ("the goddess of Rhamnous"), is the goddess who enacts retribution against those who succumb to hubris (arrogance before the gods) ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 305 Apollo citaredo. Late 2nd century AD. Bardo Museum, Tunis, Tunisia Thats a phallic woman - Roman Hermaphrodite 306 Statue of Apollo - Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Leiden, Netherlands Thats a woman with a penis - Bacchus and Ampelus on other side - Roman Hermaphrodite 307 Marble statues of Apollo Citaredo and four muses - frigidarium of the Baths of Faustina, Miletus, Turkey. Roman Civilization, 2nd century AD. Istanbul, Arkeoloji Muzerleri (Archaeological Museum) -Dreamt of 4 massive coiled serpents where the four muses are lined up - The Baths of Faustina, Turkey were almost certainly a power sex place Second from the right is Melpomene: - " ... initially the Muse of Chorus, she then became the Muse of Tragedy, for which she is best known now. Her name was derived from the Greek verb melpô or melpomai meaning "to celebrate with dance and song." She is often represented with a tragic mask and wearing the cothurnus, boots traditionally worn by tragic actors. Often, she also holds a knife or club in one hand and the tragic mask in the other. Melpomene is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne. Her sisters include Calliope (muse of epic poetry), Clio (muse of history), Euterpe (muse of lyrical poetry), Terpsichore (muse of dancing), Erato (muse of erotic poetry), Thalia (muse of comedy), Polyhymnia (muse of hymns), and Urania (muse of astronomy). She is also the mother of several of the Sirens, the divine handmaidens of Kore (Persephone/Proserpina) who were cursed by her mother, Demeter/Ceres, when they were unable to prevent the kidnapping of Kore (Persephone/Proserpina) by Hades/Pluto. In Greek and Latin poetry since Horace , it was commonly auspicious to invoke Melpomene. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 308 Nemesis - replica, at the restored the Antonine Nymphaeum, 160-180 AD - Sagalassos, Turkey " ... The Nerva–Antonine dynasty was a dynasty of seven Roman Emperors who ruled over the Roman Empire from AD 96 to 192. These Emperors are Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, Lucius Verus, Marcus Aurelius, and Commodus. The first five of them (excluding Lucius Verus) are commonly known as the "Five Good Emperors". ... " Wikipedia Trajan expanded Rome into Arabia - there is also probably an east African component to his rule - those are the dream images from long ago - Roman power moving into the "dark continent" " ... Sagalassos , also known as Selgessos and Sagallesos , is an archaeological site in southwestern Turkey, about 100 km north of Antalya (ancient Attaleia), and 30 km from Burdur and Isparta. The ancient ruins of Sagalassos are 7 km from Aglasun (as well as being its namesake) in the province of Burdur, on Mount Akdag, in the Western Taurus mountains range, at an altitude of 1450–1700 metres. In Roman Imperial times, the town was known as the "first city of Pisidia", a region in the western Taurus mountains, currently known as the Turkish Lakes Region. ... Under the Roman Empire, Sagalassos became the important urban center of Pisidia, particularly favoured by the Emperor Hadrian, who named it the "first city" of the province and the center of the imperial cult. Contemporary buildings have a fully Roman character. Around 400 AD Sagalassos was fortified for defence. An earthquake devastated it in 518 and a plague circa 541-543 halved the local population. Arab raids threatened the town around 640 and after another earthquake destroyed the town in the middle of the seventh century, the site was abandoned.. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 309 Apollo Citharoedus, Turkey - copy of the sculpture from 350 BC made by Scopas That's a woman to me - Roman Hermaphrodite 310 Roman statue of a Dancing Woman . Marble. Perge. 2nd century AD. Antalya Archaeology Museum; Turkey. - Roman Hermaphrodite 311 Roman woman with a penis in center - or "The statue of the Great God Mamblasenos/Apollo." " .... The statue is about 85cm in height .... The standing God bearing a chlamys on his shoulders exposes his naked body. He holds the laurel branch in his partly extended right hand. His left arm is resting on a pillar forming the support, which has evidence of ancient repairs with iron drift and lock pins. His right leg is resting on a tree trunk while the left leg is set somewhat backwards. He is somewhat feminine in posture; his hair, lightly curled, flows in ringlets down his neck and rises to the summit of his cranium with a double flaring knot, which recalls the lampadion hair style .... On the inscribed base of the statue: “Pauleinos dedicated (it) to the Great God Mamblasenos” is written ... . According to this inscription the statue was sculpted as a votive to the great God Mablasenos which sounds absolutely native in its phonetic. However the typological features of the Arpalik Tepe statue definitely identifies the God Apollo. ... " The Great God Mamblasenos, Gul Isin On left a woman inhabited by Faunus with an erection and fruit basket on the right Antalya Archaeology Museum; Turkey. - Roman Hermaphrodite 312 Augusta Julia Domna Pisidian coin 193 - 211 AD " ... Obverse: IVLIA AVGVSTA. Draped bust right. Reverse: ANTIOCHEN COL CA. Genius standing left, wearing modius and holding cornucopia and branch. Very nice exemplar of provincial bronze issued in the pisidian (Asia Minor) city of Antioch. ... " ma-shops Julia Domna was an Arab Augusta - this suggests Roman power in 211 AD extended into Arabia - and probably Africa - "She" and the "Queen of Sheba" probably link up with the power of the Augusta's. When you read accounts of the Queen of Sheba, there is usually an urban core where she was based - I have never been able to place this urban core in Africa - but even the Arab vision is lacking - most images of these lands are of nomadic settlements not cities with running fountains for example. But there are probably massive urban settlements in Africa and Arabia waiting to be discovered. - Roman Hermaphrodite 313 Three Graces Statue - Roman marble. Antalya Archeological Museum, Turkey - Roman Hermaphrodite 314 Statue of a Genius with cornucopia ( Genius of Emperor Domitian 81-96 AD ) Roman Capitoline Museum , Italy That's what's on the Julia Domna coin - a genius with a cornucopia - but that's probably a woman with a penis - Roman Hermaphrodite 315 Apollo with Kithara, Roman Empire, mosaic, 1st/2nd century AD, House of Dionysus, Paphos, Cyprus. Probably female from lack of dog-leash tan and the female robes, and lack of a beard - Roman Hermaphrodite 316 Mosaic Apollo and Daphne, The Western Portico, Room 16, Archaeological park, Paphos, Republic of Cyprus Apollo is famous for being put under a love spell for the nymph Daphne by eros. This probably proves Apollo was male - but ancient depictions of this event never show Apollo as a fully dog-leashed and bearded male: " ... Apollo, the Greek/Roman god of music, poetry, art, the sun and a great warrior, mocked the god of love, Eros (Cupid), for his use of bow and arrow, as Apollo is also patron of archery. “What are you doing with powerful weapons, naughty boy?” he said. "That equipment of yours is fitting of our shoulders, which are able to give certain wounds to wild animals, and to enemies, I who recently killed the swollen Python, who was pressing down so many acres with his disease-bearing belly, with countless arrows! You will be content to provoke some loves by your fire, not to lay claim to my honors.” This is the context behind the story. The insulted Eros then prepared two arrows: one of gold and one of lead. He shot Apollo with the gold arrow, instilling in the god a passionate love for the river nymph Daphne. He shot Daphne with the lead arrow, instilling in her a hatred for Apollo. Having taken after Apollo’s sister, Artemis (Diana), Daphne had spurned her many potential lovers, preferring instead woodland sports and exploring the forest. Due to her identity as an “aemula Phoebes” (female rival or emulator of Artemis), she had dedicated herself to perpetual virginity. Her father, the river god Peneus, demanded that she get married and give him grandchildren. She, however, begged her father to let her remain unmarried; he eventually complied. Apollo continually followed her, begging her to stay, but the nymph continued to reject him. They were evenly matched in the race until Eros intervened, helping Apollo catch up to Daphne. Seeing that Apollo was bound to reach her, she called upon her father, "Help me, Peneus! Open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger! Let me be free of this man from this moment forward!" And with that, Peneus answered her plea and “a heavy numbness seizes her limbs; her soft breasts are surrounded by a thin bark, her hair changes into foliage, her arms change into branches; her foot, just now swift, now clings to sluggish roots.” She turned into a laurel tree. In spite of Daphne's terror and fervent insistence that he leave her alone, Apollo vowed to honor her forever: “Always my hair will have you, my lyres will have you, my quivers will have you, laurel tree. You will be present for the Latin leaders when a happy voice will sing a triumph and the Capitoline Hill will see long processions.” Apollo also used his powers of eternal youth and immortality to render Daphne evergreen ("you also, wear always the perpetual honors of your foliage!"). For this reason, the leaves of the Bay laurel tree do not decay. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 317 Mosaic Apollo and Daphne, Hatay Archaeology Museum, Antakya. Turkey - Roman Hermaphrodite 318 Bronze Apollo statue - Roman period, circa 2nd c AD - Christie's Female with a penis to me - Roman Hermaphrodite 319 Colossal Roman Apollo Citharoedus - found in 1670. Restored by Giuseppe Giorgetti - Piazza Barberini, Rome Female head - androgynous body - that seems to be the pattern with Apollo. - Roman Hermaphrodite 320 Sarcophagus of the musical contest between Apollo and the satyr Marsyas - Cose Italy to 290-300 AD, marble This seems to have been when the Amazons began to rule the Greco-Roman world. There is only one standing bearded figure and at the end he is flayed ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 321 Detail - Sarcophagus with Marsyas and Apollo. Marble. From Sidon, Lebanon. C. 200-210 A.D. Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum. Copenhagen. Denmark The seated Apollo has a penis, but no beard. That's an amazon to me. The other women - no beards, also have a set of horns - probably Faunus horns - which means they probably have a penis under those gowns ... Sarcophagus is from Lebanon during the days of Julia Domna - an Arab Augusta. Rome probably had a secret female ruling cult in the 200's - Roman Hermaphrodite 322 Sarcophagus with Marsyas and Apollo. Marble. From Sidon, Lebanon. C. 200-210 A.D. Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum. Copenhagen. Denmark - Roman Hermaphrodite 323 Mosaic of the musical contest between Marsya, and the god Apollo - House of the Aion, Archaeological park of Paphos, Republic of Cyprus / Pafos Seated Apollo is in female robes and has no beard ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 324 Marble sarcophagus with the contest between the Muses and the Sirens. The deities Athena, Zeus, and Hera, assembled at the far left, preside over a musical contest, 3rd century AD, Late Imperial period, Metropolitan Museum of Art " ... Of all the Olympic deities, none occupy a more distinguished position than the Muses, the nine beautiful daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. In their original signification, they presided merely over music, song, and dance; but with the progress of civilization the arts and sciences claimed their special presiding divinities, and we see these graceful creations, in later times, sharing among them various functions, such as poetry, astronomy, etc. The Muses were honoured alike by mortals and immortals. In Olympus, where Apollo acted as their leader, no banquet or festivity was considered complete without their joy-inspiring presence, and on earth no social gathering was celebrated without libations being poured out to them; nor was any task involving intellectual effort ever undertaken, without earnestly supplicating their assistance. They endowed their chosen favourites with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding; they bestowed upon the orator the gift of eloquence, inspired the poet with his noblest thoughts, and the musician with his sweetest harmonies. Like so many of the Greek divinities, however, the refined conception of the Muses is somewhat marred by the acerbity with which they punished any effort on the part of mortals to rival them in their divine powers. An instance of this is seen in the case of Thamyris, a Thracian bard, who presumed to invite them to a trial of skill in music. Having vanquished him, they not only afflicted him with blindness, but deprived him also of the power of song. Another example of the manner in which the gods punished presumption and vanity is seen in the story of the daughters of King Pierus. Proud of the perfection to which they had brought their skill in music, they presumed to challenge the Muses themselves in the art over which they specially presided. The contest took place on Mount Helicon, and it is said that when the mortal maidens commenced their song, the sky became dark and misty, whereas when the Muses raised their heavenly voices, all nature seemed to rejoice, and Mount Helicon itself moved with exultation. The Pierides were signally defeated, and were transformed by the Muses into singing birds, as a punishment for having dared to challenge comparison with the immortals. Undeterred by the above example, the Sirens also entered into a similar contest. The songs of the Muses were loyal and true, whilst those of the Sirens were the false and deceptive strains with which so many unfortunate mariners had been lured to their death. The Sirens were defeated by the Muses, and as a mark of humiliation, were deprived of the feathers with which their bodies were adorned. The oldest seat of the worship of the Muses was Pieria in Thrace, where they were supposed to have first seen the light of day. Pieria is a district on one of the sloping declivities of Mount Olympus, whence a number of rivulets, as they flow towards the plains beneath, produce those sweet, soothing sounds, which may possibly have suggested this spot as a fitting home for the presiding divinities of song. They dwelt on the summits of Mounts Helicon, Parnassus, and Pindus, and loved to haunt the springs and fountains which gushed forth amidst these rocky heights, all of which were sacred to them and to poetic inspiration. Aganippe and Hippocrene on Mount Helicon, and the Castalian spring on Mount Parnassus, were sacred to the Muses. The latter flowed between two lofty rocks above the city of Delphi, and in ancient times its waters were introduced into a square stone basin, where they were retained for the use of the Pythia and the priests of Apollo. The libations to these divinities consisted of water, milk, and honey, but never of wine. Their names and functions are as follows: CALLIOPE, the most honoured of the Muses, presided over heroic song and epic poetry, and is represented with a pencil in her hand, and a slate upon her knee. CLIO, the muse of History, holds in her hand a roll of parchment, and wears a wreath of laurel. MELPOMENE, the muse of Tragedy, bears a tragic mask. THALIA, the muse of Comedy, carries in her right hand a shepherd's crook, and has a comic mask beside her. POLYHYMNIA, the muse of Sacred Hymns, is crowned with a wreath of laurel. She is always represented in a thoughtful attitude, and entirely enveloped in rich folds of drapery. TERPSICHORE, the muse of Dance and Roundelay, is represented in the act of playing on a seven-stringed lyre. URANIA, the muse of Astronomy, stands erect, and bears in her left hand a celestial globe. EUTERPE, the muse of Harmony, is represented bearing a musical instrument, usually a flute. ERATO, the muse of Love and hymeneal songs, wears a wreath of laurel, and is striking the chords of a lyre. With regard to the origin of the Muses, it is said that they were created by Zeus in answer to a request on the part of the victorious deities, after the war with the Titans, that some special divinities should be called into existence, in order to commemorate in song the glorious deeds of the Olympian gods ... ". From: Berens, E.M. The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome. New York: Maynard, Merril, & Co., 1880. Text in the public domain. - Roman Hermaphrodite 325 Roman Apollo with a lyre, copied from an earlier 4th century BC Hellenistic statue, from a group of Muses found in Villa de Cassius at Tivoli - Vatican Museum Rome Female playing a lyre to me (with a flayed Marsyas on it) - Zeus had a 10th daughter in addition to the 9 muses: Apollo Reminds me of the 9 daughters of Gikuyu who founded the 9 clans of the Kikuyu tribe in Kenya. According to myth, women were the traditional rulers of the tribe ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 326 Bronze statue of Apollo Citharoedus, House of the Citharist, Pompeii - the original in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples That's a woman with a penis - no beard, female hair - Roman Hermaphrodite 327 Original Bronze statue of Apollo Citharoedus, House of the Citharist, Pompeii - the original in th National Archaeological Museum of Naples That's a female head; - down below is a caged penis .... Zeus also had a caged penis - his "key-holder" was Hera - Etruscans worshiped Hera as the prime deity ... Not only was Zeus "caged" - but he practiced male birth from his thigh - when he birthed Dionysus ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 328 Labeled "Electra and Orestes" 1st cent BC- but probably a goddess and a mortal " ... Orestes and Electra, Roman Sculpture, 1st cent. BC, marble This sculpture was found in the grounds of the Villa Ludovisi in Rome and is ascribed to the sculptor Menelaus. Guesses have been made concerning the figures represented in this sculpture. The comparative size and protecting demeanor of the female figure have led some to believe that this might be the representation of a mother and son -- perhaps Penelope and Telemachos -- rather than brother and sister. In any case, the sculpture is thought to depict a moment of anagnorisis, a recognition scene, such as the one of Orestes and Electra in Aeschylus' Libation Bearers. ... " Columbia College - Roman Hermaphrodite 329 Roman Sarcophagus with Apollo and the Muses - Piedmont Canavese Agliè - The Castle - sabauda residence -Tuscolana room Nude Apollo and the 9 muses plus a helmeted goddess - No beards and all female hair. Zeus was the king of the gods - but most of the Greco Roman deities after the fall of Saturn are female - usually females with a phallus .. - Roman Hermaphrodite 330 Sarcophagus relief - Muses and Poet. Octagonal Courtyard Pio Clementino ( Vatican Museum Rome Italy ) - Roman Hermaphrodite 331 Apollo and the satyr Marsyas compete in a musical contest Apollo has a female head - no beard and female hair on an androgynous torso plus a caged penis Attic Red Figure Krater - Attributed to the Pothos Painter c. 430 - 410 B.C. - British Museum, London - Roman Hermaphrodite 332 " ... Sarcophagus of a married couple. About 240 AD. The couple extending hands to each other also appear in the side panels. He as a Greek orator, she as a muse, a cultural ideal. Glyptothek. Munich. Germany. ... " Alamy - That's probably where the female phallus comes from - the caged penis - Roman Hermaphrodite 333 Marble Sarcophagus with Dionysus and Ariadne. c. 200 A.D. From Vigna Casali, Rome. Carlsberg Glyptotek Museum. Copenhagen. Denmark. That's the female Dionysus center left or Ampelus - from the hair. Bacchus is probably the nude with the lagobolon or stick to catch hares third from right. On both ends you can see women occupied by the spirit of Faunus - that's a male head on a female body - under the gowns are almost certainly a female phallus - Roman Hermaphrodite 334 Ancient Roman Republic silver coin, denarius, 66 BC, left - head of Apollo, right - Terpsichore the Muse of dance with cithara; moneyer Quintus Pomponius Head of Apollo seems female to me - Apollo was a phallic woman to the Roman Republic Shot blocked - used workaround - Roman Hermaphrodite 335 Sarcophagus of Julius Longinus, head of the decurions at Misenus, with depictions of Apollo, Minerva, and the nine Muses, Roman, 3rd century AD . Castellammare Di Stabia, Antiquarium Stabiano (Archaeological Museum) No beards - one penis on a nude Apollo - that's a phallic woman. The muses seem to have two horns on their heads - probably related to Faunus - Roman Hermaphrodite 336 Sarcophagus relief with Apollo, Minerva, and the Muses, Rome, Italy - Marble, around 200 AD Altes Museum, Berlin No beards - nude Apollo with a penis on left - Roman Hermaphrodite 337 Sarcophagus of the Muses, c. 150 B.C. From Rome, Italy. , Musée Du Louvre - Roman Hermaphrodite 338 Sarcophagus of the Muses. White marble. Rome, 180—200 AD. Vienna, Museum of Art History (Kunsthistorisches Museum) "Nine Muses and their divine patrons — Athena and Apollo. Athena leaning against an oil-tree stands in the center of composition. She wears a helmet and holds a spear. Her aegis is seen by her feet. There is a snake on the tree and an owl on the ground near the goddess — her attributes symbolizing her wisdom. A naked figure of Apollo Musagetes is the last on the right. A small Gryphon — winged mythical creature whose rider was Apollo — sits on the ground by the god." Vienna, Museum of Art History Apollo Musagetes has a penis but is not a god - she's a goddess. A god would have a beard unless he was an infant - Roman Hermaphrodite 339 Sarcophagus lid with five Muses, Galleria Borghese Probably 4 muses and a semi nude Apollo with lyre in the middle Not sure what the original sources call Apollo - god or goddess, but the images from ancient Greece a clearly female - on Wikipedia we read that the Amazons even had a temple dedicated to Apollo: "Amazonius: Pausanias at the Description of Greece writes that near Pyrrhichus there was a sanctuary of Apollo, called Amazonius with image of the god said to have been dedicated by the Amazons. " Wikipedia Apollo must have been one of the deities of the Augusta and perhaps a similar office in Greece - a woman with a penis - Roman Hermaphrodite 340 Lamp-bearer/ Hermaphrodite Five wrecks dating from the period 150-50 BC Musée national du Bardo, Tunis inv. no F 109. © Exhib. Bonn, 1994 / Das Wrack. Der antike Schiffsfund von Mahdia, pl. 21. Plato on Androgyny: " ... Aristophanes W. Hamilton considers that Aristophanes' speech, which comes next, is one of Plato's most brilliant literary achievements. The speech has become a focus of subsequent scholarly debate, as it has been seen as mere comic relief, and sometimes as satire: the creation myth Aristophanes puts forward to account for sexuality may be read as poking fun at the myths concerning the origins of humanity, numerous in classical Greek mythology. Before starting his speech, Aristophanes warns the group that his eulogy to love may be more absurd than funny. His speech is an explanation of why people in love say they feel "whole" when they have found their love partner. He begins by explaining that people must understand human nature before they can interpret the origins of love and how it affects their own times. This is, he says because in primal times people had doubled bodies, with faces and limbs turned away from one another. As spherical creatures who wheeled around like clowns doing cartwheels, these original people were very powerful. There were three sexes: the all male, the all female, and the "androgynous," who was half male, half female. The males were said to have descended from the sun, the females from the earth and the androgynous couples from the moon. These creatures tried to scale the heights of Olympus and planned to set upon the gods . Zeus thought about blasting them with thunderbolts but did not want to deprive himself of their devotions and offerings, so he decided to cripple them by chopping them in half, in effect separating the two bodies. Ever since that time, people run around saying they are looking for their other half because they are really trying to recover their primal nature. The women who were separated from women run after their own kind, thus creating lesbians. The men split from other men also run after their own kind and love being embraced by other men. Those that come from original androgynous beings are the men and women that engage in heterosexual love. He says some people think homosexuals are shameless, but he thinks they are the bravest, most manly of all, as evidenced by the fact that only they grow up to be politicians, and that many heterosexuals are adulterous and unfaithful. Aristophanes then claims that when two people who were separated from each other find each other, they never again want to be separated. This feeling is like a riddle, and cannot be explained. Aristophanes ends on a cautionary note. He says that men should fear the gods, and not neglect to worship them, lest they wield the ax again and we have to go about hopping on one leg, split apart again. If a man works with the god of Love, they will escape this fate and instead find wholeness. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 341 Lamp-bearer: winged Eros/Hermaphrodite Five wrecks dating from the period 150-50 BC Musée national du Bardo, Tunis inv. no F 216. © Exhib. Bonn, 1994 / Das Wrack. Der antike Schiffsfund von Mahdia, pl. 20. - Roman Hermaphrodite 342 Winged Hermaphroditus chasing a hare Apulian (Etruscan) Red Figure (Gnathian) c 340 B.C., Rhode Island School of Design Museum, New York"... Hermaphroditus is depicted as a winged love-god (an Eros) with a combination of male and female attributes--the breasts and hair-style of a woman, and male genitalia. He/she chases a hare, an animal which symbolized sexual desire. ..." theoi - That's a sexually aggressive Etruscan woman with a penis Another alternative is Agdistis. " ... Agdistis was a deity of Greek, Roman and Anatolian mythology, possessing both male and female sexual organs. She is closely associated with the Phrygian goddess Cybele.Her androgyny was seen as symbolic of a wild and uncontrollable nature. It was this trait which was threatening to the gods and ultimately led to her destruction. ... According to Hesychius and Strabo, Agdistis is the same as Cybele, who was worshiped at Pessinus under that name. In many ancient inscriptions, Agdistis is clearly distinct from Cybele, but in many others she is listed as merely an epithet of Cybele. Although primarily an Anatolian goddess, the cult of Agdistis covered a good deal of territory. By 250 BC it had spread to Egypt, and later to Attica: notably it could be found in Piraeus as early as the 3rd or 4th century BC, Rhamnus around 80 BC (where there was a sanctuary of Agdistis), and Lesbos and Panticapeum some time later on. Inscriptions honoring her have been found at Mithymna and Paros. In the 1st century BC, her shrine in Philadelphia in Asia Minor required a strict code of behavior. At that location and others she is found with theoi soteres. Inscriptions found at Sardis from the 4th century BC indicate that priests of Zeus were not permitted to take part in the mysteries of Agdistis. Scholars have theorized that Agdistis is part of a continuum of androgynous Anatolian deities, including an ancient Phrygian deity probably named "Andistis" and one called "Adamma", stretching all the way back to the ancient kingdom of Kizzuwatna in the 2nd millennium BC. There is also some epigraphic evidence that in places Agdistis was considered a healing goddess of wholly benevolent nature. ... "Wikipedia Theoi Soteres. : " Soter is a frequently used cultic epithet of Greek gods, as is its feminine form, Soteira. The epithets describe a superhuman agent who saves a human worshiper in a crisis that often involves a threat not just to one's well-being, but one's life." researchgate The top layer of Roman life was Etruscan - this was probably their greatest secret - the goddess with a penis .... - Roman Hermaphrodite 343 Relief of an Archigallus making sacrifices to Cybele and Attis, Museo Archeologico Ostiense, Ostia Antica. " ... A gallus (pl. galli) was a eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis, whose worship was incorporated into the state religious practices of ancient Rome. ... The first galli arrived in Rome when the Senate officially adopted Cybele as a state goddess in 204 BC. Roman citizens were prohibited from becoming galli, which meant that either the galli were Asian or they were slaves. Under Claudius, this ban was lifted. In Rome, the head of the galli was known as the archigallus, at least from the period of Claudius on. A number of archaeological finds depict the archigallus wearing luxurious and extravagant costumes. The archigallus was always a Roman citizen chosen by the quindecimviri sacris faciundis, whose term of service lasted for life. Along with the institution of the archigallus came the Phrygianum sanctuary as well as the rite of the taurobolium as it pertains to the Magna Mater, two aspects of the Magna Mater’s cultus that the archigallus held dominion over. Eventually Domitian reaffirmed that Roman citizens were forbidden to practice eviratio (castration). The galli castrated themselves during an ecstatic celebration called the Dies sanguinis, or "Day of Blood", which took place on March 24. At the same time they put on women's costume, mostly yellow in colour, and a sort of turban, together with pendants and ear-rings. They also wore their hair long, and bleached, and wore heavy makeup. They wandered around with followers, begging for charity, in return for which they were prepared to tell fortunes. On the day of mourning for Attis they ran around wildly and disheveled. They performed dances to the music of pipes and tambourines, and, in an ecstasy, flogged themselves until they bled. Being a Roman citizen, as well as being employed by the Roman State, meant that the archigallus had to preserve the traditions of Cybele's cult while not violating Roman prohibitions in religious behavior. Hence, some argue that the archigallus was never a eunuch, as all citizens of Rome were forbidden from emasculation. However, under Claudius Roman citizens were permitted to be castrated up until the reign of Domitian. The signs of their office have been described as a type of crown, possibly a laurel wreath, as well as a golden bracelet known as the occabus. ... " ...Attis was the consort of his mother, Cybele, in Phrygian and Greek mythology. His priests were eunuchs, the Galli, as explained by origin myths pertaining to Attis and castration. Attis was also a Phrygian god of vegetation. In his self-mutilation, death and resurrection he represents the fruits of the earth which die in winter only to rise again in the spring. ... In the late 4th century BC, a cult of Attis became a feature of the Greek world. The story of his origins at Agdistis, recorded by the traveler Pausanias, have some distinctly non-Greek elements: Pausanias was told that the daemon Agdistis initially bore both male and female attributes. But the Olympian gods, fearing Agdistis, cut off the male organ and cast it away. There grew up from it an almond-tree, and when its fruit was ripe, Nana, who was a daughter of the river-god Sangarius, picked an almond and laid it in her bosom. The almond disappeared, and she became pregnant. Nana abandoned the baby (Attis). The infant was tended by a he-goat. As Attis grew, his long-haired beauty was godlike, and his mother, Agdistis as Cybele, then fell in love with him. But the foster parents of Attis sent him to Pessinos, where he was to wed the king's daughter. According to some versions the King of Pessinos was Midas. Just as the marriage-song was being sung, Agdistis/Cybele appeared in her transcendent power, and Attis went mad and cut off his genitals. Attis' father-in-law-to-be, the king who was giving his daughter in marriage, followed suit, prefiguring the self-castrating corybantes who devoted themselves to Cybele. But Agdistis repented and saw to it that the body of Attis should neither rot at all nor decay. ... As neighboring Lydia came to control Phrygia, the cult of Attis was given a Lydian context too. Attis is said to have introduced to Lydia the cult of the Mother Goddess Cybele, incurring the jealousy of Zeus, who sent a boar to destroy the Lydian crops. Then certain Lydians, with Attis himself, were killed by the boar. Pausanias adds, to corroborate this story, that the Gauls who inhabited Pessinos abstained from pork. This myth element may have been invented solely to explain the unusual dietary laws of the Lydian Gauls. In Rome, the eunuch followers of Cybele were known as Galli. Julian the Apostate gives an account of the spread of the orgiastic cult of Cybele in his Oratio 5. It spread from Anatolia to Greece and eventually to Rome in Republican times, and the cult of Attis, her reborn eunuch consort, accompanied her. The first literary reference to Attis is the subject of one of the most famous poems by Catullus but it appears that Attis was not worshipped at Rome until the early Empire. ... " Wikipedia - Not sure about a literal castration . They are probably writing about the "dog-leash". The orgies associated with Cybele cult do not make sense without a penis. - Roman Hermaphrodite 344 Altar dedicated to Cybele and Attis. Relief portraying Cybele on a wagon pulled by lions and Attis leaning on the sacred pine . Roman civilization, 295 A.D. Museo Della Civiltà Romana " ... KYBELE (Cybele) was the great Phrygian mother of the gods, and goddess of motherhood, fertility and the mountain wilds. Her orgiastic cult dominated the central and north-western regions of Anatolia and was introduced to Greece via the island of Samothrake and the Boiotian town of Thebes. Kybele was identified with a number of Greek goddesses including Rheia (in mainland Greece), Demeter (in Samothrake), Aphrodite (on Mt Ida) and Artemis (in Karia). In sculpture she was depicted as a matronly woman with a turret-crown, seated on a throne flanked by lions. ... ... The Orgia (Orgiastic festivals) of the Phrygian Mother of the Gods were introduced to Greece by way the island of Samothrake. They were closely connected with the Orgies of the god Dionysus, whose Phrygian counterpart, Sabazios, was described as a son of the goddess. The Phrygian Orgia were overseen by eunuch priests called Gallai who led devotees in nocturnal mountain rites involving much drinking, and frantic dancing accompanied by the music of rattles, kettledrums, flutes and castanets and the ritual cry "evoe saboe," "hyes attes, attes hyes." Young men armed with shield and sword also performed the high-footed, shield-clashing Korybantic dance (which Greek legend described as the dance of the Kourete-protectors of the infant Zeus). The rites also involved ritual mutilation, ranging from flagellation to the act of self-castration performed by the Gallai priests. The Orgies introduced into Greece and Rome were toned down somewhat to accommodate local sensibilities. ... ... Plato, Euthydemus 277 (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher c. 4th B.C.) : "Like the celebrants of the Corybantic rites, when they perform the enthronement of the person whom they are about to initiate. There, as you know, if you have been through it, they have dancing and merrymaking." ... Virgil, Aeneid 3. 111 (trans. Day-Lewis) (Roman epic C1st B.C.) : "The Great Mother, the patron of Cybele, the cymbals of the Corybantes, the grove of Ida, the hush of the faithful which belong to Cybele's cult." ... " theoi - Roman Hermaphrodite 345 Hermaphroditus. 3nd century B.C., Pergamon. Istanbul Archaeological Museum , Turkey Speculation online that this is Agdistis/Cybele - there is also speculation that the winter nude male angel (left) in the season sarcophagus on page 59 of this site is Attis The image suggests that Cybele was able to re-generate Attis and even give him a set of wings That's a version of the Isis/Horus myth - and there is one example above of an Egyptian goddess with penis - Roman Hermaphrodite 346 Patera of Parabiago in silver gilt portraying the Triumph of Cybele and Attis. Roman civilization, 4th century A.D. From Parabiago, Milan. Civiche Raccolte Archeologiche E Numismatiche, Civico Museo Archeologico - Roman Hermaphrodite 347 Cybele enthroned, with lion, cornucopia, and mural crown. Roman marble, c. 50 AD. Getty Museum " ... Magna Mater (Cybele) Magna Mater ("Great Mother") was the Roman version of Cybele, an Anatolian mother goddess that may date back to 10,0000-year-old Çatalhöyük, the world's oldest town, where statues of plump women, sometimes sitting, have been found in excavations. She is Phrygia's only known goddess, and was probably its state deity. Her Phrygian cult was adopted and adapted by Greek colonists of Asia Minor and spread to mainland Greece and its more distant western colonies around the 6th century B.C.. Some scholars say the cult of Cybele was brought to Rome in 205 or 204 B.C.. The Roman state adopted and developed a particular form of her cult after the Sibylline oracle recommended her conscription as a key religious ally in Rome's second war against Carthage. Roman mythographers reinvented her as a Trojan goddess, and thus an ancestral goddess of the Roman people by way of the Trojan prince Aeneas. With Rome's eventual hegemony over the Mediterranean world, Romanized forms of Cybele's cults spread throughout the Roman Empire. The meaning and morality of her cults and priesthoods were topics of debate and dispute in Greek and Roman literature, and remain so in modern scholarship. Source: Wikipedia According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art: “In 204 B.C., during the Second Punic War, the Romans consulted the Sibylline Oracles, which declared that the foreign invader would be driven from Italy only if the Idaean Mother (Cybele) from Anatolia were brought to Rome. The Roman political elite, in a carefully orchestrated effort to unify the citizenry, arranged for Cybele to come inside the pomerium (a religious boundary-wall surrounding a city), built her a temple on the Palatine Hill, and initiated games in honor of the Great Mother, an official political and social recognition that restored the pax deorum. Source: Claudia Moser, Metropolitan Museum of Art, April 2007 “After Cybele and the foreign ways of her exotic priesthood were introduced to Rome, she became a popular goddess in Roman towns and villages in Italy. But the enthusiasm that accompanied the establishment of her cult was soon followed by suspicion and legal prohibitions. The eunuch priests (galli) that attended Cybele's cult were confined in the sanctuary; Roman men were forbidden to castrate themselves in imitation of the galli, and only once a year were these eunuchs, dressed in exotic, colorful garb, allowed to dance through the streets of Rome in jubilant celebration. Nevertheless, the popularity of the goddess persisted, especially in the Imperial period, when the ruling family, eager to emphasize its Trojan ancestry, associated itself with and publicly worshipped Cybele, a goddess whose epithet, Mater Idaea, designated her as Trojan and whose cult was deeply connected with Troy and its origins." ... " - Roman Hermaphrodite 348 Taurobolium Altar 360-370 AD with relief depicting the goddess Cybele enthroned with Demeter (right) flanked by Persephone Kore and Iacchus, Probably from Chalandri, National Archaeological Museum, Athens, Greece. This tells us nothing about the orgies and why the cult was so popular. My intuition is Cybele's priests were the mirror of the vestal virgins - no sex for 30 years. But that probably did not mean literal castration. It probably meant an unremovable fibula on their penis that prevented sexual activity. That was a Trojan theme - the "dog leash" gave Trojan women a penis and made them dominant partners in Trojan family structures. - Roman Hermaphrodite 349 Marble relief of the goddess with her consort Attis; a female worshiper and her daughter approach on the right. From Asia Minor, 2nd Century BCE. Venice/ Archaeological Museum. - Castration of the Attis priests was probably literal - My inner vision is something like the "Sith" in Star Wars. A super-powerful late Roman fraternity - Roman Hermaphrodite 350 Sun god crowned by solar rays, the Moon goddess bearing a crescent on her hair, and an old man, perhaps Jupiter Dolichenus. 150 - 200 AD From the area of the barracks of the Equites Singulares, via Tasso, Rome. - Wikimedia " ... The worship of Attis dated back centuries in Phrygia (aka Anatolia= modern Turkey) before it was imported to Rome in 204 BCE. Roman writers mentioning the religion include: Lucretius (lived 98 - 54 BCE), Catullus (86 -40 BCE), Varro (116 - 28 BCE), and Dionysus Halicarnasensis (first century BCE). Attis predated Christ. Before and during the years the Christian Gospels were written (from the reign of Claudius, 41 – 54 CE) the Festival of Joy, celebrated Attis' death and rebirth was celebrated yearly in Rome. A Christian writer of the fourth century CE, recounted ongoing disputes between pagans and Christians over the remarkable similarities of the death and resurrection of their two gods. The pagans argued that their god was older and therefore original. The Christians admitted Christ came later, but claimed Attis was a work of the devil whose similarity to Christ, and the fact he predated Christ, were intended to confuse and mislead men. This was apparently the stock answer -- the Christian apologist Tertullian makes the same argument. 1) Attis was born of the Virgin Nana on December 25th. 2) He was both the Father and the Divine Son. 3) The Festival of Joy—the celebration of Attis' death and rebirth On March 22 a pine tree was brought to the sanctuary of Cybele, on it hung the effigy of Attis. The God was dead. Two days of mourning followed, but when night fell on the eve of the third day, the worshippers turned to joy. "For suddenly a light shone in the darkness; the tomb was opened; the god had risen from the dead ...[and the priest] softly whispered in their ears the glad tidings of salvation. The resurrection of the God was hailed by his disciples as a promise that they too would issue triumphant from the corruption of the grave." [for more see Frazer, Attis, chapter 1] 4) Attis' worshipers ate a sacramental meal of bread and wine. The wine represented the pagan god's blood; the bread became the body of the savoir. They were baptized in this way: a bull was placed over a grating, the devotee stood under the grating. The bull was stabbed with a consecrated spear. "It's hot reeking blood poured in torrents through the apertures and was received with devout eagerness by the worshiper...who had been born again to eternal life and had washed away his sins in the blood of the bull." [for more see Frazer, Attis, chapter 1] 5) Called "the Good Sheppard," the "Most High God," the "Only Begotten Son" and "Savior." [In Rome the new birth and the remission of sins by shedding of bull's blood took place on what is now Vatican Hill, in our days the site of the great basilica of St. Peter's] ... " sacredwicca - And on March 24, initiates into the cult castrated themselves - Roman Hermaphrodite 351 Cybele drawn in her chariot by lions towards a votive sacrifice (right). Above are the Sun God and heavenly objects. Plaque from Ai Khanoum, Bactria (Afghanistan), 2nd century BC. Gilded silver - Bactria was the Aryan homeland - the world of the fusion of Ionic Greek and the Buddhist world - Roman Hermaphrodite 352 Relief of the Archigallus, depicting a priest and the instruments for the orgiastic ritual. 1st-2nd century AD. Rome, Museo Della Civiltà Romana " ... A bas-relief from the Musei Capitolini, depicting an archigallus; he has no beard at all and, like a woman, wears earrings and a dress, the sleeves of which hang right down to the wrist; in reality they would have been purple. His head is covered with a veil and crowned with a crown decorated with three medallions, in which one should probably see the Magna Mater between two Attis figures; Taeniae (straps) dangle on both sides. On his chest prosthêdthídion (chest pendant), in the form of an aedicula, decorated with another Attis figure, who, with a finger on his mouth, asks silence from the initiates. A chain hangs around the neck; in which one undoubtedly sees the occabus, which together with the crown was the sign of his dignity as archigallus. In his right hand he is holding a poppy head and three leaves. in his left hand he has a basket filled with fruit, including the pinecone, which is dear to Cybele. Higher up we see the bone-adorned with which the galli thrashed himself, and finally we see ordinary attributes of the cult around the niche of the archigallus: the cymbals, the tympanon, the flutes and the mystical cista. ... " Wikimedia - Purple robes - that was an imperial cult! - Roman Hermaphrodite 353 "Attis with his attributes. The primitive stone knife in his left hand indicates his self castration and death while the fruits in his right are tokens of his annual revival. " - Alamy " ... Statue of a reclining Attis. The Shrine of Attis is situated to the east of the Campus of the Magna Mater in Ostia. In the apse is a plaster cast (the original is in the Vatican Museums) of a statue of a reclining Attis, after the emasculation. In his left hand is a shepherd's crook, in his right hand a pomegranate. His head is crowned with bronze rays of the sun and on his Phrygian cap is a crescent moon. This suggests astrological aspects: Attis was regarded as a solar deity and identified with the moon-god Men. He is leaning on a bust, probably the personification of the river Gallos, where he had died. His posture is reminiscent of river gods (the river Gallos), but the statue also brings to mind sarcophagi, with a depiction of the deceased on the lid. The statue is a dedication by C. Cartilius Euplus ... " Wikipedia * There is a school of thought that the emasculation of the galli was transferred to a Bull during a bloody religious ritual- with the unremovable "dog-leash" substituted instead. Roman law did not allow castration: " ... But the main innovation of Claudius (according to Turcan) to the Cybele cult may be the ‘adoption’ of the taurobolium procedure by cult of Cybele!: “Claudius did not stop at incorporating the deeds of Attis into the calendar. He may also have reformed the official priesthood by instituting the office of archigallus, if one agrees with the reasoning of J. Carcopino. There is no reliable mention to be found of an archigallus before the Antonine era, at lest in epigraphy. As high priest (summus sacerdos) of the Mother-worship cult, the archigallus was a Roman citizen. He thus had an official duty that was incompatible with castration, which Roman law forbade its nationals. The galli consecrated themselves to Cybele by sacrificing their manhood to her. How, therefore, could an archigallus be ‘ordained’ without breaking the law? Here we meet and have an explanation for the taurobolium which, in ancient documentation, is often the accompaniment of the archigallic title…The first epigraphic attestation of a Mother-cult taurobolium is dated to AD 160….A man descends into a pit or trench, wearing a toga of which one fold covers his ribbon-adorned head. The pit is covered with an openwork platform or flooring with many holes in it. A bull is then brought and its chest hacked with blows from a spear. ‘The huge wound spouts a flood of hot blood…which seethes in all directions…Through the countless channels provided by the perforations a stinking torrent falls. The priest enclosed in the pit gets the full force of it, exposing his befouled head to every drop; his robe and his whole body reek. Worse is to come! He tilts his head backwards, exposing his cheeks, his ears, his lips and nostrils, even his eyes. Without sparing his palate, he soaks his tongue in it, until his whole body is impregnated with this horrible, dark blood. ... “The victim is removed, the cover taken off, and the ‘the pontiff, dreadful to see’ is extracted from the pit. He is hailed ‘with the idea’ that vile blood…has purified him while he was hidden in these shameful depths.’…in the Roman era the process consisted of being immersed in the spilt blood in order to identify oneself ritualistically, though imaginarily, with the victim. It was a substitution sacrifice. Inscriptions inform us that the slaughtered bull’s testicles were cut off and buried beneath an altar, just as the vires of the castrated galli were ritually interred. Prudentius quite rightly makes the martyr denouncing the repugnant performance say: ‘It is my blood that you see, not that of an ox’ (Hymns, X, 1007). Now the subject of the taurobolium of which he speaks is the summus sacerdos consecrandus ...: the one who is to be consecrated as high priest, or in other words, the archigallus. So he was hailed and worshipped, and ended with the conviction that he was ‘purified’. The Great Mother was given satisfaction by the castration of the sacrificed bull. Henceforth, the archigallus wore the crown and the occabus or heavy gold bracelet.” ... “Concurrently, the cult of Cybele became associated with the ritual of the slaying of the sacred bull (taurobolium), which Prudentius interpreted as a baptism of blood. The ritual was performed for the prosperity of the emperor or the Empire and, more frequently, for the benefit of private individuals. Normally it was considered valid for twenty years, which makes it questionable whether it was meant to confer immortality on the baptized.” ..." christianthinktank - Roman Hermaphrodite 354 "Io (on the left, with horns) is welcomed in Egypt by Isis (sitting, holding a snake and with a crocodile at her feet). Io is carried by a river god, setting her down at Kanopus near Alexandria. Roman fresco from the temple of Isis in Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples)..." Wikipedia Basic Roman themes - the "dog-leash" tan on the river god lifting a horned goddess to meet the a phallic goddess - Isis Isis probably got her penis the same way Cybele did - through male sexual restraint. Io's horns also signal a female phallus - probably through Faunus Restraint did not mean no sex though - it heightened female sexual appetites and opened the way for poorly documented events like the state-sanctioned orgies of the Cybele cult - Roman Hermaphrodite 355 Temple of Isis Fresco, Pompeii. Egyptian Isis ritual. 1st century BC. Brown and black women - rare for Roman art ... Egypt was still a separate Greek ruled state in the 1st century BC - Roman Hermaphrodite 356 Cast of an Antique relief of two Corybantes found near Palestrina in 1788 - Vatican Museums " ... Over deep seas Attis in His fast boat bourne, so that on swift foot He eagerly could reach the Phrygian forest and approach the shaded, wreathed by trees places of the Goddess, roused then by a wild frenzy, raving with the spirits, He plucked out there on the spot the weights with a sharp flint, and so when She sensed (Her Self being without) Her disposed-off body parts, without manhood, indeed, staining the soil with fresh blood, She quickly with snow-white hands grabbed the light drum, Your drum, Cybele, Your rites, Mother, and beating the hollow bull's hides with tender fingers, She dared to sing this tremulously to Her Companions: "Drive on, go, Gallae, to Cybele's high woods together, go together, Dindymenian Domina's roving cattle, Who like exiles seek to find foreign places, and as My following have imitated Me - Companians to Me with Me as Leader. You've endured the wild sea and its deadly dangers and emasculated the body out of immense hatred of Venus. Amuse the Mistress with Your headlong tresspasses. Let's not tarry any longer, go together, follow Me to Cybele's Phrygian House, to the Phrygian woods of the Goddess, where cymbals make their clashing sound, where drums resonate, where the Phrygian piper plays melancholically the curved reed, where the ivy-wearing Maenads shake Their heads violently, where They do Their offerings wailingly, where that roving crowd is used to flutter about for the Goddess, for Whom it's right that We speed up the quick three-step dance." Together with the Companians this Attis sang, the imitation-woman. Suddenly the Celebrants start wailing with oscillating tongues, promptly the drum bangs in return, the cymbals resound with a ring. To green Ida the swift Chorus goes in hot haste. In rapture, out of breath and unsettled She walks on more dead than alive. While banging Her drum through the shadowy woods Attis is Leader. Just like an untamed heifer that tries to avoid the burden of the yoke, the wild Gallae follow the swift-footed Leader. Therefore, as soon as They reached Cybele's House, They out of enormous exertion go to sleep without having eaten. Because of this trying exertion slothful Sleep covers the eyes. Their minds at pleasant repose the wild rapture passes off. But as the gold-faced Sun with His shining eyes brightened the immaculate sky, the hard ground, the wild sea and dispelled the night's shadows with His sprightly horses, Sleep left wide-awake Attis quickly forgetting all past exertion. Into fearful bosom the Goddess of all Gods and Goddesses received Her back. So after pleasant repose without the wild frenzy and likewise Her heart Attis recollected Her actions, and saw without all that with clear mind and where She'd been, at Her wit's end full of regret ran to the waters. There Her eyes full of tears beholding the vast sea the sad One addressed Her Country with a voice so wretchedly: "Country, O Creatress of Me, O My Country, Birthgiver, I such a wretch forsaking masters like fugitive slaves do, ran away to the woods of Ida, to be close to the snow and the ice-cold lairs of wild animals and go in rapture to all their hiding places, where somewhere You, Country, after all can also be found, I imagine ? The same poplars long to direct their sharp tops to You, [or: The same piercing eyes long to direct them to You,] intend to keep aloof from wild frenzy, as long as life is short. Weren't I driven from My home to these far away woods ? Country, won't I be absent from good people, from friends and parents ? Absent from the forum, the wrestling arena, the running course and the gymnasia ? Wretched ah wretched, it's forever to be deplored, Soul. Truely, what do I look like, aren't I therefore damned ? Am I a woman, a youth, a husband-to-be, a boy ? I was in top form, the attraction of the wrestling school: many people frequently visited Me, Many kept Their houses cool for Me, My house was adorned with garlands for Me, people stood up for Me, where a seat faced the Sun rise. Am I now driven to be a servant of gods and Cybele's slave ? Am I to be a Maenad, am I to play that part, to be a sterile man ? Am I to live in the cold, snow-coated place of green Ida ? Am I to spend My life under the high mountain tops of Phrygia, where the hind is a forest dweller, where the boar is a wood rover ? What I've done, distresses Me now, now I'm sorry." When She made a quick loud noise with Her rose lips, She left, the new messenger addressing Her Self to the ears of the gods. Then, as Cybele takes the joined yokes off the lions and incites the hostile animal on the left, thus She speaks: "Go," She says,"go, wild one, make this One like crazy, make it so, that She through an attack of frenzy runs back to the woods, She Who so very fearlessly wishes to flee at My command. Go, beat Her skin with your tail, She must be exposed to your chastenings, make it so, that the whole place resounds of your thundering roaring, shake your ruddy mane, wild one, with your muscular neck." This asserts dangerous Cybele and loosens the yokes with Her hand. The wild animal itself urging itself takes off with all its courage, it wades, hullabaloos, breaks the underbrush on unsteady foot, but as it nears the damp bright-white parts of the beach and sees the tender Attis near the marble (of the) sea, it makes its attack. That crazed One, She flees into the wild woods. There for always and the whole space of Her life She was a Servant. Goddess, great Goddess, Cybele, Goddess, Domina of Dindymon, may all Your Fury be far away from Me, Mistress, and far from home. Drive Others frantic, drive Others into rapture. Carmen 63 - Gaius Valerius Catullus (translated by M. van Wevelingen) * - I've seen that imagery - it's the Nietzschean "sunlit uplands" - the Aryan ideal - I just never dreamed they were ruled by a goddess. " ... You've endured the wild sea and its deadly dangers and emasculated the body out of immense hatred of Venus. " - Roman Hermaphrodite 357 Colossal bust of Attis,Phrygian god and companion of Cybele,who,in an orgiastic frenzy,is said to have emasculated himself. Imperial Rome. Ludovisi Collection, Cat,239 Museo Nazionale Romano, Rome, Italy - Roman Hermaphrodite 358 Mithras: Tauroctony scene That's almost identical to the bull sacrifice scene on March 24 during the Roman rites of the resurrection of Attis - the blood baptism. This is probably the origin of the roman "dog-leash" - The galli consecrated themselves to Cybele by sacrificing their manhood to her : instead of a literal cutting, the phallus of a bull was offered instead along with the "dog-leash" fibula closing off the penis from self-pleasure Attis surrendered his penis to Cybele as the roman man surrendered his penis to his wife - that's my intuition : the roman man was the servant of his wife ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 359 Cybele, Artemis, with mutiple breasts, marble statue, Ephesus Museum, Selcuk, Turkey. " ... Cybele's religion was a bloody cult that required its priests and priestesses as well as followers to cut themselves during some rituals. The cult was a mystery religion, which meant that it's inner secrets and practices were revealed to initiates only. The priests castrated themselves at their initiation; there was wild music, chanting, and frenzied dancing. Cybele's retinue included many priestesses, including Amazonian, transgendered female priests as well as traditional masculine functionaries such as the dendrophori (tree-bearer) and cannophori (reed-bearer), and transgendered males known as the Gallae. During the Republic and early Empire, festival days in March and April were celebrated with eunuchs preceding the goddess through the streets, banging cymbals and drums, wearing bright attire and heavy jewelry, their hair long and 'greased'. Priests and priestesses were segregated, their activities confined to their temples, and Roman citizens were not allowed to walk in procession with them. Neither Roman citizens nor their slaves were allowed to become priests or priestess in the cult. No native-born Roman citizen was to be allowed to dress in bright colors, beg for alms, walk the streets with flute players or worship the goddess in 'wild Phrygian ceremonies'. Attis was worshipped as the god of vegetation and fertility and was seen as consort of Cybele. At its peak, the Cult of Cybele was rivaled only by that of Isis, and there were temples in all provinces of the Empire. Her dedication day or dies natale is celebrated on 10 April (IV ID APR) as the culmination of the Megalensia festival. Cybele was sometimes referred to as Dindymene or Dinymenian Mother because she was born on Mount Dindymus. Zeus had ejaculated on the ground somewhere around Mount Dindymus, where an offspring sprung out of the ground, with both male and female sex organs. The gods fearing this creature upon reaching adulthood had the hermaphrodite being castrated, thereby causing the creature to become a female being. The creature became the mother goddess, named Cybele. The gods threw away the severed phallus, and instantly an almond tree grew on that spot. Cybele is known by serveral epithets, such as Magna Mater and Mater Deum (deum = deorum, a syncopated poetic form). Her home was said to be Mount Ida, near the city of Troy. ... " Carnaval - Roman Hermaphrodite 360 Statue of the goddess Kybele (Cybele), c. 60 BC. Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. From Formia, (in present day Lazio), Italy. Marble. Before Zeus emasculated Cybele she was a hermaphrodite - that's probably why the cult of the hermaphrodite was so popular in Rome. By surrendering his penis to Cybeline, Attis was making her whole ... In addition to the castrated male priests of Cybele, there was also a separate order of Amazon Cybele priestesses - apparently they managed the annual orgies of the Cybele cult which involved mass promiscuity and the breaking of the fibulae that bound Roman men - However, information here is very, very thin ... " ... Cybele became a vital part of the religious life of everyday Romans. She was integrated into the pantheon of gods and was considered the protectress of the city of Rome to whom she brought peace and plentiful harvest. Her cult was supported not only by the ordinary people but also by the government and enjoyed aristocratic patronage. As Tripolitis explains, “(Cybele’s) cult continued to gain great popularity and spread to every part of the known world…Cybele’s severe and rigorous demands provided a deep religious experience and a psychological exhilaration.” This time was the heyday of the mystery cults of Rome, and Cybele became one of the chief deities. She was called Augusta, the Great One; Alma, the Nourishing One; Sanctissima, the Most Holy One. Roman emperors considered her to be the highest deity of the Empire and Augustus Caesar, the first emperor of Rome, took his title from her epithet. Emperor Julian, who ruled from 361–363 AD, wrote a hymn in which he called her a Virgin, “Wisdom, Providence, Creator of our Souls.” However, as popular as Cybele was, there were still certain Phrygian elements to her cult worship which the Roman authorities could not accept, which led to limited participation in the cult for Roman citizens. The Romans found the extravagance of the ceremonies, the enthusiasm of the Galli to castrate themselves, their hypnotic dances accompanied by loud flutes and the tympanum/timbral which were played as the Galli castrated themselves, to be repugnant. Early on the Roman authorities confined the rites of the Megalensia to the temple on the Palatine Hill, except for the procession and the public games. During this time, Romans were not allowed to participate in the rites, serve as priests/priestesses, play music on the sacred instruments, or join the orgies which included the Galli. This restriction was lifted in the reign of Claudius (41–54 AD). Under Emperor Claudius, the cult acquired a new vigor and became one of the most popular and favored of the foreign cults. By the end of the first century CE the popularity of Cybele’s cult had spread throughout the Roman Empire in the Western world. The restrictions barring Roman citizens from participation in the cult were removed. Roman men and women were then able to take part in the processions, and Roman men could join the Galli. Under Claudius, a new annual cycle of festivals was established. The new festival, held from March 15 through March 27, introduced Attis as the consort of Cybele and raised him to prominence, which he had not previously held until this Roman cult. It is thought that this “new” festival was simply the previous Phrygian festival of Attis which had been forbidden under Roman rule. As with all mystery cults, the specific ritual practices of the Cybelines were not recorded. However, there were numerous references in ancient poems and stories which, when taken together they give us a picture of what the rituals of Cybele in ancient Rome may have entailed. One phrase continually reappeared in Latin, Greek, and Phrygian refers to the rite called the taurobolium. A Cybeline priestess says this phrase “I have eaten out of the drum: I have drunk out of the cymbal: I have carried the Kernos: I have entered (stole into) the bridal chamber.” Another version more specific to the Galli is “I have eaten from the drum: I have drunk out of the cymbal: I have become a mystic votary of Attis.” In the taurobolium the novitiate, after having eaten and drunk, goes to a chamber underneath the ritual area and stands under a grating. A bull is led in and stands on the grating, it is then stabbed to death with a sacred spear, and the initiate is washed and reborn from the blood. ... " Cybele, the Patron Deity of Rome by Francesca Tronetti, Ph.D. - Roman Hermaphrodite 361 Goddess of Ephesus Artemis/Cybele - National Archaeological Museum of Naples There is speculation online that those are the testicles of a Bull ... Shocking, but not so when you know a little about the Cybele cult " ... IT’S THE FIRST QUESTION anyone would ask after seeing a picture of Artemis, the goddess of Ephesus, one of the four largest cities in the Roman Empire. What are those bumps sticking out in front? Here’s the answer: Only the dead know. I have heard many guesses over the years. “Eggs” was popular for a while. The theory was that eggs symbolized her fertility – and her ability to produce stuff. Artemis, also known by her Roman name of Diana, was portrayed as the virgin goddess who helped women through childbirth – as though a virgin would know what childbirth is like. “Breasts” was another popular guess, for the same reason. It symbolized fertility. One scholar explains why many Bible experts don’t like that guess. The scholar is James R. Edwards, a theology prof from Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. He wrote an article about Ephesus for the current issue of Biblical Archaeology Review: “Archaeology gives new reality to Paul’s Ephesus riot,” July/August 2016. Edwards said, “Ancients knew well enough how to sculpt the female torso. No sculptor chiseled two dozen egg-shaped objects on the chest of a statue and expected them to be taken for female breasts.” Makes sense to me. What does Edwards say the protuberances are? “Bulls’ testicles.” At this point, I’m thinking I should copy, paste, and lightly edit the note Edwards wrote to explain why he rejected the idea that the bumps were breasts. My revision: “Ancients knew well enough how to sculpt the figure of a bull. No sculptor chiseled two dozen egg-shaped objects on the chest of the lady statue and expected them to be taken for bull balls.” That said, Edwards does seem to make a reasonable case – at least as reasonable as anyone else made for their guesses: “Artemis…was honored and served by self-gelded priests whose castration represented the ultimate subservience of masculinity to the divine feminine. A prominent symbol of virility in the ancient world was the bull.” I’m not sure how much value there is in making guesses about stuff like this. But I do think it’s helpful to learn about the culture in which Paul ministered and in which the early church was born. ... " Uncomfortable question about goddess Artemis by Stephen M. Miller * Those could also be human testicles: in 180 AD St. Symphorianus was martyred in Autun (France) because he laughed at the statue of the Mother Goddess which was covered in human testicles. See: The passion of st. Symphorianus. That mother goddess was probably Cybele. Artemis was sometimes confused with Cybele because her male priests were also required to castrate themselves . And her cult statues were also covered in egg-like objects * Also on line we read : " ... St. Basil of Ancyra, a priest who served in Asia Minor in the 4th century A.D., reported that the churches of this region (where Ephesus is located) were filled with eunuchs. Many men had castrated themselves, thinking that renouncing “the body and its passions” was necessary to please God. We read about an early instance of this in a 2nd century work entitled, “the Acts of John.” In this account, a young man from Ephesus castrates himself in a fit of remorse over committing adultery. He is rebuked by John (the Lord’s disciple) who tells him it is not the body that leads to sin, but rather temptation arising from the heart. Though Basil wrote in the 4th century, the problem he was attempting to address had started much earlier (see Daniel F. Caner’s, “The Practice and Prohibition of Self-Castration in Early Christianity”). In addition to pointing out that ascetics in the church of Asia Minor were castrating themselves, Basil points out why they were doing this. He reports that they were following the example of the priests of Cybele. New priests of the goddess Cybele would offer her their genitals in a bloody ritual that took place once each year. The Greek name for this goddess was Artemis (see Philippe Borgeaud’s “Mother of the Gods”). ... " apostleswarning.wordpress - Roman Hermaphrodite 362 Artemis of Ephesus. Marble and bronze, Roman copy of an Hellenistic original of the 2nd century BC. Capitoline Museums, Palazzo dei Conservatori, Hall of the Eagles * Also see this blog: " ... The ancient travel-writer Pausanias remarked that “All cities worship Artemis of Ephesus, and all individuals hold her in honour.” This was not an overstatement. The spread of the cult of Artemis Ephesia throughout the Greek world was extraordinary. By the late Hellenistic period, many cities within the territories ruled by the Greeks had a temple or shrine dedicated to the highly regarded goddess, or to a version of her. However, it was the city of Ephesus alone that had a particularly strong and lasting bond with their goddess. Artemis of Ephesus was quite unlike Greek goddesses and she had a unique and distinctive appearance. This essay looks at the features of her dress, and at what these features symbolise. But it begins with a brief history of Artemis which helps to explain her importance and power. ... The origin of Artemis and her cult are “shrouded in obscurity” and predates the Ionians settling in south-western Anatolia around 1050 BCE. Nevertheless, Dieter Knibbe, a foremost archaeologist of ancient Ephesus, suggests the goddess started out as a sacred tree on the southwestern slopes of Mount Ayasolak. Knibbe writes that Artemis began as a “tree goddess and a timeless symbol of fertility”. The earliest statues of the goddess of Ayasolak are thought to have been carved from wood, without detail, but decorated with removable items. There was a custom throughout western Anatolia of dressing and decorating archaic cult statues. At some unknown point, the Ionians named the indigenous Anatolian goddess after the Greek goddess Artemis. When King Croesus of Lydia conquered Ephesus in around 550 BCE, he promoted the Anatolian, that is, the Ephesian, Artemis “to the position of first-ranking deity”, and he funded the first marble temple built for her. Around the same time, probably to coincide with the building of the temple, a new cult statue of Artemis was carved by the famous sculptor Endoios. This statue is believed to have looked like an ordinary and unadorned young woman. Adapting to political influences and the changing social culture in Ephesus, the goddess and her cult evolved. Like most cults in the Greek world, the cult of Artemis underwent a process of Hellenisation, and some of the mythology and attributes of the Greek Artemis were attributed to the Ephesian Artemis. The removable decorations of Artemis probably changed over time too, but in around 150 BC, if not before, her attire became somewhat standardised. The earliest representation of this standardised figure, that can be dated, is found on cistophoric coins minted in Ephesus in 133 BC. As well as coins, numerous statues show uniformity in how the goddess was represented: her clothing, as well as her person, now being cast in metal or carved in stone. In this standard representation, Artemis typically wears a crown, garments, and accessories that are intricate and rich in symbolism. ... Some surviving statues, and several coins, show Artemis Ephesia wearing a mural crown which depicts her city’s walls. Other Anatolian goddesses are also sometimes depicted with similar crowns (e.g. Cybele of Phrygia), as does Agathe Tyche (“Good Fortune”) who was often chosen to be the patron goddess of cities newly founded by Alexander’s successors. Artemis’s mural crown symbolised her ability to protect Ephesus and its defenses, and it indicates she was a tutelary (or guardian) deity. Importantly, however, while there are several statues of Artemis wearing a mural crown, “all of these with one exception (now lost . . . ) are restorations.” Other statues depict Artemis wearing a crown that represents her temple. Perhaps this was her more usual crown. Still other statues depict the goddess wearing a simple polos on her head, sometimes with a veil attached. A polos looks somewhat like an upturned basket and was made by weaving natural fibres together. Greek women had stopped wearing poloi in the Classical period, but it remained a common headdress for goddesses. Artemis’s crowns symbolised her sovereignty and divinity. She was sovereign over Ephesus and had a unique covenant bond with the city. The goddess was the city’s divine protector and patron and, in return, the Ephesians were guardians of her temple. Her name “Artemis” was thought to be derived from a Greek adjective that means “safe and sound”. Strabo, the ancient geographer, writes, “Artemis has her name from the fact that she makes people artimeas.” The supposed “benefits she confers on others goes a long way towards explaining her popularity in Ephesus.” Underneath her crown, the goddess’s face has a benign, calm expression, and her hair is usually neatly and simply tied back or hidden. Her face and hair look similar to the face and hair of many statues of pretty young Greco-Roman women and are unremarkable. ... All of the surviving statues of Artemis have several garlands around her neck. The objects in the garlands can vary, but they usually include a strand of acorns under a thick wreath of seeds or nuts. Some statues wear a garland which features symbols of the zodiac. Artemis Ephesia is the only deity of the Greco-Roman world who appropriated the signs of the zodiac as part of her costume and character. In the Hellenistic age, a cosmological revolution was happening. Ptolemy would write about this new way of looking at the universe in his Tetrabiblos in the second century AD, but, already in the Hellenistic period, thinkers were seeing the universe in a new way. They believed that immediately surrounding the earth (which was presumed to be the centre of the universe) there was the large sublunar region, which in turn was surrounded by seven planetary spheres. It was thought “the terrestrial, sublunar realm was sharply separated from the celestial, supralunar realm by an abyss of cosmic space populated by elemental and demonic powers. These powers controlled the terrestrial realm, even as they were controlled by the celestial deities.” This new understanding brought with it a new emphasis on cosmic forces and astrology in religious beliefs. Artemis’s zodiacal garland seems to signify that she possessed an authority and power superior to cosmic forces and astrological fate.Accordingly, in one inscription she is called “the Queen of the Cosmos”; in another, she is called a “Heavenly God”. ... Immediately below her garlands is one of the more perplexing features of Artemis’s appearance. She has numerous smooth, oval-shaped, protuberances on her midriff which are interpreted differently by scholars. It was thought by some that these objects were her breasts, but Robert Fleischer has shown that these objects are not part of the goddess’s body. This is clearly seen in statues where Artemis’s skin (her face, neck, hands, toes) and hair are cast in bronze and are dark in colour, but her crown and her clothes, which includes the protuberances, are carved from white marble or cream alabaster. Similar protuberances have been found on two fourth century BCE figures of the male god Zeus Labraunda. (The site of ancient Labraunda is approximately 120 km south of the site of ancient Ephesus.) Labraunda and Ephesus were inhabited by Carians before the Ionian invasion. So these oval objects may have been a feature of some Carian deities dating back to the second millennium BCE. Going further back in time, western Anatolia was inhabited by Hittites. Sarah P. Morris suggests the oval objects are leather goatskin pouches called kurša that the Hittites filled with magic charms and fetishes. This is a possibility, but there are other suggestions about what these objects may be. Knibbe, and others, believe the objects are bulls’ testicles. The relative size (compared with, for example, the acorns) and the shape of the protuberances match the size and shape of bulls’ testicles. Following Gerhard Seiterle, Knibbe writes, “On certain occasions, a series of bulls were offered to the goddess in bloody slaughter and . . . their testicles were fixed on the statue of Artemis.” If these objects are testicles, they probably symbolised the goddess’s vitality. Knibbe believes that “this rite reveals the archaic concept that the power of the goddess was renewed in this way, so that she could in turn strengthen the world of nature . . .” Lynn LiDonnici, following Robert Fleischer, regards many of the arguments supporting the idea of bulls’ testicles to be weak. ... Another suggestion is that the protuberances are bees’ eggs. The objects are the same shape as the eggs of the common bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) and other bees. There is ample evidence that Artemis was associated with bees. Bees and winged “bee-people” feature on the side panels of her skirt. Also, in the early Roman period, one of her cult statues, known as the “Beautiful Artemis’ was erected between two beehives carved of stone. In the Greek world, bees were thought to reproduce asexually and they became a symbol of chastity. And Artemis was considered a chaste virgin. (Quite unlike other goddesses, Artemis Ephesia is never associated with a male consort.) Furthermore, bees became the symbol of Ephesus and appear on Ephesian coins, such as the tetradrachma minted in the early Hellenistic period. There is no scholarly consensus as to what the protuberances may represent. Yet it is thought by some that, as well as the garlands of seeds and nuts, they are an indication that Artemis was a fertility goddess. In a similar vein, some scholars have assumed that Artemis Ephesia began as an Anatolian mother goddess, or was influenced by such a goddess, particularly Cybele, the Phrygian “Great Mother”. While aspects of the Artemis cult may have been influenced by other Anatolian cults in archaic times, Artemis was distinct from Cybele. Cybele and Artemis had their own separate cults in Ephesus. If Artemis had begun as a fertility and/or a mother goddess, there is no evidence of this in the Greek and Roman periods. Nevertheless, it is typically thought that the oval objects signify vitality in some way. ... Artemis wears a long, tight, sheath-like skirt, called an ependytes, that reaches to her feet. There is a gathered frill at the base of the garment with just her toes visible. This garment is quite unlike that of other goddesses of the Greek world. It is also unlike the short chiton worn by the Greek Artemis. It is more typical of Anatolian gods, as is the rigid, upright stance of the statue, with the arms bent at the elbows at a right angle. Depictions of Artemis, as well as some other Anatolian goddesses, on coins, show that garlands of (what appear to be) flowers were hung from her wrists. On Artemis Ephesia’s skirt are various protomes (heads or busts) of animals arranged in rows, or tiles. Some of the animals are difficult to identify. Furthermore, while some protomes are of real animals, others are of mythical animals that look terrifying or terrified. Morna Hooker identifies the animals as lions, griffins, horses, bulls, and bees. The goddess often has two lions on each sleeve who are gazing up at her. On some surviving statues, there is a disk behind Artemis’s neck and head, possibly representing the moon, with still more creatures on it. The “Beautiful Artemis” stood between two stags (as well as the two beehives). In the Iliad (composed circa 800 BCE) the Greek Artemis is referred to as the “Lady (or Mistress) of Wild Beasts” (potnia theron) (Iliad 21.470). This epithet, and the idea behind it, appears to have been attributed to the Ephesian Artemis during the Hellenistic period. The Ephesian goddess is covered and surrounded by animals and was thought to have power over them. That Artemis had authority over wild animals may explain the figures of real animals on her clothing, but what about the mythical creatures? Clinton Arnold, in his book Ephesians: Power and Magic, states: . . . a single common feature may be discerned among all religious diversity in western Asia Minor: people had an extraordinary fear of hostile spiritual ‘powers’. Through their practices and rituals . . . religion and magic claimed to offer relief from this oppressive fear, and even promised means of control over the dreaded demonic realm. As “Queen of the Cosmos” Artemis of Ephesus supposedly had authority and power over demons and over the demonic realm situated in the cosmic abyss. Thus the creatures “appear to be in a posture of surrender to the great power of the goddess.” Arnold states that the rows of animals “demonstrate the compelling authority [Artemis] was believed to have possessed over all powers since mythical antiquity.” The power of Artemis Ephesia was invoked in prayers and magic spells by her devotees. (Some aspects of pagan religions and magic were indistinguishable in the Hellenistic period.) Pausanias (not the travel-writer, but the lexicographer) wrote that the magical Ephesia Grammata “seem to have been written discreetly and obscurely on the feet, girdle, and crown of Artemis.” The Ephesia Grammata were six “magic” words with no apparent meaning, yet they were popular and used orally, or in written form, for all kinds of magic spells. No trace of the Ephesia Grammata has survived on any statues of Artemis, however. The Ephesian Artemis was clothed from head to foot in garments and decorations that signified her power. While retaining some archaic Anatolian features, her appearance primarily signified that she possessed a vital power that included power over cosmic forces and astrological fate, as well as power of wild animals and demons. With this power, Artemis benevolently protected her city of Ephesus for over a millennium. As sovereign, she had a pervasive and potent influence on the daily life of the Ephesians, and they reciprocated by regarding their goddess with devotion and loyalty. ..."margmowczko/Marg Mowczko (2016) * (May 5, 2020) My guess, from the testimony of the Asia Minor church above is those are human testicles. The bee imagery is new to me, but not really - I wrote about it earlier on page 134 - it's the "buzzing" that I used to experience a lot before 1994. Artemis is the queen bee of her hive and is energized by the consecrated manhood of her castrated devotees. I've seen the dark skin on this statue before - it's the blond lady with black skin and a phallus anally penetrating a castrated Etruscan above - Artemis "binds" her men as they say in Japanese futa ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 363 Marble statue of Artemis, copy of the colossal statue of the Artemision or Temple of Artemis, artefact uncovered in the Prytaneum of Ephesus, Turkey. 125-175 AD. Selcuk, Archaeological Museum - The gelded male members of the Cybele cult were not restricted to priests as testimony from the Asia Minor churches proves - removal of the testicles for sacrifice to the goddess was common down into the general population - It's hard to see what benefit could have been conferred by this unless you know something about modern day Samba for example - ecstatic dance in voodoo is explicitly meant to invite the god or goddess into you body - enacting a form of the "hieros-gamos". This can have been the only reason for performing such a radical operation. In Haitian voodoo the hot blood from a sacrificed animal is poured onto the worshipers in the hope of drawing "Lwa" into their bodies. Removing the testicles probably made it easier to make the connection with a higher power. - Roman Hermaphrodite 364 Detail - Marble statue of Artemis, copy of the colossal statue of the Artemision or Temple of Artemis, artefact uncovered in the Prytaneum of Ephesus, Turkey. 125-175 AD. Selcuk, Archaeological Museum Those are not eggs or breasts - the ancient Asia minor Christians were right - they are Trojan testicles offered up to their goddess Artemis/Cybele- that was the Trojan way ... The role of Cybele female priests or Amazons was different - it entailed breaking into the marriage unions of Trojan men and having sex with them - probably opening up the way for the goddess to forcibly mount her chosen : " ... One phrase continually reappeared in Latin, Greek, and Phrygian refers to the rite called the taurobolium. A Cybeline priestess says this phrase “I have eaten out of the drum: I have drunk out of the cymbal: I have carried the Kernos: I have entered (stole into) the bridal chamber.” ... " Cybele, the Patron Deity of Rome by Francesca Tronetti, Ph. D. - Marriage chamber is both the bloody pit below the sacrificed bull - but also the marriage in a literal form - for a short period every year Trojans were expected to participate in orgies. The general pattern for Roman men was marriage for 3 children , them the wife was expected to move on - that's probably when the testicles were cut off. The "dog-leash" was for the years of procreation. - Roman Hermaphrodite 365 Ephesian Statue of Artemis. A copy of the cult statue from Hadrian's Villa, second century AD. Stage 2 of the mysteries of Mithras is "bride" of the sun - Sun or Apollo is a woman with penis or an amazon. A bride has no need for a penis! - As Catullus' poem above shows the Trojan man becomes a woman the higher he rises in his union with Cybele Goddess, great Goddess, Cybele, Goddess, Domina of Dindymon, may all Your Fury be far away from Me, Mistress, and far from home. Drive Others frantic, drive Others into rapture. Carmen 63 - Gaius Valerius Catullus - Roman Hermaphrodite 366 A statue of Artemis found in 1912 near the amphitheater in Leptis Magna, now in the National Museum, Tripoli, Libya - Roman Hermaphrodite 367 Ephesian Artemis - Cybele (Replica) - Roman Hermaphrodite 368 Statue of the Goddess Artemis of Ephesus - Roman Hermaphrodite 369 Cybele of Pergamon (May7, 2020) - The round objects on her dress are less defined here - the secret would be uncrackable without the prior research above - but those are the human balls - or as a substitute, bull's balls that have been sacrificed to the goddess The dreamspace vision from today is finding an unfindable object still drenched with the sickening smell of human blood Still can't make the connection between orgies and self-castration ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 370 Cybele riding a lion. Athenian red-figure vase fragment. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Cybele was an amazon cult - that seems to be her origin. Maybe thats the eros of castration (eros of gelding) - its eros for the Amazons! Being a male, I can't see that part of the picture " ... Rhea riding lion, Athenian red-figure vase, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston KYBELE (Cybele) was the ancient Phrygian Mother of the Gods, a primal nature goddess worshiped with orgiastic rites in the mountains of central and western Anatolia. The Greeks identified her with their own mother of the gods--the Titaness Rhea ... " theoi.com If Cybele was was the supreme deity of Rome - then that's proof that Rome was ruled by phallic women - or amazons - all those sculptures of women with a penis are the physical evidence - Roman Hermaphrodite 371 " ... A Roman marble Artemis of Ephesus c. 2nd century AD The goddess wearing a polos crown atop her wavy hair, with corkscrew locks falling to her shoulders, a large collar composed of drilled rings and bound in a ribbon, a smaller plain necklace above, two winged Nikes holding feathers and a wreath between, her tunic with three rows of egg-like shapes suspended along her upper torso, with three registers of animals below, the upper register with horned animals, the middle with bulls(?), the lower with winged griffins(?), each side of the tunic with three panels, the upper with winged siren, the middle with a bee, the lower with a floral motif, on each shoulder a semi-circular panel with three winged creatures, her arms bent at the elbow 21 ¼ in. (54 cm.) high Provenance Private collection, Switzerland, acquired prior to 1966. ... " Christies's - Roman Hermaphrodite 372 Relief with dancing warriors (Korybantes). Marble.1st cent. BC after an Athenian relief of the second half of 4th cent. BC. Roma, Musei Vaticani, Museo Pio-Clementino, Sala delle muse, 66 The nude Greek warriors still have their balls - they probably castrated a bull instead. But they are certainly "dog-leashed" Athens at the time of Plato was also worshiping Cybele - only they called her Rhea - the wife of Saturn Rhea was a "dog-leash" goddess .... " ... Pyrrhic or Korybantes The dance in armor (the "pyrrhic dance" or pyrriche) was a male coming-of-age initiation ritual linked to a warrior victory celebration. The Pyrrhic dance was performed in different ways at various times and in various countries. Plato describes it as representing by rapid movements of the body the way in which missiles and blows from weapons were avoided, and also the mode in which the enemy were attacked. As a military dance the Corybantum was of a very wild character; the dancers were armed, struck their swords against their shields, and displayed most extravagant fury; it was accompanied chiefly by the flute. There were actually as many as 18 different dances or military exercises. Among the most common performed at Festivals: Podism: quick, shifting movement of feet to train for hand to hand combat Xiphism: mock battle, groups of boys would practice fighting in a dancelike fashion Homos: high leaps and vaulting to leap over high logs, boulders and to scale walls and fortresses Tetracomos: stately group formations with shields used in formation for protection The practice was later imported to Rome by Caesar. ... " carnaval - Roman Hermaphrodite 373 Bronze fountain statuette of Cybele on a cart drawn by lions 2nd century AD at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Augustus considered Cybele to be the supreme Roman deity - and her earthly manifestation was the Augusta. During his lifetime , his wife Livia was portrayed on coins as Cybele. To me this proves Livia was the real emperor - Augustus was her Attis - " .... Augustan ideology identified Magna Mater with Imperial order and Rome's religious authority throughout the empire. Augustus claimed a Trojan ancestry through his adoption by Julius Caesar and the divine favour of Venus; in the iconography of Imperial cult, the empress Livia was Magna Mater's earthly equivalent, Rome's protector and symbolic "Great Mother"; the goddess is portrayed with Livia's face on cameos and statuary. By this time, Rome had absorbed the goddess's Greek and Phrygian homelands, and the Roman version of Cybele as Imperial Rome's protector was introduced there. Imperial Magna Mater protected the empire's cities and agriculture — Ovid "stresses the barrenness of the earth before the Mother's arrival. Virgil's Aeneid (written between 29 and 19 BC) embellishes her "Trojan" features; she is Berecyntian Cybele, mother of Jupiter himself, and protector of the Trojan prince Aeneas in his flight from the destruction of Troy. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 374 Livia as the Goddess Cybele - When the myth said Cybele and her castrated Attis, Romans probably took it literally: Augustus was probably a Eunuch not long after the ascension of Livia as Cybele. By the time he married Livia he was finished with fathering children - he had Julia with a previous wife, but no children with Livia. Livia passed the throne to her son Tiberius by another man - then she had Tiberius marry Julia who was very sexually promiscuous - Tiberius probably gave up his manhood to Julia shortly after marriage ... that was the Trojan way " ... Cybele's major myths deal with her own origins and her relationship with Attis. The most complex, vividly detailed and lurid accounts of this myth were produced as anti-pagan polemic in the late 4th century by the Christian apologist Arnobius. For Lucretius, Magna Mater "symbolised the world order." Her image held aloft signifies the Earth, which "hangs in the air." She is the mother of all, and the yoked lions that draw her chariot show the offspring's duty of obedience to the parent.She herself is uncreated, and thus essentially separate from and independent of her creations. In the early Imperial era, the Roman poet Manilius inserts Cybele as the thirteenth deity of an otherwise symmetrical, classic Greco-Roman zodiac, in which each of twelve zodiacal houses (represented by particular constellations) is ruled by one of twelve deities, known in Greece as the Twelve Olympians and in Rome as the Di Consentes. Manilius has Cybele and Jupiter as co-rulers of Leo (the Lion), in astrological opposition to Juno, who rules Aquarius. Modern scholarship remarks that as Cybele's Leo rises above the horizon, Taurus (the Bull) sets; the lion thus dominates the bull. Some of the possible Greek models for Cybele's Megalensia festival include representations of lions attacking and dominating bulls. The festival date coincided, more or less, with events of the Roman agricultural calendar (around April 12) when farmers were advised to dig their vineyards, break up the soil, sow millet "and – curiously apposite, given the nature of the Mother's priests – castrate cattle and other animals."..." - Roman Hermaphrodite 375 205 AD. Wife of Septimius Severus, Rome mint. Obv: IVLIA AVGVSTA (Julia Augusta) legend with draped bust right. Rev: MATER AVGG (Mater Augusta) legend with Cybele seated left in cart drawn by four lions. - Roman Hermaphrodite 376 AD 196-211, Rome, Julia Domna (obverse), Cybele on throne in car drawn by four lions (reverse), American Numismatic Society 1955.191.22, gift of Elizabeth A. Chalifoux - Roman Hermaphrodite 377 Radiate of Trebonianus Gallus. Legend: IMP. CAIO. NIB. TREB. GALLVS AVG. Gallus is the infibulated Roman emperor at the Met. Gallus is the singular of Galli: " ... A gallus (pl. galli) was a eunuch priest of the Phrygian goddess Cybele and her consort Attis, whose worship was incorporated into the state religious practices of ancient Rome. ... " Wikipedia In this radiate he has ascended to the crown of Attis Trebonianus Gallus had a wife and family, but the roman system was loose as to family structure His wife was Afinia Gemina Baebiana - but she never received the title of Augusta: " ... Afinia Gemina Baebiana was the wife of Roman Emperor Trebonianus Gallus, who ruled briefly in 251-253.AD Almost nothing is known about her life. She had two children, Volusianus and a daughter, Vibia Galla. After Trebonianus Gallus was proclaimed emperor by the soldiers, Herennia Etruscilla, widow of Emperor Decius, was allowed to keep the honorary title Augusta. Afinia Gemina Baebiana never was afforded the title and there are no coins of her either. Her husband and son were murdered by soldiers in AD 253. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 378 Consecration coin of Trajan Decius, 249 – 251 AD Emperor Decius consecrated as Attis. His Cybele was his wife the Augusta Herennia Etruscilla. Consecrated as Attis almost certainly meant he castrated himself as Attis did in service to Cybele. He has a beard as does the Attis above - but that probably means he castrated himself late in life - Roman Hermaphrodite 379 Consecration coin of Augustus as Attis. DIVO-AVGVSTO, Radiate head of Divus Augustus right. revers:- CONSECRATIO, Flaming altar. His Augusta was Livia - Roman Hermaphrodite 380 Divus Severus Alexander. Died AD 235.Consecration issue. Struck under Philip or Trajan Decius, AD 248-251. Obv: DIVO ALEXANDRO, Radiate bust right, slight drapery. Rev: CONSECRATIO, Lighted altar. His Augusta was probably his wife the Augusta Sallustia Orbiana - although she was exiled by the mother of the emperor Julia Avita Mamaea " ... Julia Avita Mamaea (14 or 29 August after 180–235) was a Syrian noble woman and a Roman regent of the Severan dynasty. She was the mother of Roman Emperor Alexander Severus and served as regent of Rome during his minority, de facto during his reign. Julia Avita Mamaea was the second daughter of Julia Maesa, a powerful Roman woman of Syrian origin, and Syrian noble Gaius Julius Avitus Alexianus. She was a niece of empress Julia Domna, emperor Lucius Septimius Severus, and sister of Julia Soaemias Bassiana. She was born and raised in Emesa (modern Homs, Syria). Julia's first husband was a former consul (whose name is unknown) who died. Julia married as her second husband Syrian Promagistrate Marcus Julius Gessius Marcianus. Julia bore two children during her marriage to Marcianus, a daughter Theoclia and a son, Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus Alexianus, later emperor Alexander Severus. Perhaps she may have had an elder son called Marcus Julius Gessius Bassianus. Unlike her sister, Julia was described as virtuous and reportedly never involved in scandals. Julia was attentive to the education of her son, Alexander, whom she prepared adequately for becoming emperor of Rome. Alexander thought much of his mother's advice and followed what she told him to do. ... " Wikipedia Julia Avita Mamaea was the de facto Augusta - the big penis of the Roman Empire - That flaming altar of consecration meant the testicles had to be cut off - No exceptions My guess is that flaming altar is the women-only Vesta flame - a way around the restriction on men entering the altar of the flame of Vesta was to consecrate your manhood to the goddess. Catallus called Attis "she" after he abandoned the "weight"of his manhood. As a "she" the old restrictions fell away. " ... Over deep seas Attis in His fast boat bourne, so that on swift foot He eagerly could reach the Phrygian forest and approach the shaded, wreathed by trees places of the Goddess, roused then by a wild frenzy, raving with the spirits, He plucked out there on the spot the weights with a sharp flint, and so when She sensed (Her Self being without) Her disposed-off body parts, without manhood, indeed, staining the soil with fresh blood, She quickly with snow-white hands grabbed the light drum, Your drum, Cybele, Your rites, Mother, and beating the hollow bull's hides with tender fingers, She dared to sing this tremulously to Her Companions: "Drive on, go, Gallae, to Cybele's high woods together, go together, Dindymenian Domina's roving cattle, Who like exiles seek to find foreign places, and as My following have imitated Me - Companians to Me with Me as Leader. You've endured the wild sea and its deadly dangers and emasculated the body out of immense hatred of Venus. Amuse the Mistress with Your headlong tresspasses. Let's not tarry any longer, go together, follow Me to Cybele's Phrygian House, to the Phrygian woods of the Goddess, where cymbals make their clashing sound, where drums resonate, where the Phrygian piper plays melancholically the curved reed, where the ivy-wearing Maenads shake Their heads violently, where They do Their offerings wailingly, where that roving crowd is used to flutter about for the Goddess, for Whom it's right that We speed up the quick three-step dance." Together with the Companians this Attis sang, the imitation-woman. Gaius Valerius Catullus * Vesta - or Cybele or any of the other Trojan deities were dragons - dragons are usually female dominant. The Roman dragons were like a Praying Mantis archetype - after mating the female Mantis eats the male ... * (May 7, 2020) I was just reading about the Syrian Augustas when I had an insight - the black rock mentioned in the excerpt below is probably the same black rock that was associated with Cybele in Rome - my intuition is it is today in Arabia- maybe even the Ka'aba: " ... Julia Avita Mamaea Member of the The Severans dynasty. Coins for this issuer were issued from 221 until 235. Julia Mamaea was the mother of Alexander Severus. She drew resentment from Alexander for her high-handed management and the assumption of many honorific titles. She governed well, but never had the support of the army; she sent the black stone of Elagabalus back to Syria and reversed many of the excesses of the previous regime. Alexander eventually married someone of Julia Mamaea’s choosing, but the mother then grew jealous of the empress and had her thrown out of the palace. She died in Germania with her son, when Maximinus was acclaimed Emperor by the troops and sent centurions to kill them both. ... " Finds According to wikipedia: Elagabalus is a Syro-Roman sun god. Although there were many variations of the name, the god was consistently referred to as Elagabalus in Roman coins and inscriptions from AD 218 on, during the reign of emperor Elagabalus. Elagabalus was initially venerated at Emesa in Syria, where the Arab Emesan Dynasty acted as its priests. The name is the Latinised form of the Arabic "Ilah Al-Gabal" , the Emesene manifestation of the deity, which is Arabic for "God of the Mountain.". The cult of the deity spread to other parts of the Roman Empire in the second century, where he would be revered as Elagabalos ( by the Greeks and Elagabalus by the Romans. For example, a dedication has been found as far away as Woerden, in the modern-day Netherlands. The cult statue was brought to Rome by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, who, before his accession, was the hereditary high priest at Emesa and was commonly called Elagabalus after the deity.The Syrian deity was assimilated with the Roman sun god known as Sol and later Sol Invictus ("the Undefeated Sun"). A temple called the Elagabalium was built on the east face of the Palatine Hill to house the holy stone of the Emesa temple, a black conical meteorite. Herodian writes of that stone: This stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them. Herodian also relates that Elagabalus forced senators to watch while he danced around his deity's altar to the sound of drums and cymbals, and at each summer solstice celebrated a great festival, popular with the masses because of food distributions, during which he placed the holy stone on a chariot adorned with gold and jewels, which he paraded through the city: A six horse chariot carried the divinity, the horses huge and flawlessly white, with expensive gold fittings and rich ornaments. No one held the reins, and no one rode in the chariot; the vehicle was escorted as if the god himself were the charioteer. Elagabalus ran backward in front of the chariot, facing the god and holding the horses reins. He made the whole journey in this reverse fashion, looking up into the face of his god. Herodian's description strongly suggests that the Emesene cult was inspired by the Babylonian Akitu-festival. The Emperor also tried to bring about a union of Roman and Syrian religion under the supremacy of his deity, which he placed even above Jupiter, and to which he assigned either Astarte, Minerva or Urania, or some combination of the three, as wife. The most sacred relics from the Roman religion were transferred from their respective shrines to the Elagabalium, including "the emblem of the Great Mother, the fire of Vesta, the Palladium, the shields of the Salii, and all that the Romans held sacred". He reportedly also declared that Jews, Samaritans and Christians must transfer their rites to his temple so that it "might include the mysteries of every form of worship". After the emperor was killed in 222, his religious edicts were reversed and the cult of Elagabalus returned to Emesa. ... " From the internet: " ... The Elagabal was the Greek Omphalos, which was the Egyptian Benben. You can see what it looked like from Greek coinage. The Edessan royals claimed to have this stone in the 2nd century, just before Elagabalus. It was also shown on Syrian coinage. Elagabalus took it to Rome, where we see the stone emblazoned with the image of the Phoenix, confirming that this was a meteorite. A small piece of it is supposed to be the black stone in the Ka'aba in Mecca. The Scots claim their Stone of Scoone is the Elagabal. And lastly, Arthurian legend claims it was the Lapsit Exillis stone, the Holy Grail, which was also a meteorite - the Stone from Heaven. Arthurian legend also confirms that the stone was closely associated with the Phoenix. See book The Grail Cypher. ... " Ralph Ellis, from Quora: What happened to Elagabalus's black stone? From Wikipedia: Syrian Royals were rumoured to be practicing child sacrifice of elite families to the black rock: " ... The Elagabalium was a temple built by the Roman emperor Elagabalus, located on the north-east corner of the Palatine Hill. During Elagabalus' reign from 218 until 222, the Elagabalium was the center of a controversial religious cult, dedicated to Deus Sol Invictus, of which the emperor himself was the high priest. The temple was a colonnaded structure some 70 metres by 40 metres, in front of the Colosseum, within a colonnaded enclosure. The temple platform was originally built under Domitian between 81 and 96, and may have been a place of worship to Jupiter. The remnants of this terrace are still visible today at the north-east corner of the Palatine Hill. When Elagabalus became emperor in 218 the temple was expanded and rededicated to the god El-Gabal, the patron deity of his homeplace Emesa in Syria. Elagabalus renamed the god Deus Sol Invictus and personally led a cult that worshipped this deity. Deus Sol Invictus was personified by a conical black stone, which has been suggested to have been a piece of meteorite rock. After Elagabalus' death the temple was again dedicated to Jupiter by Severus Alexander. A second, smaller temple to the god El-Gabal was built where the church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme now stands. If still in use by the 4th-century, it would have been closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire. ... Since the reign of Septimius Severus, sun worship had increased throughout the Empire. Elagabalus saw this as an opportunity to set up his god, El-Gabal, as the chief deity of the Roman pantheon. El-Gabal, renamed Deus Sol Invictus or God the Undefeated Sun, was placed over even Jupiter. As a sign of the union between the two religions, Elagabalus gave either Astarte, Minerva, Urania, or some combination of the three, to El-Gabal as a wife. Herodian writes that Elagabalus forced senators to watch while he danced around the altar of El-Gabal to the sound of drums and cymbals, and that each summer solstice became a great festival to El-Gabal popular with the masses because of its widely distributed food. During this festival, Elagabalus placed El-Gabal on a chariot adorned with gold and jewels, which he paraded through the city, after which he threw gifts into the Roman crowds: After thus bringing the god out and placing him in the temple, Heliogabalus performed the rites and sacrifices described above; then, climbing to the huge, lofty towers which he had erected, he threw down, indiscriminately, cups of gold and silver, clothing, and cloth of every type to the mob below. The most sacred relics from the Roman religion were transferred from their respective shrines to the Elagabalium, including the Great Mother, the fire of Vesta, the Shields of the Salii and the Palladium. Ancient history records lurid tales of human sacrifice taking place inside the temple, involving children which were collected all over Italy from the richest and noblest families. The religious excesses of Elagabalus' reign eventually contributed to his demise. On March 11, 222, Elagabalus was killed by members of the Praetorian Guard, and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander. Elagabalus' religious edicts were reversed, and the statues which had been moved to the Elagabalium were restored to their original shrines. ... " Wikipedia The Emesa temple to the sun god Elagabalus with baetyl at centre Coin of Uranius Antoninus with reverse depiction of the god Elagabal, British Museum, c. AD 253 According to wikipedia : " ... Baetylus (also Baetyl, Bethel, or Betyl, from Semitic bet el "house of god") are sacred stones that were supposedly endowed with life. According to ancient sources, these objects of worship were meteorites, which were dedicated to the gods or revered as symbols of the gods themselves. ... In the Phoenician mythology related by Sanchuniathon, one of the sons of Uranus was named Baetylus. The worship of baetyls was widespread in the Phoenician colonies, including Carthage, even after the adoption of Christianity, and was denounced by Augustine of Hippo. In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the term was specially applied to the Omphalos, the stone supposed to have been swallowed by Cronus (who feared misfortune from his own children) in mistake for his infant son Zeus, for whom it had been substituted by Gaea. This stone was carefully preserved at Delphi, anointed with oil every day and on festive occasions covered with raw wool. In Rome, there was the stone effigy of Cybele, called Mater Idaea Deum, that had been ceremoniously brought from Pessinus in Asia Minor in 204 BC. Another conical meteorite was enshrined in the Elagabalium to personify the Syrian deity Elagabalus. In some cases an attempt was made to give a more regular form to the original shapeless stone: thus Apollo Agyieus was represented by a conical pillar with a pointed end, Zeus Meilichius in the form of a pyramid. According to Tacitus, the simulacrum of the goddess at the temple of Aphrodite Paphia at her mythological birthplace at Paphos, on Cyprus, was a rounded object, approximately conical or shaped like a meta (a turning post on a Roman circus) but "the reason for this" he noted, "is obscure". Other famous baetylic idols were those in the temples of Zeus Casius at Seleucia Pieria, and of Zeus Teleios at Tegea. Even in the declining years of paganism, these idols still retained their significance, as is shown by the attacks upon them by ecclesiastical writers. A similar practice survives today with the Kaaba's Black Stone, which was worshipped by pre-Islamic polytheists. ... " Wikipedia Uranius Antoninus coin (Roman Syria), 253–254 AD: Baetyl of the Emesa temple to the sun god Elagabalus being transported by a 4 horse chariot " ... Uranius Antoninus, 253–254. Aureus, Emesa October-November 253 (?), AV 6.15g. L IVL AVR SVLP VRA ANT[ONIN]VS Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. CONSERVATO–R AVG Pacing quadriga l., bearing conical stone of Emesa engraved with eagle and flanked by parasols. C 2 var. (omits VRA). Delbrueck, NC 1948, fig. 8 (obverse) and fig. 3. (reverse). Baldus, Uranius Antoninus 69 (these dies). Kent-Hirmer pl. 127, 461 (these dies). RIC 2. Calicó 3383 (this coin). Extremely rare and of great historical interest. Slightly off-centre on both sides, otherwise virtually as struck and almost Fdc. Ex Sotheby’s 19 June 1990, Hunt part I, 143; NAC 8, 1995, 917 and Vecchi 8, 1997, 328 sales. From the Weintraub collection. In the mid-3rd Century, Rome's enemies along the Rhine, Danube and Euphrates became increasingly aggressive, sometimes inspiring frontier legions to rebel on behalf of their commanders. One such instance was the revolt of Uranius Antoninus in Emesa during an invasion of Syria by the Sasanian king Shapur I. Two literary sources are helpful: the pagan Zosimus, writing in about 500, speaks of a usurper Antoninus who rebelled under Gallienus, and John Malalas, a Christian writing at least half a century later, describes an Emesan priest of Aphrodite named Samsigeramus who assembled an army of “rustic slingers” that defeated Shapur's army at Emesa as it returned from sacking Antioch. Another source, the Oracula Sibyllina XIII, predicted a Persian defeat at Emesa. Since this is a Graeco-Roman text of the era, composed in provincial Syria to predict the deliverance of Syria from the Persians, it is of great value in identifying Emesa as the site of the Persian reversal. The coinage issued at Emesa by Uranius is of critical value in supporting the meagre literary evidence. One of Uranius' provincial bronzes is dated to the 565th year of the Seleucid Era, providing a chronological anchor of A.D. 253/4 for his rebellion, which accords well with the account of John Malalas. For a short-lived usurper, Uranius produced a diverse and fascinating coinage of imperial-style aurei and denarii and three types of provincial coinage–large bronzes, billon tetradrachms and silver ‘tetradrachms’. His aurei were uncommonly heavy for the period and his silver 'tetradrachms' were of high purity (and the intrinsic equivalent of two of Shapur's dirhams). On his provincial issues Uranius uses the name Sulpicius Antoninus and the titles imperator (AYTOKPATWP) and Augustus (CEBACTOC), whereas on his Latin coinage he uses no imperial title and offers his full name, Lucius Julius Aurelius Sulpicius Uranius Antoninus. The name Samsigeramus recorded by Malalas suggests the victor over Shapur was the current priest of Elagabal, and thus a member of the old Emesan royal house of Samsigeramus and Sohaemus. Though this name is not attested on the coinage, it would come as no surprise if an adopted Latin name would be used on that medium, just as the Emesan sun priest Elagabalus (Heliogabalus) assumed the name Marcus Aurelius Antoninus when he was raised to the throne. A connection of Uranius with the Severan-Emesan house is to be assumed. The emperors Caracalla, Geta, Elagabalus and Severus Alexander were all maternal descendants of Julius Bassianus, the high priest of Elagabal who reputedly was a direct descendant of Sampsigeramus, the last king of independent Emesa. The presumed Severan connection is made even stronger with this aureus, the reverse of which copies one of Elagabalus that shows the stone of Elagabal being transported from Emesa to Rome (as it had been just 35 years before). This coin type, in many ways the finest emblem of Uranius' revolt, shows that he based his legitimacy not only upon his priestly role in Emesa, but his hereditary link with the Severan dynasty. ... " icollector - Roman Hermaphrodite 383 Statue of Elagabalus as Hercules, Roman emperor from 218 to 222 AD. Full name: Augustus Marcus Aurelius Antoninus re-faced as his successor, Alexander Severus, Napoli, museo archeologico His Augusta was his grandmother, Julia Maesa. Here he is "dog-leashed" but still has his testicles. The Syrian royals introduced a male dragon into Rome - Elagabalus which they re-christened Sol Invictus. The emperor was the high priest of this rival cult. Elagabalus was circumsised in his role as the high priest of Sol Invictus, but it seems unlikely he castrated himself to Cybele - his grandmotherthe Augusta - instead he married a vestal virgin and moved the Vestal fire to his new temple: " ... Since the reign of Septimius Severus, sun worship had increased throughout the Empire. Elagabalus saw this as an opportunity to install Elagabal as the chief deity of the Roman pantheon. The god was renamed Deus Sol Invictus, meaning God the Undefeated Sun, and honored above Jupiter. As a token of respect for Roman religion, however, Elagabalus joined either Astarte, Minerva, Urania, or some combination of the three to Elagabal as consort. A union between Elagabal and a traditional goddess would have served to strengthen ties between the new religion and the imperial cult. In fact, there may have been an effort to introduce Elagabal, Urania, and Athena as the new Capitoline triad of Rome—replacing Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. He aroused further discontent when he married the Vestal Virgin Aquilia Severa, claiming the marriage would produce "godlike children". This was a flagrant breach of Roman law and tradition, which held that any Vestal found to have engaged in sexual intercourse was to be buried alive. A lavish temple called the Elagabalium was built on the east face of the Palatine Hill to house Elagabal, who was represented by a black conical meteorite from Emesa. Herodian wrote "this stone is worshipped as though it were sent from heaven; on it there are some small projecting pieces and markings that are pointed out, which the people would like to believe are a rough picture of the sun, because this is how they see them". In order to become the high priest of his new religion, Elagabalus had himself circumcised. He forced senators to watch while he danced around the altar of Deus Sol Invictus to the accompaniment of drums and cymbals. Each summer solstice he held a festival dedicated to the god, which became popular with the masses because of the free food distributed on these occasions. During this festival, Elagabalus placed the Emesa stone on a chariot adorned with gold and jewels, which he paraded through the city: A six horse chariot carried the divinity, the horses huge and flawlessly white, with expensive gold fittings and rich ornaments. No one held the reins, and no one rode in the chariot; the vehicle was escorted as if the god himself were the charioteer. Elagabalus ran backward in front of the chariot, facing the god and holding the horses' reins. He made the whole journey in this reverse fashion, looking up into the face of his god. The most sacred relics from the Roman religion were transferred from their respective shrines to the Elagabalium, including the emblem of the Great Mother, the fire of Vesta, the Shields of the Salii, and the Palladium, so that no other god could be worshipped except in association with Elagabal. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 384 " ... Roman aureus depicting Elagabalus. The reverse reads Sanct(o) Deo Soli Elagabal(o) (To the Holy Sun God Elagabalus), and depicts a four-horse, gold chariot carrying the holy stone of the Emesa temple. Inscription: IMP. C. M. AVR. ANTONINVS P. F. AVG. / SANCT DEO SOLI - ELAGABAL ... " Wikipedia RI248 A Rare Roman Gold Aureus of Elagabalus (218-222 AD.), the Stone of Emesa on the Reverse Elagabalus, 218-222 Aureus, Antioch circa 218-219, AV 7.45 g. IMP C M AVR ANTONINVS P F AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. SANCT DEO SOLI Slow quadriga r., on which is the Stone of Emesa surmounted by Eagle, surrounded by four parasols; in exergue, ELAGABAL. C 265. BMC 273 (these dies). Calicò 3033. RIC 143. Extremely rare. Struck on a very broad flan and with a very interesting reverse composition. Few emperors are known almost exclusively for their peculiarities and perversions, but on the short list of qualified applicants, Elagabalus rises to the top. The 19th Century antiquarian S.W. Stevenson, ever a delight for his artfully delivered comments, did not fail to deliver in his summary of Elagabalus whom he called : "…the most cruel and infamous wretch that ever disgraced humanity and polluted a throne…" Elagabalus and his family had lived in Rome during the reign of Caracalla, who was rumored to have been Elagabalus’ natural father. When Caracalla was murdered, his prefect and successor, Macrinus, recalled the family to their homeland of Syria. Upon arriving, Elagabalus assumed his role as hereditary priest of the Emesan sun-god Heliogabalus. For the Roman soldiers in the vicinity, who engaged in the common practice of solar worship, and who had fond memories of the slain Caracalla, Elagabalus was an ideal candidate for emperor. He soon was hailed emperor against Macrinus, who was defeated in a pitched battle just outside Antioch. Conservative Rome was introduced to their new emperor’s eccentricities and religious fervor when they learned of his overland journey from Emesa to Rome, with a sacred meteorite in tow. The journey, which consumed a year or more, in this collection is depicted on two aurei, this piece from Rome and another from Antioch. Both show the sacred conical stone of Emesa – in all likelihood a meteorite – being transported in a chariot drawn by four horses. The stone usually is emblazoned with an eagle. ... " Ancient Art & Numismatics - Roman Hermaphrodite 385 " ... Divus Claudius II Gothicus Æ Antoninianus. Mediolanum, November AD 270-January 271. Struck under Quintillus or Aurelian. DIVO CLAVDIO, radiate head right / CONSECRATIO, altar. ... " coinarchives Claudius Gothicus (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus; May 10, 214 – January 270), also known as Claudius II, was Roman emperor from 268 to 270. During his reign he fought successfully against the Alemanni and decisively defeated the Goths at the Battle of Naissus. He died after succumbing to "pestilence", possibly the Plague of Cyprian that had ravaged the provinces of the Empire. ... Claudius' origin is uncertain. Born on May 10, 214, he was either from Sirmium in Pannonia Inferior or from Naissus in Moesia Superior.According to the fourth-century Epitome de Caesaribus, he was thought to be a bastard son of Gordian II, but this is doubted by some historians.The Historia Augusta makes him a member of the gens Flavia. ... Claudius had served with the Roman army for all his adult life, making his way up the military hierarchy until Emperor Gallienus made him the commander of his elite cavalry force (hipparchos) and subsequently his military deputy.In September 268, he found himself assigned as a military tribune with the Imperial Army besieging the usurper Aureolus in Milan. His troops then proclaimed him Emperor amid charges, never proven, that he murdered his predecessor Gallienus. However, he soon proved to be less than bloodthirsty, as he asked the Roman Senate to spare the lives of Gallienus' family and supporters. He was less magnanimous toward Rome's enemies, however, and it was to this that he owed his popularity. It is possible Claudius gained his position and the respect of the soldiers by being physically strong and especially cruel. A legend tells of Claudius knocking out a horse's teeth with one punch. When Claudius performed as a wrestler in the 250s, he supposedly knocked out the teeth of his opponent when his genitalia had been grabbed in the match. Claudius, like Maximinus Thrax before him, was of barbarian birth. After an interlude of failed aristocratic Roman emperors since Maximinus' death, Claudius was the first in a series of tough “soldier emperors” who would eventually restore the Empire from the Crisis of the Third Century. ... " Wikipedia * The Attis/Cybele cult was still strong in 270 AD Full title : Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Valerius Claudius Augustus Augusta: probably the wife of the previous emperor Augusta Cornelia Salonina - Roman Hermaphrodite 386 Divus Antoninus Pius (Issued by Trajan Decius), AR Antoninianus, 250-251 AD, Rome DIVO-PIO Radiate head of Divus Antoninus Pius right CONSECRATIO Large shrine with four doors and horned roof " ... Antoninus Pius (Titus Aelius Hadrianus Antoninus Augustus Pius; 19 September 86 – 7 March 161), also known as Antoninus, was Roman emperor from 138 to 161. He was one of the Five Good Emperors in the Nerva–Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. ... His Augusta was his wife Faustina the Elder. " .... On July 10, 138, her uncle, the emperor Hadrian, died and her husband became the new emperor, as Antoninus was Hadrian's adopted son and heir. Faustina became Roman Empress and the Senate accorded her the title of Augusta. ... Faustina died near Rome in 140, perhaps at Antoninus Pius' estate at Lorium. Antoninus was devastated at Faustina's death and took several steps to honor her memory. He had the Senate deify her (her apotheosis was portrayed on an honorary column) and dedicate the Temple of Faustina to her in the Roman Forum. Because of this, Faustina was the first Roman empress with a permanent presence in the Forum Romanum.The Senate authorized gold and silver statues of her, including an image to appear in the circus, where it might be displayed in a carpentum (a kind of covered waggon) or currus elephantorum (a cart drawn by elephants). Antoninus also ordered various coins with her portrait struck, inscribed DIVA FAVSTINA ("Divine Faustina") and elaborately decorated. ... Certain cities struck coin issues in honour of the "divine Faustina" ... the most notable such cities were Delphi, Alexandria, Bostra, and Nicopolis. ... The coins issued in the wake of Faustina's funeral illustrate her elaborate funeral pyre, which may have influenced the design of later private mausolea; the deities Pietas and Aeternitas, among others; and an eagle (or less often a winged genius) bearing a figure aloft, with the legend CONSECRATIO (i.e. Faustina's ascension into heaven). For the final 14 years of his life, his Augusta was his daughter Annia Galeria Faustina Minor who was given the title of Augusta on 1 December 147 after the birth of her first child - Antoninus died on 7 March 161 * Who did Pius sacrifice his manhood to? Probably not his wife as he would not have been able to father the next Augusta Roman daughters had a kinky dominant/submissive relationship with their fathers - It's like a hyena clan - all males are submissive to all females regardless of age ... The example I keep going back to is Julia - the daughter of Augustus - once she had arrived at the age of majority which was very young - 14 years for Roman women, she proceeded to do as she pleased - " ... Julia, (born 39 BC—died AD 14, Rhegium [present-day Reggio di Calabria, Italy]), the Roman emperor Augustus’ only child, whose scandalous behaviour eventually caused him to exile her. Julia’s mother was Scribonia, who was divorced by Augustus when the child was a few days old. Julia was brought up strictly, her every word and action being watched. After a brief marriage to Marcus Marcellus, who died in 23 BC, Julia wedded Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, Augustus’ chief lieutenant, in 21 BC. Their two eldest sons were adopted by Augustus in 17 BC and given the names Gaius and Lucius Caesar. Julia had a third son, Agrippa Postumus, and two daughters, Julia and Vipsania (later known as Agrippina the Elder). With Agrippa’s death in 12 BC, Augustus’ wife, Livia, was able to convince him to favour her own sons by a former marriage, Tiberius and Drusus, as possible successors; Augustus forced Tiberius to divorce his wife and marry Julia in 11 BC. It was an unwanted and unhappy marriage for both of them. After an infant son by Julia perished in 6 BC, Tiberius went into voluntary exile, leaving Julia in Rome. Julia was accused of leading a promiscuous life, her adulteries becoming common knowledge in Rome. An affair with Mark Antony’s son Jullus Antonius was politically dangerous. Finally Augustus discovered how Julia was behaving. After threatening her with death, he banished her to Pandataria, an island off the coast of Campania, in 2 BC. In AD 4 she was moved to Rhegium. Upon becoming emperor, Tiberius withheld her allowance, and Julia eventually died of malnutrition. ... " Britannica Tiberius did not kill her - it was probably the Augusta Livia ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 387 Divus Trajan AR Antoninianus. Struck under Trajan Decius. Rome, AD 250-251. DIVO TRAIANO, radiate head right, with drapery on left shoulder / CONSECRATIO, altar. " ... Trajan (Caesar Nerva Traianus Divi Nervae filius Augustus 18 September 53 – 8 August 117) was Roman emperor from 98 to 117. Officially declared by the Senate optimus princeps ("best ruler"), Trajan is remembered as a successful soldier-emperor who presided over the greatest military expansion in Roman history, leading the empire to attain its maximum territorial extent by the time of his death. He is also known for his philanthropic rule, overseeing extensive public building programs and implementing social welfare policies, which earned him his enduring reputation as the second of the Five Good Emperors who presided over an era of peace and prosperity in the Mediterranean world. ... " Wikipedia His Augusta was probably Domitia Longina although his wife Pompeia Plotina was named Augusta in 100 AD but did not accept until 105 AD Domitia Longina (c. AD 53-55–c. AD 126-130) was a Roman empress and wife to the Roman emperor Domitian. She was the youngest daughter of the general and consul Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo. Domitia divorced her first husband, Lucius Aelius Lamia Plautius Aelianus in order to marry Domitian in AD 71. The marriage produced only one son, whose early death is believed to have been the cause of a temporary rift between Domitia and her husband in AD 83. She became the empress upon Domitian's accession in AD 81, and remained so until his assassination in AD 96. She is believed to have died sometime between AD 126 and AD 130. ... Born sometime between the years AD 50 and AD 55, Domitia Longina was the second daughter of Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo and Cassia Longina. Her maternal grandmother was Junia Lepida, a great-great-granddaughter of Augustus, the first Roman emperor and founder of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Her paternal aunt was the Roman empress Milonia Caesonia, wife of Caligula and mother to Julia Drusilla. Her elder sister, also named Domitia married the senator Lucius Annius Vinicianus (son-in-law of Cn. Domitius Corbulo). Their father, Corbulo was one of Rome's most esteemed citizens, both in the Roman Senate and the army. ... Little is known of Domitia's precise activities as Empress, or how much influence she wielded in Domitian's government, but it seems her role was largely limited to ceremonial appearances. ... On 18 September 96, Domitian was assassinated in a palace conspiracy organized by court officials. ... The same day, he was succeeded by his friend and advisor, Marcus Cocceius Nerva. Ancient sources have implicated Domitia in the conspiracy against Domitian, either by direct involvement, or advance awareness of the assassination. ... Sometime between 126 and 140, a temple dedicated to Domitia was erected in Gabii. She died peacefully sometime between 126-130 AD. ... " Wikipedia Domitia was the captain of the Roman ship - See"Marble statue of Tyche-Fortuna restored with the portrait head of a woman 1st or 2nd century A.D. at the met: Tyche wearing double chiton, holding cornucopia in left hand and steering paddle in right. Adaptation of Greek original. " That's Domitia's distinctive hairdo. - That's Negro hair - Domitia was probably mixed race - The black and brown women of the Isis cult were second only to the Trojan women of the Cybele cult I did not know Augusta's could retire though ... Trajan's wife became Augusta while Domitia was still alive ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 388 Obverse: SEVERINA AVG, Diademed and draped bust right, over crescent. Reverse: CONCORDIA AVGG, Emperor standing right, clasping hand of Empress standing left, GXXIR in exergue. Coin of Augusta Ulpia Severina in marriage pose "belting and binding" her husband Aurelian c. 270 AD (ie: receiving control of his infibulated penis) Shot blocked. Used work-around " ... " Ulpia Severina, also known as Severina, was a Roman Empress, the wife of the emperor Aurelian. There is evidence that she reigned in her own right for some period after Aurelian's death in 275, which would make her the only woman to have ruled over the entire classical Roman Empire by her own power. Very little is known about her, as there are no literary sources mentioning her existence. Almost everything known about her, including her name, is gathered from coins and inscriptions. Nothing certain is known of Ulpia Severina before her marriage to Aurelian. It has been suggested that she was the daughter of Ulpius Crinitus, a figure appearing in the Historia Augusta. This Ulpius is said to have been a descendant of the line of Trajan and to have supported and adopted Aurelian.However, the Historia Augusta is notoriously unreliable, and the story, and perhaps Ulpius himself, may have been invented by propagandists trying to connect Aurelian with the "Good Emperor" Trajan. Some scholars believe that Ulpia Severina was from Dacia, where the nomen Ulpius was common due to the influence of Trajan (Marcus Ulpius Traianus). At any rate, Ulpia Severina married Aurelian probably before he became emperor in 270. It is known that she had a daughter by him. According to coinage depicting her, Ulpia had gained the title of Augusta at least by the autumn of 274 if not before then. She also received the titles Pia or "pious" and mater castrorum et senatus et patriae or "mother of the barracks (armies), senate, and country". There is considerable numismatic evidence suggesting that Ulpia Severina ruled in her own right between the death of Aurelian and the election of Marcus Claudius Tacitus. Sources mention an interregnum between Aurelian and Tacitus, and some of Ulpia's coins appear to have been minted after Aurelian's death. As such, she may well have been the only woman to have ruled over the whole Roman Empire. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 389 SEVERINA AVG, diademed, draped bust right on crescent / PROVIDEN DEOR, Fides with standard and Sol with globe standing facing each other. - c. 270 AD That's probably Aurelian after his/her Attis self-castration on the right - Roman Hermaphrodite 390 SEVERINA AVG, diademed, draped bust right on crescent / PROVIDEN DEOR, Fides with standard and Sol with globe standing facing each other. c. 270 AD Better image - the castrated Aurelian still has his penis, but no testicles Augusta Severina is the moon to Augustus Aurelian's sun Fides with standard is Severina as the goddess of trust and bona fides (good faith) in Roman paganism Sol with globe is Aurelian as Attis and world power PROVIDEN DEOR Latin abbreviation: Providentia Deorum - Foresight of the gods. Providentia (foresight) was an important moral and philosophical abstraction in Roman discourse. Cicero says it is one of the three main components of prudentia, "the knowledge of things that are good or bad or neither," along with memoria (memory) and intellegentia (understanding). The reverse legend dedicates this coin to the providence of the gods. * (May 10, 2010) France knowingly or unknowingly gifted the US with an Attis - the statue of liberty! Although I doubt anyone living after 400 AD knows much about Attis - Roman Hermaphrodite 391 Aurelian - Sol Antoninianus. 271-275 AD Obv: IMP C AVRELIANVS AVG legend with radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: ORIENS AVG legend with Sol advancing left between two captives stepping on one to left with right hand raised and holding globe in left; star in left field, mintmark QXXI in exergue. ORIENS AVGGL: Latin abbreviation: Oriens Augusti - the rising Sun of the Emperor. - Roman Hermaphrodite 392 Artemis Piraeus A , Bronze, second half of the fourth century B.C. - excavated in Athens in 1959. Archaeological Museum of Piraeus in Athens. Shot blocked - used workaround. - Dreamt her blue-eyed "Aryan" Cybele cult ended in Africa - in the Roman emperor's private colony of roman Egypt. The time for research here is the last days of Rome - 400AD onwards - There could be a link here to the mythic Islamic Saharan civilization of "Zerzura "- that I touched on in page 55 of this site. But maybe we should be more adventurous - this is probably the source of a central African "Queen of Sheba" cult. I've always wondered why Victorians saw the Queen of Sheba as white or Arab or Phoenician in the middle of black Africa - but the late Augusta's probably fit the bill - like the white Syrian Augusta's According to Wikpedia: " ... Artemis, a virgin goddess who kept away from men and civilization, signifying the wild aspect that was always apparent in Ancient Greek culture, came to be worshipped as a huntress and a sanctifier of solitude. She was associated with young women and girls and biological maturation, and both Piraeus Artemis statues show the goddess as a curvaceous woman, not a wild young girl. The anger of the goddess was also feared and recounted in legends, and part of the worship consisted of appeasing the goddess. The statues convey this aspect; though in both depictions Artemis's stance is approachable, she carries her weapon, showing her ability to quickly withdraw favor. Often worshipped close to territorial frontiers and a little aways from settlements, female worshippers of Artemis were frequently in danger; a necessary aspect that came with worshipping the goddess. Several theories attempt to explain the placement of Artemis's sanctuaries. M. Jost proposed that the temples on borders are associated with Artemis as a huntress and separating her from the temples in low, marshy areas honoring her as a fertility goddess. However, Frontisi proposed that the location represents the goddess's realm as transitioning between nature and civilization. The goddess's reputation as not only a protector but a huntress becomes much clearer in fourth-century statuary. Though the two Piraeus Artemises are portrayed in long dresses, it is perfectly clear from her bow and quiver that she is a huntress, while other statues of Artemis depict her in a short or double-belted dress and indicate a more active Artemis. The goddess was both wild and a peaceful, a key aspect of civilization, and these statues reflect this idea by showing her as strong and womanly, approachable and dangerous, capable of protecting or punishing her worshippers. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 393 SEVERINA AVG, diademed, draped bust right on crescent / PROVIDEN DEOR, Fides with standard and Sol with globe standing facing each other. - c. 270 AD - Gold Shot blocked - used workaround Augusta Severina on the left and that's probably Aurelian after his/her Attis self-castration on the right I still can't imagine the roman emperor as a Eunuch - but it seems to have happened - Trebonianus Gallus openly proclaimed his status as a Gallus or Eunuch . The Artemis myth as spelled out in Ephesus was not ambiguous about self-castration But in modern terms it is not so radical. Millions of men voluntarily have a Vasectomy when they want to stop having children. Millions more are victims of the ED or erectile dysfunction epidemic ... And half the population - women, do just fine without a penis and testicles .... Another benefit of self-castration is no longer worrying about energy theft when you are asleep - no more loss of pneuma - many roman men probably cut themselves in order to be excused from participating in the Cybele orgies. Orgies are no fun when the energy is flowing out of you , instead of flowing into you .... - Roman Hermaphrodite 394 Seleukid Kingdom, Demetrios III AR Tetradrachm. Damascus mint, Year 218 = 95/94 BC. Diademed head right / Cult statue of Atargatis facing; N and monogram in left field, HIS and monogram in exergue. Left: Demetrius III Eucaerus - a Hellenistic Seleucid monarch who reigned as the King of Syria between 96 and 87 BC. Right: Almost certainly a testicle-covered Artemis - although the internet claims that is the mermaid goddess Atargatis covered in eggs. Shot blocked - used workaround The Greek successor states of Alexander the great in Asia - the "Aryans" were all probably under the jurisdiction of the testicle - removing Artemis archetype They were also under the influence of Buddhism which is also anti-testicles and unruly earthly passion. The problem is cutting it off does not make it go away - the "unruly passion" just becomes an outside force or compulsion - usually stronger than the ego. To worshippers of Cybele this outside force was Cybele - a very powerful female dragon ... " ... Atargatis was the chief goddess of northern Syria in Classical antiquity. Ctesias also used the name Derketo for her, and the Romans called her Dea Syria, or in one word Deasura. Primarily she was a goddess of fertility, but, as the baalat ("mistress") of her city and people, she was also responsible for their protection and well-being. Her chief sanctuary was at Hierapolis, modern Manbij, northeast of Aleppo, Syria. Michael Rostovtzeff called her "the great mistress of the North Syrian lands". Her consort is usually Hadad. As Ataratheh, doves and fish were considered sacred to her: doves as an emblem of the Love-Goddess, and fish as symbolic of the fertility and life of the waters. According to a third-century Syriac source, "In Syria and in Urhâi [Edessa] the men used to castrate themselves in honor of Taratha. But when King Abgar became a believer, he commanded that anyone who emasculated himself should have a hand cut off. And from that day to the present no one in Urhâi emasculates himself anymore." Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 395 198 AD Caracalla coin from roman Syria with Cybele enthroned and two lions - although the Internet says that's the Syrian goddess Atargatis Shot blocked - used workaround " ... Syria, Cyrrhestica, Hierapolis, Caracalla, AD 198-217 AE 27, 12.8mm, 26.97mm, 135° Obv.: [AVTOKPATΩP KA]I MAPKOC AVPH ANTΩNINOC CE Bust, draped and cuirassed, laureate, r. Rev.: ΘEAC CVPIAC - IEPOΠOΛITΩN Atargatis, in long garment, std. l. on throne with high back, r. foot set on footstool, holding with l. hand tympanon on her l. knee, resting with r. arm on arm of throne; before and behind the throne a lion std. r. with wide open mouth. Ref.: Butcher, Coinage in Roman Syria, p.451, no.53, pl.27 (same obv. die) rare, about VF, dark green glossy patina, nice rev., highlighted by sand patina I was particularly taken with the opened throat of the rear lion! ... " cointalk Caracalla's Augusta - his living Cybele, was Fulvia Plautilla Roman Hermaphrodite 396 Catullus at Lesbia's by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema Cattalus, the BC Roman poet of Cybele fame was also a love poet. He is famous for being infatuated with a typical Roman woman who was dating no less than 5 Roman men at one time (in addition to her husband): " ... Gaius Valerius Catullus .... was born to a leading equestrian family of Verona, in Cisalpine Gaul. The social prominence of the Catullus family allowed the father of Gaius Valerius to entertain Julius Caesar when he was the Promagistrate (proconsul) of both Gallic provinces. In a poem, Catullus describes his happy homecoming to the family villa at Sirmio, on Lake Garda, near Verona; he also owned a villa near the resort of Tibur (Tivoli). Catullus appears to have spent most of his young adult years in Rome. His friends there included the poets Licinius Calvus, and Helvius Cinna, Quintus Hortensius (son of the orator and rival of Cicero) and the biographer Cornelius Nepos, to whom Catullus dedicated a libellus of poems, the relation of which to the extant collection remains a matter of debate. He appears to have been acquainted with the poet Marcus Furius Bibaculus. A number of prominent contemporaries appear in his poetry, including Cicero, Caesar and Pompey. According to an anecdote preserved by Suetonius, Caesar did not deny that Catullus's lampoons left an indelible stain on his reputation, but when Catullus apologized, he invited the poet for dinner the very same day. It was probably in Rome that Catullus fell deeply in love with the "Lesbia" of his poems, who is usually identified with Clodia Metelli, a sophisticated woman from the aristocratic house of patrician family Claudii Pulchri, sister of the infamous Publius Clodius Pulcher, and wife to proconsul Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer. In his poems Catullus describes several stages of their relationship: initial euphoria, doubts, separation, and his wrenching feelings of loss. Clodia had several other partners; "From the poems one can adduce no fewer than five lovers in addition to Catullus: Egnatius (poem 37), Gellius (poem 91), Quintius (poem 82), Rufus (poem 77), and Lesbius (poem 79)." There is also some question surrounding her husband's mysterious death in 59 B.C., some critics believing he was domestically poisoned. Yet, a sensitive and passionate Catullus could not relinquish his flame for Clodia, regardless of her obvious indifference to his desire for a deep and permanent relationship. In his poems, Catullus wavers between devout, sweltering love and bitter, scornful insults that he directs at her blatant infidelity (as demonstrated in poems 11 and 58). His passion for her is unrelenting—yet it is unclear when exactly the couple split up for good. Catullus's poems about the relationship display striking depth and psychological insight. .... " Wikipedia The Alma-Tadema portrait is wrong though - the Romans were not Aristocratic Brits! For one thing, Catallus was almost certainly "dog-leashed" which meant tanned and buff. His lover would also be nothing like a British upper class lady - The evidence from the marbles above indicate a very un-British female sexual appetite - the female phallus ... Romans were Etruscans at the Catullus level - which meant women were free to do as they pleased also see Cattulus 11: "Let her live and let her flourish with her adulterers, whom having embraced 300 of them at the same time, she owns and keeps them, truly loving none of them, but repeatedly breaking the groins of all of them; ..." translated by by Bryn Stromberg "Breaking the groins" does not make much sense unless you know something about the roman "dog-leash" and fibula Literal English Translation " ... Furius and Aurelius, companions of Catullus, whether (s)he will penetrate into the Indians, where the shore is pounded by the far resounding eastern wave, whether [(s)he will penetrate] into the Hyrcanians or the gentle Arabs, whether to the Scythians or the arrow-bearing Parthians, or the seas which the sevenfold Nile colors, whether (s)he will walk across the high Alps, gazing upon the monuments of great Caesar, the Gallic Rhine, the terrifying English Channel, the most remote Britons, wherever the will of the heavenly ones brings him(/her), those who are prepared to attempt all these things at once, [also] announce to my girl a few not good words. May she live and may she be well with her 300 adulterers, whom she holds at the same time in an embrace, loving none truly, but repeatedly breaking the loins of all; and may she not look back, as before, at my love, which, by her fault, dies like the flower at the farthest meadow, after it was touched by the plow passing. ... " Catullus 11 - Roman Hermaphrodite 397 Cybele as a Japanese "futa" - RIP Namio Harukawa 1947 - April 24, 2020 Then, as Cybele takes the joined yokes off the lions and incites the hostile animal on the left, thus She speaks: "Go," She says,"go, wild one, make this One like crazy, make it so, that She through an attack of frenzy runs back to the woods, She Who so very fearlessly wishes to flee at My command. Go, beat Her skin with your tail, She must be exposed to your chastenings, make it so, that the whole place resounds of your thundering roaring, shake your ruddy mane, wild one, with your muscular neck." This asserts dangerous Cybele and loosens the yokes with Her hand. The wild animal itself urging itself takes off with all its courage, it wades, hullabaloos, breaks the underbrush on unsteady foot, but as it nears the damp bright-white parts of the beach and sees the tender Attis near the marble (of the) sea, it makes its attack. That crazed One, She flees into the wild woods. There for always and the whole space of Her life She was a Servant. Gaius Valerius Catullus - Roman Hermaphrodite 398 Apulian Red Figure by Lekanis Painter c. 340 – 320 B.C. - Metropolitan Museum of Art " ... Eros (Love) chases or plays with a pet deer. The god is depicted as a plump, winged boy or perhaps as an androgynous or hermaphroditic figure combining both male and female parts. He wears his hair tied up in a bun and is adorned with a long, double-strung necklace and bracelets. The spotted deer prances in a field of blooming flowers. ... " theoi - That's not a boy! That's a woman with a penis ... Going back to Catullus 11 above: " ... Let her live and let her flourish with her adulterers, whom having embraced 300 of them at the same time, she owns and keeps them, truly loving none of them, but repeatedly breaking the groins of all of them; ..." This culture of male prostitution seems to go back to ancient Greece. Prostitution because repeatedly "breaking the groins" or fibula was a financial transcation. It was more than 5 lovers outside her marriage for Catullus' lover Lesbia! Wealthy Roman matrons were repeatedly breaking the groins - of many men. - A quick search for roman prostitution online brings nothing out of the ordinary however. Only a close reading of real world cases reveals that sex was a woman's domain in ancient Rome... - A good case example would be Cicero - As masculine as he appears in history , the specific details of his life reveal female control - he was educated by a rich aunt - and married a very rich woman who inherited a large estate from her father and kept it by the device of a sine manu marriage: " ....In a sine manu union, the wife legally and ritually remained a member of her father's family, standing under the control of her father's potestas. A sine manu marriage did not change the legal status of the bride with respect to property rights. In other words, the bride is not under control of the husband. .... Various factors may have led to the extinction of cum manu and the predominance of sine manu during the Roman Republic. Women faced with the loss of property when entering a cum manu marriage began to only consent to sine manu unions. ...." Wikipedia This was the pattern with the Roman elite - female control of property and inheritance - and more - the "dog-leash" meant there was an expectation of female sexual dominance and polyandry ... For Cicero sex was filth: " ... Tusculan Disputationes, 4.68 “And as those who are carried away with joy when they enjoy Venus’ pleasures are filthy, those who share their desire with a burning spirit are criminal. Indeed, the whole thing which is commonly called ‘love’—and by god it is impossible to name it anything else—is of such meaninglessness that I know of nothing I think is comparable.” De Senectute, 39 “The third typical criticism of old age follows this, and that is that people complain that it lacks [sexual] pleasures. Oh! Glorious wealth of age, if it takes that from us, the most criminal part of youth! Take this from me, most noble young men, this is the ancient speech of Archytas of Tarentum, which was repeated to me when I was a young man working for Quintus Maximus there: “Nature has given man no deadlier a curse than sexual desire.” ...." sententiaeantiquae - My guess is his wealthy wife has a sizable harem of young men servicing her - that was the Roman way ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 399 "Apulian Kylix with Hermaphrodite Vase, Greek Age (7th-4th century B.C.)" ancientsculpturegallery That's one of the tanned Hermaphrodites - this usually means a goddess. With mortals, only the "dog-leashed" males have deep tans - Another alternative is that is a black or brown hermaphrodite - an African woman with a penis - Roman Hermaphrodite 400 "Apulian Kylix with Hermaphrodite Vase, Greek Age (7th-4th century B.C.)" ancientsculpturegallery - Roman Hermaphrodite 401 Didius Julianus as Attis. 193 AD. Coin of Didius Julianus. Inscription: CAES. M. DIDI. IVLIAN. AVG. He purchased the Roman Empire at auction. His Augusta was his wife Manlia Scantilla and daughter Didia Clara. This lasted only a short time and the next Augusta was a roman Syrian, Julia Domna with Severus Septimius Severus of Carthage as the Emperor. The office of the castrated Attis seems to have taken a two generation break though. " ... Didius Julianus (Latin: Marcus Didius Severus Julianus Augustus; born 30 January 133 or 2 February 137 – 1 June 193) was the emperor of Rome for nine weeks from March to June 193, during the Year of the Five Emperors. Julianus had a promising political career, governing several provinces, including Dalmatia and Germania Inferior, and successfully defeating the Chauci and Chatti, two invading Germanic tribes. He was even appointed to the consulship in 175 along with Pertinax as a reward, before being demoted by Commodus. After this demotion, his early, promising political career languished. He ascended the throne after buying it from the Praetorian Guard, who had assassinated his predecessor Pertinax. A civil war ensued in which three rival generals laid claim to the imperial throne. Septimius Severus, commander of the legions in Pannonia and the nearest of the generals to Rome, marched on the capital, gathering support along the way and routing cohorts of the Praetorian Guard Didius Julianus sent to meet him. Abandoned by the Senate and the Praetorian Guard, Julianus was killed by a soldier in the palace and succeeded by Severus. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 402 " ... Didius Julianus, March 28th – early June 193, Aureus March 28th-early June 193, AV 6.42 g. IMP CAES M DID SEVE – R IVLIAN AVG Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust r. Rev. CONCO – R – D – MILIT Concordia standing facing, head l., holding legionary eagle and standard. C 1. BMC 9. RIC 5. Woodward, NC 1961, 1 (these dies). Calicó 2394. Very rare and in superb condition for this issue. A beautiful portrait in the finest style of the period well struck in high relief. ... " icollector - A male dragon tried to enter Roman rule after this - the Syrian sun god Elagabalus Elagabalus was rebuffed and became just another Roman deity until the purge of pagan faiths by the Christian emperors. Elagabalus and Roman Syria probably have a link to the birth of Islam ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 403 " ... Didia Clara. Augusta, AD 193. AV Aureus (20mm, 6.80 g, 12h). Rome mint. Struck under Didius Julianus. DIDIA CLA RA AVG, draped bust right / HILA R TEMPOR, Hilaritas standing left, holding in left hand a long palm frond set on ground and cradling cornucopia in right arm. RIC IV 10 (Julianus); Calicó 2402 (same obv. die as illustration); BMCRE 13 (Julianus) var. (obv. legend break); Biaggi 1053 (same obv. die); NAC 38, lot 94 (same dies); NAC 54, lot 483 (same dies). Near EF, a couple of very light scratches. Extremely rare. ... " cngcoins " ... Didia Clara was a daughter and the only recorded child to the Roman Emperor Didius Julianus and Empress Manlia Scantilla. She was born and raised in Rome. Little is known about her personality or life. After Didius Julianus purchased the throne of the Roman Empire at an auction held by the praetorian guardsmen early in 193, he was accorded the title of Augustus by the Senate. Clara and her mother both received the title of Augusta. The author of the Historia Augusta reports the two women received the honors "with both trepidation and reluctance as if they already foresaw catastrophe"; however, Herodian claims they were primary instigators of his bid to power. During the brief reign of Pertinax, she married Cornelius Repentinus, who served as prefect of Rome during the brief period that her father reigned, starting 28 March 193. When her father died on 1 June 193, the new emperor Septimius Severus removed her title. Within a month, her mother died. Didia Clara survived her parents; however her fate afterwards is unknown. ... " Wikipedia Her co-Augusta was her mother: " ... Manlia Scantilla was a Roman woman who lived in the second century. She was very briefly Roman Empress as wife to the Roman Emperor Didius Julianus. Her name indicates that she was born into the gens Manlia, which if correct, indicates an illustrious patrician ancestry. Manlia Scantilla married the general Didius Julianus before his succession. Around 153, she bore Julianus a daughter and only child, Didia Clara, who was known for her beauty. Her husband became emperor on 28 March 193 (known as "Year of the Five Emperors"). On that day, Scantilla and her daughter were awarded the title of Augusta by a decree of the Roman Senate. Scantilla enjoyed her title and status for less than three months because Julianus was killed on 1 June 193. The new emperor, Septimius Severus, removed her status and title as Augusta, but gave Scantilla and her daughter the former emperor's body for burial. The two women buried Julianus in a tomb alongside his great-grandfather, outside of Rome. Within a month of Severus' accession to the throne, Scantilla died in obscurity. The fate of Didia Clara is unknown. ... " Wikipedia My guess is Didia Clara was in a conflict with the Syrian Augusta's for the title of Augusta. During the rule of the Syrians the Vestal Virgin temple was burned to the ground and one of the Vestals was forced to marry a Syrian emperor. - Roman Hermaphrodite 404 Augusta Manlia Scantilla - alabaster bust That's who bought the Roman empire - her and her daughter. That's also the Cybele that emperor Didius Julianus cut off his testicles to as her Attis. My guess is the co-Augusta , his daughter Didia Clara was fathered by someone else. The line of transmission of wealth was mother to daughter - Roman Hermaphrodite 405 Caracalla as Attis. Caracalla. 198-217 AD. AR Antoninianus. . Obv.: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM, radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right. Rev.: VENVS VICTRIX, Venus standing left, holding scepter and Victory and resting elbow on round shield set on helmet. His Augusta was Publia Fulvia Plautilla. As Attis that presumes he castrated himself as Attis to her Cybele. Not sure if the Syrians did this - they were high priests of an extremely masculine Syrian god On the other hand, as shown above (395), the Greek successor states of Alexander the great were under the jurisdiction of the testicle removing Artemis - so there was a tradition of emasculation in Syria. There was also a native Syrian mermaid goddess whose priests traditionally emasculated themselves - Atargatis. Finally, sun-gods in the ancient world tended to be phallic goddesses like Isis and the phallic but female Apollo " ... Caracalla. 198-217 AD AR antoninianus Rome mint. Struck 215-217 AD. Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Venus standing left, holding scepter and Victory, resting elbow on round shield set on helmet, silver ... " vcoins - That's probably not Venus. The Artemis cult was anti-Venus. It's probably a martial Artemis or Cybele On the other hand the coin says "VENVS VICTRIX," - Roman Hermaphrodite 406 Caracalla as Attis. Obverse: ANTONINVS PIVS AVG GERM. Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Reverse: P M TR P XVIII COS IIII P P, Jupiter standing right holding thunderbolt and sceptre. * " ... Radiate A radiate head or bust is depicted wearing a radiate crown. The radiate crown is an attribute of the Sun god (Sol Invictus, Helios) and is conferring that association upon the wearer. Tiberius was the first emperor to depict the radiate crown on coin portraiture, but ONLY for posthumous portraiture of the deified Augustus. Nero was the Roman first to depict it on a living person (himself). As a bust attribute on some roman coins it served as a "double value" denominational marker: dupondius = double as, antoninianus = double denarius. Many coins of Rhodes depict the sun god Helios with a radiate crown. These images inspired the radiate crown on the Statue of Liberty. ... " forumancientcoins * I see a darker meaning - it's the no-testicles Attis/Cybele cult being depicted .... In Rome the first Roman emperor depicted wearing an Attis crown was Nero - but there are BC radiate crowns from Ptolemaic Egypt * ( May 19, 2020) It was an upstairs/downstairs dynamic. ie the lower classes kept their penis' loose and circumcised, while the Greek upperclasses were bound at a young age and many opted for complete removal of the "weight" of the male organs. The Greek parts of the roman empire were a feminine garden society as opposed to the rough slave masculine underclass. - With a paradoxical upper class of buff and tanned and sexually potent Greek male sex objects But this is only partly true - as Catullus tells us in his poem, the goddess Cybele was dreaded for driving men into a frenzy - and we can see a version of this in today's world in the mad rush of modern society which has medicalized and ghettoized the penis away. This frenzy is what the early psychoanalysts used to call the "return of the repressed" ... Finally, the sexual binding of upper class Greek men meant that upper class Greek women were phallic and sexually insatiable , like many of the phallic Greek goddesses. Sex for the Greek upper classes, was a women's world - Roman Hermaphrodite 407 " ... Punishment of Ixion: in the center is Mercury holding the caduceus. On the right is Juno on her throne, and behind her Iris stands and gestures. On the left is Vulcanus (blond figure) manning the wheel, with Ixion already tied to the wheel. Nephele sits at Mercury's feet. Roman fresco from the eastern wall of the triclinium in the Casa dei Vettii ("House of the Vetii", VI 15, 1) in Pompeii, Fourth Style (60-79 AD). ... " Wikipedia Mercury has the classic "dog-leash" tan. Which suggests a goddess is his "keyholder" ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 408 " ... Table support with a marble statue of Pan. Roman. Imperial period. 1st or 2nd C. AD. Marble. Metropolitan Museum of Art. ... "Alamy That's an allegory of the "dog-leash" - only that is Faunus, not Pan - or a Satyr - Roman Hermaphrodite 409 Constantine who claimed to have won on the battlefield under the Christian cross. This does not mean he converted to Christianity though - this coin c. 320 AD shows him being crowned by Sol Invicto - Or as I suspect Constantine as Attis - his Cybele was his wife the Augusta Flavia Maxima Fausta and his mother the Augusta Helena " ... Obv: IMPCONSTANTINVSPFAVG - Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: SOLIINVICTOCOMITI Exe: SMT - Constantine I standing left on left, holding globe and scepter; being crowned by Sol to right, holding whip. c.320-321 ... " dirtyoldbooks " ... Fausta was the daughter of Emperor Maximianus. To seal the alliance between them for control of the Tetrarchy, in 307 Maximianus married her to Constantine I, who set aside his wife, Minervina, in her favour. As the sister of Emperor Maxentius, Fausta had a part in their father's downfall. In 310 Maximian died as a consequence of an assassination plot against Constantine. Maximian decided to involve his daughter Fausta, but she revealed the plot to her husband, and the assassination was disrupted. Maximian died, by suicide or by assassination, in July of that same year. Fausta was held in high esteem by Constantine, and proof of his favour was that in 324 she was proclaimed augusta; previously she held the title of nobilissima femina. Their sons became emperors: Constantine II, reigned 337 – 340, Constantius II, reigned 337 – 361, and Constans, reigned 337 – 350. She also bore three daughters: Constantina, Helena and Fausta. Of these, Constantina married her cousins, firstly Hannibalianus and secondly Constantius Gallus, and Helena married Emperor Julian. In 326, Fausta was put to death by Constantine, following the execution of Crispus, his eldest son by Minervina. The circumstances surrounding the two deaths were unclear. Various explanations have been suggested; in one, Fausta is set jealously against Crispus, as in the anonymous Epitome de Caesaribus, or conversely her adultery, perhaps with the stepson who was close to her in age, is suggested. According to the Latin Epitome de Caesaribus and the Ecclesiastical History of Philostorgius (as epitomized by Photius), Fausta was executed by being cast into boiling water,in connection with the death of Crispus, which "people " was caused by Fausta's accusation of unclear nature. But Constantine, having obtained rule over the whole Roman Empire by remarkable success in wars, ordered his son Crispus to be put to death, at the behest (so people think) of his wife Fausta. Later he locked his wife Fausta in overheated baths and killed her, because his mother Helena blamed him out of excessive grief for her grandson. Zosimus, on the other hand, suggests adultery as the reason: He killed Crispus, who had been deemed worthy of the rank of Caesar, as I have said before, when he incurred suspicion of having sexual relations with his stepmother Fausta, without taking any notice of the laws of nature. Constantine’s mother Helena was distressed at such a grievous event and refused to tolerate the murder of the young man. As if to soothe her Constantine tried to remedy the evil with a greater evil: having ordered baths to be heated above the normal level, he deposited Fausta in them and brought her out when she was dead. Gregory of Tours reports that the pair plotted treason. In Zonaras' version written in the 12th century, Crispus' death was caused by Fausta's retaliatory accusation of rape following her unsuccessful sexual advances toward him. But when Constantine realized his innocence, he punished her, mirroring the myth of Phaedra and Hippolytus The mode of her assassination is not otherwise attested in the Roman world. David Woods departs from the traditional view that Crispus and Fausta were executed and offers the connection of overheated bathing with contemporaneous techniques of abortion, a suggestion that implies an unwanted, adulterous pregnancy according to Constantine's biographer Paul Stephenson. Constantine I ordered the damnatio memoriae of Fausta and Crispus around 326 with the result that no contemporary source records details of her fate: "Eusebius, ever the sycophant, mentions neither Crispus nor Fausta in his Life of Constantine, and even wrote Crispus out of the final version of his Ecclesiastical History (HE X.9.4)", Constantine's biographer Paul Stephenson observes. However, in 355/6, Julian praised Fausta's beauty, nobility, and moral virtue in his panegyric to Constantius II, revealing that the damnatio memoriae may have been lifted during the reign of her son. ... " Wikipedia - As late as the 320's AD Roman women were still running the show! - Constantine murdered his wife at his mothers suggestion. And Fausta was continuing the roman tradition of free sex for women outside the marriage. Fausta inherited the empire from her father, who she betrayed and had killed. Her sons became Emperors and one of her daughters married a Gallus - or Attis eunuch. My suspicion is all the men in this scenario including Constantine were members of the Attis cult and probably not the biological fathers - power and wealth were still passing through women -Constantine's mother greatly enhanced the status of the Christan church and is today considered a saint in both eastern and western churches : " ... Helena, Helena Augusta, or Saint Helena - Flavia Iulia Helena Augusta; c. 246/248 – c. 330), was an Empress of the Roman Empire, and mother of Emperor Constantine the Great. Born outside of the noble classes, a Greek, possibly in the Greek city of Drepana, Bithynia in Asia Minor, she became the consort of the future Roman Emperor Constantius Chlorus and the mother of the future Emperor Constantine the Great. Helena ranks as an important figure in the history of Christianity and of the world due to her influence on her son. In her final years, she made a religious tour of Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem, during which ancient tradition claims that she discovered the True Cross. The Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Catholic Church, and the Anglican Communion revere her as a saint; the Lutheran Church commemorates her ... Constantine was proclaimed Augustus of the Roman Empire in 306 by Constantius' troops after the latter had died, and following his elevation his mother was brought back to the public life in 312, returning to the imperial court. She appears in the Eagle Cameo portraying Constantine's family, probably commemorating the birth of Constantine's son Constantine II in the summer of 316. She received the title of Augusta in 325. According to Eusebius, her conversion to Christianity followed her son becoming emperor. ... Constantine appointed his mother Helena as Augusta Imperatrix, and gave her unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to locate the relics of the Christian tradition. In 326–28 Helena undertook a trip to Palestine. According to Eusebius of Caesarea (260/265 – 339/340), who records the details of her pilgrimage to Palestine and other eastern provinces, she was responsible for the construction or beautification of two churches, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, and the Church of Eleona on the Mount of Olives, sites of Christ's birth and ascension, respectively. Local founding legend attributes to Helena's orders the construction of a church in Egypt to identify the Burning Bush of Sinai. The chapel at Saint Catherine's Monastery—often referred to as the Chapel of Saint Helen—is dated to the year AD 330. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 410 Seated statue of Empress Helena (Saint Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great). Antonine period (second half of 2nd cent. A.D.) with head reworked in Constantine period. - Musei Capitolini, Rome Augusta Imperatrix - that was the number one - the living Cybele of the Roman world. Constantine gets credit for birthing the Christian civilization - but real credit belongs to his mother St. Helena - Roman Hermaphrodite 411 Two phallic female angels on ancient Greek vase. Probably elevating another "woman with a penis" - That's the world that St. Helena - a Greek, brought to a close. As the concubine to a Roman emperor, St Helena was without a doubt a phallic woman Oenochoe (Apulian red-figure ware) 320 -310 BC, Apulia, Italy - attributed to Saccos painter. The scene depicts the head of Aphrodite in white, with added colour for her hair and veil (yellow, orange, crimson). The head faces three-quarter front. A naked Eros stands on either side of the head, one hand holding a garland, the other holding Aphrodite's veil. National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne - Roman Hermaphrodite 412 Phallic female angel on an ancient Greek vase - Roman Hermaphrodite 413 Statuette of Standing Hermaphrodite 70-100 AD - For the upper class Romans of the Attis world - that was the "big penis" - roman women with a penis ! - Roman Hermaphrodite 414 "Roman mosaic possibly of Emperor Maximian at the Villa Romana or Ericulia or Casale Dei Saraceni, Morgantina, Sicily" Alamy Father of Augusta Fausta who betrayed Maximian to Constantine. He looks part black African - but that could also be the "dog-leash" tan. Source: "Ancient Man and His First Civilizations" - posits an black African root to western Europe. (Recent work on DNA finds the first inhabitants of Britain to have African black skin and blue eyes. White Europeans are really central Asian invaders...) Maximian had a connection to black Egypt in that he sent st. Maurice of the Theban legion to massacre inhabitants of present day Switzerland. st. Maurice refused to comply and was martyred. " Maximian (Latin: Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus;[9] c. 250 – c. July 310) was Roman Emperor from 286 to 305. He was Caesar from 285 to 286, then Augustus from 286 to 305. He shared the latter title with his co-emperor and superior, Diocletian, whose political brain complemented Maximian's military brawn. Maximian established his residence at Trier but spent most of his time on campaign. In late 285, he suppressed rebels in Gaul known as the Bagaudae. From 285 to 288, he fought against Germanic tribes along the Rhine frontier. Together with Diocletian, he launched a scorched earth campaign deep into Alamannic territory in 288, temporarily relieving the Rhine provinces from the threat of Germanic invasion. The man he appointed to police the Channel shores, Carausius, rebelled in 286, causing the secession of Britain and northwestern Gaul. Maximian failed to oust Carausius, and his invasion fleet was destroyed by storms in 289 or 290. Maximian's subordinate, Constantius, campaigned against Carausius' successor, Allectus, while Maximian held the Rhine frontier. The rebel leader was ousted in 296, and Maximian moved south to combat piracy near Hispania and Berber incursions in Mauretania. When these campaigns concluded in 298, he departed for Italy, where he lived in comfort until 305. At Diocletian's behest, Maximian abdicated on May 1, 305, gave the Augustan office to Constantius, and retired to southern Italy. In late 306, Maximian took the title of Augustus again and aided his son Maxentius' rebellion in Italy. In April 307, he attempted to depose his son, but failed and fled to the court of Constantius' successor, Constantine (Maximian's step-grandson and son-in-law), in Trier. At the Council of Carnuntum in November 308, Diocletian and his successor, Galerius, forced Maximian to renounce his imperial claim again. In early 310, Maximian attempted to seize Constantine's title while the emperor was on campaign on the Rhine. Few supported him, and he was captured by Constantine in Marseille. Maximian killed himself in mid-310 on Constantine's orders. During Constantine's war with Maxentius, Maximian's image was purged from all public places. However, after Constantine ousted and killed Maxentius, Maximian's image was rehabilitated, and he was deified. ... ... Maximian had two children with his Syrian wife, Eutropia: Maxentius and Fausta. There is no direct evidence in the ancient sources for their birthdates. Modern estimates of Maxentius' birth year have varied from c. 276 to 283, and most date Fausta's birth to c. 289 or 290. Theodora, the wife of Constantius Chlorus, is often called Maximian's stepdaughter by ancient sources, leading to claims by Otto Seeck and Ernest Stein that she was born from an earlier marriage between Eutropia and Afranius Hannibalianus. Barnes challenges this view, saying that all "stepdaughter" sources derive their information from the partially unreliable work of history Kaisergeschichte, while other, more reliable, sources refer to her as Maximian's natural daughter. Barnes concludes that Theodora was born no later than c. 275 to an unnamed earlier wife of Maximian, possibly one of Hannibalianus' daughters. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 415 Maximian as Attis " Obverse: MAXIMIANVS AVG, Radiate and cuirassed bust right. Reverse: CLARITAS AVGG, Sol standing left, holding globe, right hand raised, captive at foot left; D//PTR. " ancient-roman-coin His Augusta, whom he consecrated his manhood to was Eutropia: Augusta of the Western Roman Empire " ... Eutropia (died after 325), a woman of Syrian origin, was the wife of Emperor Maximian In the late 3rd century, she married Maximian, though the exact date of this marriage is uncertain. By Maximian, she had two children, a boy, Maxentius (c. 276-312), who was Western Roman Emperor from 306–312 and a girl, Fausta (c. 290), who was wife of Constantine the Great, and mother of six children by him, including the Augusti Constantine II, Constantius II and Constans. ... " Wikipedia Attis is the consort of Cybele - Cybele is the sovreign of Rome - Roman Hermaphrodite 416 "Apollo with Cithara, Marble. Roman Imperial period.Found at Ostia in the Domus del Protiro (House of the Porch). Photographed on display at Fiumicino Aeroporto, Terminal E upper floor." - Flickr Apollo as a woman with a penis - another code for the Augusta - or the upper class roman woman in general - Roman Hermaphrodite 417 Augusta Helena and Julian II the last non-Christian roman emperor 355-363 AD. Helena was the daughter of Constantine and Augusta Fausta - Julian was born poor but descended from Roman emperors and praetorian guards. The marriage did not produce any children because Julian appears to have been a Gallus or on the Gallus path -ie no sexual relations. We can assume that Helena was doing what all Augusta's did - free and promiscuous sex outside the marriage. Julian is chiefly of interest for is work on the Attis cult - he wrote ""To the Mother of the Gods". According to "Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome" by By Susanna Elm (2015) " Attis: Julian, in sum, posited an immaterial prior cause or higher creative principle for all material forms. The act itself of creating the material forms belonged, according to Julian, to the Third Creator or Demiurge, the visible sun, Helios. This Third Creator also created the stars, the galaxy, the visible fifth body, or ether, represented by the myth of Gallus, the river beside which Attis grew up, equated by Julian with Attis and the Milky Way, of Galaxias Kyklos. For Julian, Attis, representing the active rays of the Third Creator, Helios, Sun, descended down toward the galaxy when falling in love with the nymph. This realm of the visible stars was the border separating the heavenly realm and that of perishable matter, the realm inhabited by man. The Mother of the Gods had allowed Attis, the intelligent or noetic god, “to leap and dance” down to that border. However in loving the nymph he had crossed it and had began to move so far down toward matter that he risked diminishing his divine essence to the point of no return. Therefore the Mother intervened by allowing the castration to occur, preventing Attis from merging further with material form through intercourse with the nymph, which would have resulted in the unbridled creation of further material beings. His mutilation, thus, marked both the lowest point of his ascent back to a more intense divinity. It occurred at that precise point on the graded scale of descent and ascent, because “here the body capable of passion is intermingled with the cyclical motion of the fifth body without passion”; here the divine and the human realms intersect. ... ... Attis’s transgression and intercourse with the nymph was a crisis. His descent had to be stopped, and he could not be permitted to create more material things through intercourse with the nymph. The Mother of the Gods “exhorted Attis to serve her and not to leave her and love another”, and so Attis castrated himself and returned to her. “What is this castration? The halting of the rush toward infinity, the interruption of the generative process”. For Julian, Attis’ cruel mutilation was the turning point, reversing his descent so that he ascended toward the realm of the divine, to the Mother of the Gods. Julian was, however, far more concerned with Attis’s descent than with his return. The descent, in any event occupies the larger share of his hymn. As a consequence, for Julian, Attis’s position in the intelligible realm of the One was significant only in so far as it determined the intensity with which he preserved his divine essence on the way down, because the intensity was correlated with Attis’s mediating force. For Julian, “Gallus or Attis [is] the essence … of the generating and creative Intellect [demiurgic Nous].” But since the creative realm contains “many essences … and many creators …” - what I have called “gradations” - Julian more specifically defines Attis as “the natural [physis] of the Third Creator … [located] at the end. And who descends because of his excess of fecundity from the highest spheres past the stars down to our earth”” that is , he merges him with the visible sun. As such, he is close enough to the One to be able to send his rays to the material earth, bus distant enough never to mingle with what his rays have brought forth. Thus, Attis-Logos or Attis-Gallus could descend down to the earth, could touch changeable and perishable matter, but remained divine, “a demigod, or rather, as indicated by the myth, a god in all aspects, since he in fact proceeds from the Third Creator and, after his castration, returns to the Mother of the Gods: not so human that he could no longer, as god, save mankind, but not so transendently divine that humanity remained outside his saving reach - a conundrum familiar from the concerns with Christ’s divine nature …" "Sons of Hellenism, Fathers of the Church: Emperor Julian, Gregory of Nazianzus, and the Vision of Rome" by By Susanna Elm (2012) at 129 -130 - Roman Hermaphrodite 418 More Namio Harukawa: The mistress is Augusta and Attis is her servant, the emperor - That was the literal truth - all of Julian's sexual energy was consecrated to the Augusta - the living Cybele- or in his case the Augusta's - Rome had a co-Augusta in 360 AD - Eusebia Rome was an Amazon cult gone haywire ... " ... Eusebia (died 360, full name Flavia Aurelia Eusebia, sometimes known as Aurelia Eusebia) was the second wife of Emperor Constantius II. The main sources for the knowledge about her life are Julian's panegyric "Speech of Thanks to the Empress Eusebia" in which he thanks her for her assistance, as well as several remarks by the historian Ammianus Marcellinus." ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 419 "Relief with Apollonian Triad (Apollo citharoedus, Artemis and Latona) of early Augustan age (late 1st cent. BC) Location: Antikensammlung - Staatliche Museen zu Berlin" scalarchives Latona is the Roman equivalent of Leto, a goddess in Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Leto ... is the mother of Apollo and Artemis. " Wikipedia Apollo is clearly a woman here - without clothes she is a phallic goddess - What happened to the Greek deities after Christ? Had a dream that they continued to exist but lost their connection to en-souled human beings -The dream images were something like the Xibalba problem - soulless zombies were the only connection the Greek deities had with humans after the 400's - Roman Hermaphrodite 420 Labeled as "Eros holding a wreath " but to me thats a phallic goddess Apulian Red Figure (Gnathian) c. 350 B.C. - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston "The winged love-god Eros sits on a stool with a wreath of myrtle held in his extended hand. His long, wavy hair is tied up in a bun and he wears a pair of shoes." theoi - Roman Hermaphrodite 421 A darker -skinned version of the eros above - probably an african angel Probably a female with a phallus based on a similar image from Pompeii - the necklace on the Pompeii fresco is on a woman not a man " Apulian red-figure oinochoe. Circa 4th century BC. D/ The body with winged Eros, seated left on rocky outcrop, holding cista and vine leaf. Wave pattern frieze below, ovolo frieze on the shoulder and white tongues on the neck, details in added white and yellow.... " icollector - Roman Hermaphrodite 422 Mars and Venus - House of Mars and Venus, Pompeii Venus is wearing a necklace similar to the ones above Note the "dog-leash" tan on Mars - Roman Hermaphrodite 423 Another dark-skilled phallic winged goddess - probably an African sun - that's what Isis looked like without her clothes on ... Greek vase probably with winged Eros - Hamburg Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe - Roman Hermaphrodite 424 Another phallic winged goddess - the trend here probably derives from the Isis cult - my intuition is upper class Egyptian men were "dog-leashed" - Circumcision was restricted to a priestly class - that eventually spawned the post - Exodus Jewish nation Western Greek red figure Lekythos - Roman Hermaphrodite 425 Winged phallic goddess on left - seated clothed goddess in center and satyr on right Winged goddess has what appears to be an Egyptian Sistrum - and the seated goddess is next to a large snake - Common images from the roman version of the Isis cult Hamburg Museum für Kunst & Gewerbe - Roman Hermaphrodite 426 Eos and Cephalus Attic Red Figure Krater Attributed to the Christie Painter or to the Polygnotos Group c. 440 B.C. - Johns Hopkins Archaeological Museum, Baltimore "Eos, the winged goddess of the dawn, pursues the Athenian hunter Cephalus. The youth wears a petasos cap and carries a pair of hunting spears." theoi " ... Athenians localised the myth by asserting that Cephalus was married to Procris, a daughter of Erechtheus, an ancient founding-figure of Athens.The goddess of dawn, Eos fell in love with him and kidnapped Cephalus when he was hunting.The resistant Cephalus and Eos became lovers, and she bore him a son named Phaethon (not to be confused with the son of the sun-god Helios). Some sources also give Tithonos and Hesperus as children of Cephalus and Eos. However, Cephalus always pined for Procris, causing a disgruntled Eos to return him to her, making disparaging remarks about his wife's fidelity. ... " Wikipedia Eos is also associated with an African demi-god - she is the mother of Memnon My guess is under that dress is a large female phallus ... That's the ancient Egyptian secret- the female penis ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 427 Another forced lover of Eos - the Trojan prince Tithonus. Eos kidnapped him for sex and one of their children was Memnon - who is traditionally associated with an 18th dynasty Pharaoh. " .. Eos pursues the reluctant Tithonus, who holds a lyre, on an Attic oinochoe of the Achilles Painter, circa 470–460 BC (Louvre). In Greek mythology, Tithonus was the lover of Eos, Goddess of the Dawn. Tithonus was a prince of Troy, the son of King Laomedon by the Naiad Strymo. ... Eos is said to have taken Tithonus, from the royal house of Troy, to be her lover. ... Eos bore Tithonus two sons, Memnon and Emathion. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 428 Winged and phallic female goddess - probably Etruscan Campania red figured pottery lebes gamikos depicting a Winged Eros facing to the left, holding fillet britishmuseum - Roman Hermaphrodite 429 Seated winged and phallic female goddess holding a box or casket. Although the source claims that is a man. The hair and the jewelry are not male at all ... Probably another Etruscan woman with a penis " ... Magna Graecia, South Italy, Apulian, a. mid 4th century BC. A lovely, sizeable bell krater painted with a rich iconographic program created via the red-figure technique. On Side A is a winged Eros, the Greek god of love (his Roman counterpart being Cupid) seated upon a rocky outcrop and holding a casket in his raised left hand, his right hand placed upon the rocky outcrop. Eros is nude with nicely delineated anatomy; however, he is adorned with bracelets, a beaded band around his right thigh, bands wrapped around his right calf, a beaded necklace and headpiece. In the field is a fillet above the casket and leafy berried plants flanking Eros. Side B features the head of a Lady of Fashion in profile facing left. She is adorned by a beaded drop earring, a beaded saccos, and a double strand around her neck. Just like Eros, she too is flanked by leafy berried plants. ... " artemisgallery - Roman Hermaphrodite 430 A nude seated winged and phallic female goddess with a fan and a clothed standing woman with same hairdo. That's the Hellenic sun - I saw that winged and phallic woman in an inner vision when I stared to research the Brazilian samba and carnaval " ... An Apulian red figure Pelike decorated with a nude winged Eros on a rocky out crop holding a fan and opposite a draped female leaing on a high basin and two further draped male figures to the obverse against a two handled baluster body ... " barnebys - Roman Hermaphrodite 431 A painting from the 18th century of an ancient Greek vase with a naked winged phallic goddess and another woman with the same hairstyle. I thought that was a Egyptian Sistrum - but it's labeled a mirror. The winged and phallic goddess is labeled a genius. " ... A vase-painting: a winged genius holding a mirror and a wreath greets a woman holding a patera and a similar wreath. Coloured engraving. Hancarville, Pierre d', 1719-1805. Date [1785?] A vase-painting then apparently in the possession of Sir William Hamilton and subsequently in the British Museum (not confirmed) ... " wellcomecollection - Roman Hermaphrodite 432 Seated winged phallic goddess - probably Etruscan "...A south Italian red-figure pelike c. 4th century BC ... Seated figure of winged Eros holding a casket ... " christies - Roman Hermaphrodite 433 Woman with a mirror and tambourine facing her genius - a winged and phallic goddess ... I use the Islamic term for those: - my "jinn" They are phallic women ...or phallic female spirits According to Wikipedia " ... Winged genius facing a woman with a tambourine and mirror, from southern Italy, about 320 BC. In Roman religion, the genius... is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing. Much like a guardian angel, the genius would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died. For women, it was the Juno spirit that would accompany each of them. ... Each individual place had a genius (genius loci) and so did powerful objects, such as volcanoes. The concept extended to some specifics: the genius of the theatre, of vineyards, and of festivals, which made performances successful, grapes grow, and celebrations succeed, respectively. It was extremely important in the Roman mind to propitiate the appropriate genii for the major undertakings and events of their lives. The Christian theologian Augustine equated the Christian "soul" with the Roman genius, citing Varro as attributing the rational powers and abilities of every human being to their genius. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 434 Purple clad and "dog-leashed" tanned Mars uncladding a purple clad Venus in a Pompeii fresco. Venus probably had a penis in the ancient original. Mars and Venus. Roman fresco from Casa di Sallustio (VI 2, 4) in Pompeii. - Roman Hermaphrodite 435 Etruscan Thesan (Eos) abducting Kephalos - Etruscan hand mirror, Vulci, Italy, c. 470 BC Museo Gregoriano Etrusco, Vatican " ... Curse of Aphrodite The Etruscans identified their Thesan with the Greek dawn goddess Eos. In the Greek legend, Aphrodite had found Eos in bed with her lover Ares; to punish Eos She “cursed” her with an insatiable taste for mortal youths, and Eos became infamous for her many young lovers. The Etruscans seemed to quite like these stories and easily transferred them to their dawn goddess Thesan; the stories depicted on the mirrors are generally straight out of Greek myth. ... " Wikipedia - That's a version of the Cybele/Attis myth - the goddess is the dominant partner - - Greco-Roman men walked around in short skirts or even naked, and had their penis bound and strictly controlled by polyandrous female partners - Roman Hermaphrodite 436 " ... Eos and the slain Memnon on an Attic red-figure cup, ca. 490–480 BCE, the so-called "Memnon Pietà" found at Capua (Louvre). ... " Wikipedia - The Trojan war and the death of Memnon is really the exit of black Africa from western history. Memnon has traditionally been an Ethiopian. (May 11, 2020) Eos and her dawn freshness also disappeared from western history after the death of Memnon. Western civilization slipped onto the night side - the "Aryan" side after this ... - had another post 400 AD Rome dream. I was researching the "Aryan" and Roman roots of Afghanistan and left my laptop with a caravan going to Afghanistan while I ran to do a last minute errand. When I got back the laptop and the caravan were gone without a trace ... My inner impression is they did not go to Afghanistan - Africa is a better lead - Roman Hermaphrodite 437 Probably Etruscan winged and phallic nude goddess and a clothed female figure Terracotta Red-Figure Bell Krater, Apulia, South Italy, about 330–320 B.C., J. Paul Getty Museum, Gift of Gary Rubin - Roman Hermaphrodite 438 What I call the female Dionysus - or Ampelus with a winged and phallic female Eros floating above her and a retinue of meneads and satyr. Probably Etruscan Shot blocked - used workaround. Officially this is a male Dionysus, but based on the lack of facial hair, and female hair , I say thats Ampelus. Dionysus and Followers / Greek Vase Painting. Red-figure, lower Italian. - Munich, Glyptothek 5th century B.C. - Roman Hermaphrodite 439 What I call the female Apollo - the nude satyr on the right also looks like a phallic female to me. Shot blocked - used workaround. "Seated Apollo with thyrsos and lyre; a female with a situla, and a nude satyr with a torch and a situla. Reverse: A large winged head of a goddess. Apulian large red-figure calyx krater by the White Saccos Painter" royalathena c. 320-310 BC Ex English collection; Patricia Kluge collection, Charlottesville, Virginia, acquired from Royal-Athena in 1991. The Charlottesville Krater! - Kraters are more than wine-bowls ... To romans every Krater has a "jinn" - and to CG Jung Kraters were alchemical vessels - almost a spiritual uterus or vessel for the divine "nous" ... Britain does not allow export of these anymore! - Roman Hermaphrodite 440 Nyx and Eos Apulian Red Figure Krater. Attributed to the Capodimonte Painter c. 320 – 310 B.C. Metropolitan Museum of Art "Night (Nyx) departs at the approach of Dawn (Eos). Eos, the winged goddess of the dawn, drives a chariot drawn by four white steeds. Nyx, holding a pair of torches, gazes over her shoulder at the other goddess. Twin torches are the usual attributes of another nocturnal goddess, Hecate, here used to identify the more obscure Nyx. The pair appear on the neck of a vase above a depiction of Amazons battling Greeks." Theoi The Amazons won the battle! - Africa was once associated with Eos - through her son Memnon who was killed in a duel with the Greek Achilles - the world now calls Africa the "dark continent!" The Hellenic sun or more accurately the Trojan sun is not the sun of the modern day intellect - it's more chthonic - or an "earth-sun" or a phallic sun - The way the phallic Legba is associated with the rising sun - Roman Hermaphrodite 441 Eos in her chariot; below, Eros, a woman and swan. That's a phallic winged female Eros - probably the "genius" of the woman. The swan is probably a sexual signal - such as Leda and the Swan - Or from an Amazonian perspective the swan as a female phallus - birds tend to be female dominant, and swans are among the small number of birds with a penis. Again, the artefact's tend to point to aggressive female sexual behavior in ancient Rome Terracotta red-figure lekanis (dish) Probably Etruscan -Attributed to the Stuttgart Group, 4th century B.C., South Italian, Apulian, Metropolitan Museum of Art - Roman Hermaphrodite 442 "Eos, the winged goddess of the dawn, abducts the handsome young Trojan prince Tithonus." Theoi The historical Trojan prince was probably black African - ie from an Egyptian colony in Asia Minor - see Freud's "Moses and monotheism" Attic Red Figure Kylix Attributed to the Telephos Painter c. 470 - 460 B.C. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Roman Hermaphrodite 443 Aphrodite, a winged and phallic female eros, and Poseidon. British Museum. Apúlia c.340 BC The winged and phallic female Eros is probably the genius of Aphrodite - female hair, jewelry, no facial hair and a penis - as opposed to the bearded Poseidon Roman Hermaphrodite 444 Winged and phallic female eros winged Eros - Greek - flickr The Roman tinker bell has a penis - probably closer to the reality of the fairy folk from my personal experience of the fairy realm - and they are not shy to use it! - Roman Hermaphrodite 445 Winged and phallic female eros - dark -skinned, probably African winged Eros - Greek krater - Hannover Kestner Museum - Roman Hermaphrodite 446 Helios, Eos and Eosphorus, the dawn star " ... The gods Helius, Eos and Eosphorus--Sun, Dawn and Dawn-Star--form the procession of day. Eosphoros is depicted as a winged youth crowned with a shining aureole. Helius and Eos drive four-horse (quadriga) chariots and are crowned with the aureoles of sun and the light of dawn. Fish and dolphins dance beneath the chariot-wheels as the gods emerge from the river Oceanus. ..." theoi Apulian Red Figure Krater c. 330 B.C. - Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 418 ff : Memnon addresses Achilles when they meet in battle: Of birth divine am I, Eos' mighty son, nurtured afar by lily-slender Hesperides, beside the River Oceanus. Therefore not from thee nor from grim battle shrink I, knowing well how far my goddess-mother doth transcend a Nereid, whose child thou vauntest thee. To Gods and men my mother bringeth light; on her depends the issue of all things, works great and glorious in Olympus wrought whereof comes blessing unto men. But thine--she sits in barren crypts of brine. Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 2. 549- 815 : Achilles slays Memnon with his sword " ... Then groaned Eos, and palled herself in clouds, and earth was darkened. At their mother's hest all the light Wind took hands, and slid down one long stream of sighing wind to Priam's plain, and floated round the dead, and softly, swiftly caught they up, and bare through silver mists Eos' son, with hearts sore aching for their brother's fall, while moaned around them all the air. As on they passed, fell many blood-gouts from those pierced limbs down to the earth, and these were made a sign to generations yet to be. The Gods gathered them up from many lands, and made thereof a far-resounding river, named of all that dwell beneath long Ida's flanks Paphlagoneion. As its waters flow twixt fertile acres, once a year they turn to blood, when comes the woeful day whereon died Memnon. Thence a sick and choking reek steams : thou wouldst say that from a wound unhealed corrupting humours breathed an evil stench. Ay, so the Gods ordained : but now flew on bearing Eos' mighty son the rushing Winds skimming earth's face and palled about with night. Nor were his Ethiopian comrades left to wander of their King forlorn : Eos suddenly winged those eager souls with speed such as should soon be theirs for ever, changed to flying fowl, the children of the air. Wailing their King in the winds' track they sped . . . so they left far behind that stricken field of blood, and fast they followed after those swift Winds with multitudinous moaning, veiled in mist unearthly. Trojans over all the plain and Danaans marvelled, seeing that great host vanishing with their King. All hearts stood still in dumb amazement. ... " Callistratus, Descriptions 9 : On the statue of Memnon. "I wish to describe to you the miracle of Memnon also; for the art it displayed was truly incredible and beyond the power of human hand. There was in Ethiopia an image of Memnon, the son of Tithonus, made of marble . . . but stone though it was it had the power of speech. For at one time it saluted Eos, by its voice giving token of its joy and expressing delight at the arrival of its mother; and again, as day declined to night, it uttered piteous and mournful groans in grief at her departure. Nor yet was the marble at a loss for tears, but they too were at hand to serve its will . . . The statue in question both lulled to rest the sorrows of Day and caused her to abandon her search for her son, as though the art of the Ethiopians were compensating her by means of the statue for the Memnon who had been snatched away from her by fate." Ovid, Metamorphoses 5. 376 ff (trans. Melville) : "... Eos, who had favoured Troy's arms too . . . a closer trouble, a family grief, had wrung her heart, the loss of Memnon. Slaughtered by Achilles' spear, she, his bright golden mother, saw him dead upon the plain of Troy. The rosy blush that dyes the hour of dawn grew pale and clouds hid the bright heavens. But when his limbs were laid on the last flames, she could not bear to look. With hair unbound, just as she was, she knelt (nor did her pride disdain) before the knees of mighty Zeus and pleaded through her tears : ‘Least I may be of all the goddesses the golden heavens hold (in all the world my shrines are rarest), yet a deity I am, and I have come not for a gift of fanes or altar-fires or holy days; though should you see how great the services I, but a woman, give when I preserve at each new dawn the boundaries of night, you'd judge some guerdon due. But it's not now Eos' errand nor her care to claim honours well-earned. I come because my son, Memnon, is lost, who for his uncle's King Priam of Troy's sake in vain bore valiant arms and in his first youth (so you willed it) fell to brave Achilles. Grant him, I pray, Ruler of Heaven most high, some honour, solace that he had to die, and soothe a wounded mother's misery!’ Zeus nodded his assent as Memnon's pyre fell to the leaping flames. Black rolling smoke darkened the daylight, as a stream breathes forth the mist it breeds that lets no sunlight through. Up flew black ashes, and they clustered thick into a single mass, which took a shape and from the fire drew heat and breath of life. Its lightness gave it wings and like a bird at first, and presently a real bird, its great wings whirred and with it sister-birds whirred beyond counting, all from the same source. Three times they circled round the pyre; three times their cries, united, echoed through the air. On the fourth flight the flock split up; then two fierce legions, so divided, fought each other with claws and beaks in full fury, till their wings and battling breasts were weary; then they fell, death-offerings, on the ash whose kin they were, recalling that brave soul from whom they sprang. He who begot them gave those sudden birds their name ‘Memnonides’ ; and when the sun has coursed through the twelve signs, they fight again to die in memory of Memnon slain . . . Eos intent on her own grief : now still her loving sorrow she renews and with her tears the whole wide world bedews." Reminds me of the "black sun" - the black sun is ancient Egypt in a collapsed state ... (June 5, 2020) I've changed my mind about the "dog-leash" tan - That's probably African skin! Rome had an African ruling class! - Trojans ... - Or it could be both - both answers might be true - dog -leash tan and African skin. That combination of dark skinned men mating with fair skinned women is more pronounced with Etruscans - The source of the dark skin is Africa. - Roman Hermaphrodite 447 The departure of Memnon for Troy. Greek, circa 550-525 BC. Black-figure vase. Royal Museums of Art and History, Brussels, Belgium. " ... As a warrior he was considered to be almost Achilles’ equal in skill. During the Trojan War, he brought an army to Troy‘s defense and had killed Antilochus during a fierce battle. The death of Memnon echoes that of Hector, another defender of Troy whom Achilles also killed out of revenge for a fallen comrade, Patroclus. After Memnon’s death, Zeus was moved by Eos’ tears and granted him immortality. Memnon’s death is related at length in the lost epic Aethiopis, composed after The Iliad circa the 7th century BC. Quintus of Smyrna records Memnon’s death in Posthomerica. His death is also described in Philostratus’ Imagines. ... " solarey - Roman Hermaphrodite 448 Roman mosaic 4th century A.D - found at Low Ham, Somerset, UK. That's a black Phyringian or Trojan Roman soldier (from the Phyringian cap) about to have sex with a nude white female Briton. Late Rome - African roman soldiers probably seeded several central European dynasties - for example, st . Maurice ... It's not clear that Maurice was killed. He probably did what roman commanders did in Britain- ie found an independent kingdom - Roman Hermaphrodite 449 African holding a Lagobolon leading a bridled Zebra Mosaic found in Urfa, Turkey in the villa known as the Amazons excavated between 2006 and 2008. The Zebra is strangely missing from Roman and Ancient Egyptian art - ancient central and eastern Africa seems to have been scrubbed clean from the history books .. - Roman Hermaphrodite 450 Dark skinned men worshipping a topless white goddess in ancient Knossos (Crete) . That's probably the "dog-leash" tan. Women do not have a penis to lock up ... Reconstruction of the fresco of the Procession, found in the Palace of Knossos: young men carrying offerings to a goddess, 1700-1400 B.C. The established reading though is that those are women worshiping the goddess. I say men because the thats how for example, Egyptians dressed - men in short skirts and women in gowns ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 451 White goddess being worshiped by 3 brown women, 1 white woman and one dark brown man holding a lyre - ancient Knossos. My guess is those brown women are interracial - or part African. The man is probably "dog-leashed" - Roman Hermaphrodite 452 Nile valley sex scene from Pompeii. Reverse "hector horse" sex or mulier equitans or woman on top. With several attendants - one black skinned . The horse is not tanned, but probably was tanned in the original mural. Love scene on the Nile. Roman fresco on summer triclinium of the House of the Ephebus (I 7, 9-10) in Pompeii. - Roman Hermaphrodite 453 Raging bull, 2 white women and dark brown man holding a lyre - ancient Knossos Dark brown skin on the man is probably the "dog-leash" tan - Roman Hermaphrodite 454 2 white women athletes and one brown skinned male athlete and a raging bull. My reading of the raging bull is the pent-up energy caused by the "dog-leash" - unless an outlet is found for it - you get the frenzy that was associated with the Cybele/Attis cult Minoan fresco with people jumping over a bull - Knossos, Crete, Greece - Roman Hermaphrodite 455 Brown -skinned woman in white playing a lyre and a white bird That's probably a mixed race Minoan - part African Wall fresco from bronze age palace at Pylos in Greece But the source of this picture says this is a man. In that case, he clearly has the "dog-leash" tan - or he's a part African poet see: WINGED WORDS John Lienhard presents Casey Dué " ... The Iliad and Odyssey consist of “winged words,” to quote a common phrase in Homer. The ancient Greeks actually thought of poetry as being in flight. One Bronze Age wall painting shows a bird emerging from a bard as the embodiment of his song. This is because poetry was performed, not read. The epics each contain well over 13,000 verses, but they were not composed using the technology of writing. They were composed orally, on the fly and in performance, as the poet spun myth to life before his audience. In the Odyssey, bards are depicted performing at banquets. These passages are fascinating windows into how ancient audiences imagined the creation of epic poetry. The process described is entirely oral — the Greeks believed that Homer himself was blind. This single poet “Homer” was almost certainly just an invention of tradition; yet he was not invented as a writer, but as a singer of tales. When the bard begins one of his tales in the Odyssey, he asks the Muse to pick up a story thread: the poet “weaves” his tale as he goes along, creating a beautiful tapestry of the glorious deeds of heroes. Did you know our word text comes from the Latin word to weave? Think textiles. Epic poets in ancient Greece were all men, but weaving was decidedly women’s work. How can the acts of weaving and poetic composition be so connected? We have to wonder if the songs of women ever played a role in the creation of these epics. There are some tantalizing passages to consider. The first time we ever see Helen in the Iliad, she is “working at a great web of purple linen, on which she was embroidering the struggles between Trojans and Achaeans.” Ares had made them fight for her sake. I expect Helen’s version of the story would be much different than Homer’s. But a woman’s perspective does seem to underlie many of the most beautiful passages of Homeric poetry. The deaths of flourishing young men are lamented with imagery drawn from the natural world: flowers that bloom and fall too quickly, trees that are cut down before their time. This leads me to another passage about weaving. It’s about Andromache, the wife of Hektor. He’s the Trojan whom Achilles kills at the climax of the poem. Andromache has not yet heard the news. She is “at her loom, weaving a double purple web, and embroidering it with many flowers.” She doesn’t yet know that her husband is one of those flowers. In this way he is not unlike that hero that killed him, Achilles. Achilles’ mother complains that she was “so unfortunately the best child bearer” because her glorious son, whom she tended like a tender shoot in an orchard, is destined never to return home from the Trojan War... " Casey Dué, uh (University of Houston) * There are plenty of examples of women playing the lyre above - thats probably an African woman playing the lyre - from the skin color, the hair and the lack of a beard - and also the dress; also the lyre has a strong connection to sexual activity in the Roman world - Roman Hermaphrodite 456 Aphrodite lifting her gown to reveal an erect penis Labeled: " ...Ancient Greek herma of Aphroditus, a male form of Aphrodite, currently held in the National museum in Stockholm" The way Greek sexuality worked that was probably Aphrodite in her natural state " ... Aphroditus or Aphroditos ... was a male Aphrodite originating from Amathus on the island of Cyprus and celebrated in Athens. Aphroditus was portrayed as having a female shape and clothing like Aphrodite's but also a phallus, and hence, a male name. This deity would have arrived in Athens from Cyprus in the 4th century BC. In the 5th century BC, however, there existed hermae of Aphroditus, or phallic statues with a female head. Aphroditus is the same as the later god Hermaphroditos, whose name is a combinations of his parents Aphrodite and Hermes, who first occurs in the Characters of Theophrastus. Photius also explained that Aphroditus was Hermaphroditos, and cited fragments from Attic comedies mentioning the divinity. In later mythology Hermaphroditos came to be regarded as the son of Hermes and Aphrodite. One of the earliest surviving images from Athens is a fragment (late 4th century BC), found in the Athenian agora, of a clay mould for a terracotta figurine. The figurine would have stood about 30 cm high, represented in a style known as anasyromenos, a female lifting her dress to reveal male genitals, a gesture that was believed to have apotropaic qualities, averting evil influences and bestowing good luck. This combination of the male and female in one divinity and being associated with the moon, both of which were considered to have fertilizing powers, was regarded as having an influence over the entire animal and vegetable creation. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 457 Etruscan caged and erect penis pot - The caged penis is the cause of the female phallus - Roman Hermaphrodite 458 Procession of 6 dark- skinned women in Knossos - one them playing an Egyptian sistrum and another playing the lyre - -led by a white skinned woman or goddess. Procession, fresco, 1700-1400 BC Minoan, from Knossos, Crete There was a heavy African presence in ancient Greece - Roman Hermaphrodite 459 Almost all members of the procession worshiping the topless white goddess are dark-skinned - both "dog-leashed" men and darked skinned women music players My analysis is an African invasion of the Greek islands in the bronze age - the gods remained white, but the people took on a dark hue ... However, the established interpretation is that the music players are all men and the short skirted figures around the goddess are women: " ... The Corridor of Procession ... The corridor takes its name from the theme of the murals on its plastered walls that show files of figures heading along it. ... Very little has survived of the right-hand (west) wall but those opposite are preserved to a certain extent for the first 9 metres and depict pairs of figures starting immediately inside the door with a group that have been reconstructed as number of young men in long robes, playing musical instruments. They are led by a pair of priestesses with their hands raised in a gesture of adoration. Further along is another scene with a goddess figure flanked by adoring young men. The next grouping is better preserved and shows a number of kilted youths bearing vessels, presumably filled with oil or wine .... The details are somewhat imaginative (since nothing survived above the ankles) but not baseless. Evans’ found parallels in other pieces of Minoan art, such as the painted scene on a terracotta sarcophagus from Aghia Triadha. ... "odysseyadventures - Roman Hermaphrodite 460 Topless Knossos snake goddess - probably Isis - and probably phallic under the gown - thats what the snakes mean " .... "Snake goddess" is a type of figurine depicting a woman holding a snake in each hand, as were found in Minoan archaeological sites in Crete. The first two of such figurines (both incomplete) were found by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans and date to the neo-palatial period of Minoan civilization, c. 1700–1450 BC. It was Evans who called the larger of his pair of figurines a "Snake Goddess", the smaller a "Snake Priestess"; since then, it has been debated whether Evans was right, or whether both figurines depict priestesses, or both depict the same deity or distinct deities. The figurines were found only in house sanctuaries, where the figurine appears as "the goddess of the household", and they are probably (according to Burkert) related to the Paleolithic traditions regarding women and domesticity. The figurines have also been interpreted as showing a mistress of animals-type goddess and as a precursor to Athena Parthenos, who is also associated with snakes. ... The first two snake goddess figurines to be discovered were found by Arthur Evans in 1903, in the temple repositories of Knossos. The figurines are made of faience, a technique for glazing earthenware and other ceramic vessels by using a quartz paste. After firing, this produces bright colors and a lustrous sheen. This material symbolized the renewal of life in old Egypt, therefore it was used in the funeral cult and in the sanctuaries. These two figurines are today exhibited at the Herakleion Archeological Museum in Crete. The larger of these figures has snakes crawling over her arms up to her tiara. The smaller figure holds two snakes in her raised hands, which seems to be the imitation of a panther. These were usually symbols of an earth goddess. In particular, one of the "snake goddesses" was found in a few scattered pieces, and was later filled with a solution of paraffin to preserve it from further damage. The goddess is depicted just as in other statues (crown on head, hands grasping snakes etc.). The expression on her face is described as lifelike, and is also wearing the typical Minoan dress. Another figure found in Berlin, made of bronze, looks more like a snake charmer with the snakes on top of her head. Many Minoan statues and statuettes seem to express a pride. ... The snake goddess's Minoan name may be related with A-sa-sa-ra, a possible interpretation of inscriptions found in Linear A texts. Although Linear A is not yet deciphered, Palmer relates tentatively the inscription a-sa-sa-ra-me which seems to have accompanied goddesses, with the Hittite išhaššara, which means "mistress". The serpent is often symbolically associated with the renewal of life because it sheds its skin periodically. A similar belief existed in the ancient Mesopotamians and Semites, and appears also in Hindu mythology. The Pelasgian myth of creation refers to snakes as the reborn dead. However, Martin P. Nilsson noticed that in the Minoan religion the snake was the protector of the house, as it later appears also in Greek religion.Within the Greek Dionysiac cult it signified wisdom and was the symbol of fertility Barry Powell suggested that the "snake goddess" reduced in legend into a folklore heroine was Ariadne (whose name might mean "utterly pure" or "the very holy one"), who is often depicted surrounded by Maenads and satyrs. Some scholars relate the snake goddess with the Phoenician Astarte (virgin daughter). She was the goddess of fertility and sexuality and her worship was connected with an orgiastic cult. Her temples were decorated with serpentine motifs. In a related Greek myth Europa, who is sometimes identified with Astarte in ancient sources, was a Phoenician princess whom Zeus abducted and carried to Crete. Evans tentatively linked the snake goddess with the Egyptian snake goddess Wadjet but did not pursue this connection. Statuettes similar to the "snake goddess" type identified as "priest of Wadjet" and "magician" were found in Egypt. ... Both goddesses have a knot with a projecting looped cord between their breasts. Evans noticed that these are analogous to the sacral knot, his name for a knot with a loop of fabric above and sometimes fringed ends hanging down below. Numerous such symbols in ivory, faience, painted in frescoes or engraved in seals sometimes combined with the symbol of the double-edged axe or labrys which was the most important Minoan religious symbol. Such symbols were found in Minoan and Mycenaean sites. It is believed that the sacral knot was the symbol of holiness on human figures or cult-objects. Its combination with the double-axe can be compared with the Egyptian ankh (eternal life), or with the tyet (welfare/life) a symbol of Isis (the knot of Isis)... " Wikipedia * - My reading of the "sacral knot" is the "dog-leash" from which all else flows ... - That's probably a very ancient Egyptian rite of passage for young men - having you penis locked up ... And your Eros consecrated to the goddess in the abstract and to your wife in the concrete ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 461 Figurines of the Snake Goddess from the Knossos Temple Repositories, dated 1650-1550 BC, Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Iraklio, island of Crete - Roman Hermaphrodite 462 The tyet (welfare/life) a symbol of Isis - the knot of Isis In my reading the pillar is the phallus and the round form above it is the restraining knot or the "dog-leash" -" Detail of the upper margin of the sarcophagus of the last native Egyptian pharaoh Nectanebo II showing the so-called "djed" and tyet" symbols. The djed, a pillar-like symbol, represents the backbone (spine) of Osiris, the god of the underworld and afterlife; it actually reflects stability. The tyet, which resembles an ankh except that its arms are curved down, is connected to goddess Isis, and is called the Knot of Isis. 30th Dynasty, reign of Nectanebo II, circa 360-343 BC. From Attarin Mosque at Alexandria; originally from Samannud, Egypt. (The British Museum, London). ..." ancient (Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin) - Roman Hermaphrodite 463 3 white topless goddesses -Knossos - `Ladies in blue` fresco from Knossos Palace. The archaeological Museum in Heraklion, Crete. c. 1525–1450 B.C. - The dates of the prime of Knossos sync quite nicely with the prime of Troy! Thats probably because they are the same thing! " ... Knossos is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and has been called Europe's oldest city. Settled as early as the Neolithic period, the name Knossos survives from ancient Greek references to the major city of Crete. The palace of Knossos eventually became the ceremonial and political centre of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace was abandoned at some unknown time at the end of the Late Bronze Age, c. 1,380–1,100 BC. The reason why is unknown, but one of the many disasters that befell the palace is generally put forward. At the height of Cretan power around 1,450 BC, the palaces at Mallia, Phaestus, and Zakro were destroyed along with smaller settlements elsewhere. Only Knossos remained and it survived until c. 1,370. At the time of its destruction, it was occupied by Greeks, whose presence is suggested by a new emphasis on weapons and warfare in both art and burial. Mycenaean-style chamber tombs had been adopted and there was mainland influence on pottery styles. Confirmation came in written form after Michael Ventris deciphered the Linear B tablets and showed the language to be an early form of Greek that was quite unlike the earlier Linear A. Sir Arthur Evans found the Linear B tablets at Knossos and, although the writing was different from the Linear A ones at Phaestus and elsewhere, he thought they were a development of the first and so called them Linear B. Despite speculation that Knossos was destroyed by the volcanic eruption on Santorini, it is generally accepted that the cause was human violence following an invasion of Crete by Greeks from the Argolid, most probably Mycenaean. Knossos was still prosperous at the time of its destruction c. 1,370 with trade and art continuing to thrive. Explanations for its destruction are speculative, but a likely reason is that the Mycenaeans, now prospering on the mainland, decided to remove a rival power. ... "Wikipedia 1380 BC: Amenhotep III connects the Nile and the Red Sea with a canal. -Thats Memnon! " ... Amenhotep III , also known as Amenhotep the Magnificent, was the ninth pharaoh of the Eighteenth Dynasty. According to different authors, he ruled Egypt from June 1386 to 1349 BC, or from June 1388 BC to December 1351 BC/1350 BC, after his father Thutmose IV died. ... His reign was a period of unprecedented prosperity and splendour, when Egypt reached the peak of its artistic and international power. When he died in the 38th or 39th year of his reign, his son initially ruled as Amenhotep IV, but then changed his own royal name to Akhenaten. ... His enormous mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile was, in its day, the largest religious complex in Thebes, but unfortunately, the king chose to build it too close to the floodplain and less than two hundred years later, it stood in ruins. Much of the masonry was purloined by Merneptah and later pharaohs for their own construction projects. The Colossi of Memnon—two massive stone statues, 18 m (59 ft) high, of Amenhotep that stood at the gateway of his mortuary temple—were the only elements of the complex that remained standing. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 464 Fresco. Tiryns, Warriors, 1350 BC. Mycenaean Black Trojan troops - Roman Hermaphrodite 465 Fresco. Tiryns, Warrior. 1350 BC. Mycenaean. Greece Black Trojan troops - Roman Hermaphrodite 466 Mycenaean Fresco wall painting of a Mycanaean with horse and wild boar hunting dog from the Tiryns, Greece. 14th - 13th Century BC Black Trojan troops - Roman Hermaphrodite 467 Sexual passion - even sexual frenzy ... The Trojan war was started over a maddening lust for Helen of Troy. Thats what these serpentine dommes in a chariot are ... Mycenaean Fresco wall painting of a chariot from the Tiryns, Greece. 14th - 13th Century BC. Athens Archaeological Museum. - Roman Hermaphrodite 468 Ancient Egyptian boat! Ancient Akrotiri, 17th. Cent. BC Most commentary online misses that fact that those are African boatmen .... Most analogies are toward more familiar images like modern Venetian boats ... " ... The wall paintings of ancient Thera are famous frescoes discovered by Spyridon Marinatos at the excavations of Akrotiri ... Excavated from 1967 to 1974, the wall paintings provide a crucial window into Santorini's history, depicting the early Aegean world as a highly developed society. Of all the findings unearthed at Akrotiri, these frescoes constitute the most significant contribution to present-day knowledge of Aegean art and culture. In their technique, style, and thematic content, the paintings are invaluable objects of study for archaeologists, art historians, zoologists, botanists, and chemists. Originally displayed on the walls of ancient Theran aristocratic estates, the paintings render ancient figures, customs and historical events. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 469 Ship procession fresco, Akrotiri, Greece. - Roman Hermaphrodite 470 Ship procession fresco, Akrotiri, Greece. - Roman Hermaphrodite 471 Ship procession fresco, Akrotiri, Greece. - Roman Hermaphrodite 472 Ship procession fresco, Akrotiri, Greece. - Roman Hermaphrodite 473 Ship procession fresco, Akrotiri, Greece. (Panorama) Those are ancient Egyptian boats - My guess is many ancient Egyptian pharaohs were from Crete. It was an Egyptian Venice. The so called Greek miracle is probably a watered down version of something that came before - something African derived ... The savagery of the destruction of Troy and related cultures like the erasure of Amenhotep III's buildings is a sign of extreme class tension and class leveling. Amenhotep III was probably having an incestuous relationship with his daughter who shared power with him and became Amenhotep IV or Akhenaten. In their world, the males submitted to females - Osiris under Isis, as in the sacral knot or tyet of Isis, and at some point Amenhotep III probably consecrated his manhood to his daughter as the Osiris to her Isis ... They myth of Oedipus having sex with his mother is probably based in Theban legends during the 18th dynasty ... " ... The tyet, sometimes called the knot of Isis or girdle of Isis, is an ancient Egyptian symbol that came to be connected with the goddess Isis. Its hieroglyphic depiction is catalogued as V39 in Gardiner's sign list. In many respects the tyet resembles an ankh, except that its arms curve down. Its meaning is also reminiscent of the ankh, as it is often translated to mean "welfare" or "life". The tyet resembles a knot of cloth and may have originally been a bandage used to absorb menstrual blood An early example of a tyet sign comes from a First Dynasty tomb at Helwan, excavated by Zaki Saad in the 1940s. This example predates the first written references to Isis and may not have been connected with her at the time. In later times, it came to be linked with her and with the healing powers that were an important aspect of her character. Tyet amulets came to be buried with the dead in the early New Kingdom of Egypt (c. 1550–1070 BC). The earliest examples date to the reign of Amenhotep III, and from then until the end of dynastic Egyptian history, few people were buried without one placed within the mummy wrappings, usually on the upper torso.Ancient Egyptian funerary texts included many passages describing the use of different types of amulets and include spells to be recited over them.Chapter 156 of the Book of the Dead, a New Kingdom funerary text, calls for a tyet amulet made of red jasper to be placed at the neck of a mummy, saying "the power of Isis will be the protection of [the mummy's] body" and that the amulet "will drive away whoever would commit a crime against him."Such amulets were often made of red jasper or similarly colored materials, such as carnelian or red glass. However, many others were made of green materials such as Egyptian faience, whose color represented the renewal of life. Another type of knot is sometimes called the "Isis knot": a large knot in a mantle worn by Egyptian women from the Late Period onward. It is associated with Isis because it often appeared on statues of her in Hellenistic and Roman times, but apart from the name it is not related to the tyet. The tyet can be compared with the Minoan sacral knot, a symbol of a knot with a projecting loop found in Knossos, Crete. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 474 Topless Minoan goddesses - Roman Hermaphrodite 475 Sacral Knots "Three pairs of sacral knots, a religious symbol of Minoan Crete, made of faience with linear decoration." Mycenae, 16th century BCE. - Flickr My guess is its the same as the roman fibula - a hole was made in the foreskin like an ear-ring hole and the sacral knot was tied through it preventing unauthorized erections. - Roman Hermaphrodite 476 Four iridescent glass Tyet Amulets, Ptolemaic Egypt, c. 200 BC - Christie's - Those are honey jars - open for "hector horse" sex then closed when not in use - Roman Hermaphrodite 477 3 Topless Minoan godesses. Goddess Seals of ancient Crete: "Goddess with poppies seated under fruiting tree and surrounded by votaries offering crocuses. Two serpents float past the sun and moon in the sky, beside a "Shield Goddess." A double axe takes center position, and beneath it is a small female figure with a crocus who appears to be standing on the mountain symbol, like a goddess in other seal art." suppressedhistories - Roman Hermaphrodite 478 4 Topless Minoan goddesses. Goddess Seals of ancient Crete: "Another ceremony of adoration by women standing in a field of crocuses. They and the goddess appear to have the heads of bees." suppressedhistories - Roman Hermaphrodite 479 Fresco of a Topless Minoan goddess and a Griffin - Roman Hermaphrodite 480 Daedalus presents the artificial cow to Pasiphaë. Roman fresco.1st century AD. Casa della Caccia Antica, VII, 4, 48. Pompeii, Italy. National Archaeological Museum, Naples A "dog-leashed tan" Daedalus presents a Minoan queen with an artificial cow that she can hide in to have sex with a virile bull " ... In Greek mythology, Pasiphaë was a queen of Crete. ...Pasiphae was the daughter of Helios, the Titan god of the sun, and Perse of the Oceanids. Like her doublet Europa, her origins were in the East, in her case at Colchis; she was the sister of Circe, Aeëtes and Perses, and she was given in marriage to King Minos of Crete. With Minos, she was the mother of Acacallis, Ariadne, Androgeus, Glaucus, Deucalion, Phaedra, Xenodice, and Catreus. She was also the mother of "starlike" Asterion, called by the Greeks the Minotaur. ... After a curse from Poseidon, Pasiphae experienced lust for and mated with a white bull sent by Poseidon ... In the Greek literalistic understanding of a Minoan myth, in order to actually copulate with the bull, she had the Athenian artificer Daedalus construct a portable wooden cow with a cowhide covering, within which she was able to satisfy her strong desire. This interpretation reduced a near-divine figure (a daughter of the Sun) to a stereotyped emblem of grotesque bestiality and the shocking excesses of lust and deceit. Pasiphaë appeared in Virgil's Eclogue VI (45–60), in Silenus' list of suitable mythological subjects, on which Virgil lingers in such detail that he gives the sixteen-line episode the weight of a brief inset myth.In Ovid's Ars Amatoria Pasiphaë is framed in zoophilic terms: Pasiphae fieri gaudebat adultera tauri—"Pasiphaë took pleasure in becoming an adulteress with a bull." ... " Wikipedia * From this we can infer that Cretan women were like roman women after marriage: promiscuous and sexually insatiable - it was technically adultery, but also probably expected by dog-leashed Cretan men .... And that was the cause of the sexual insatiability: the dog-leash * Greeks had a different viewpoint of the "star-like" Asterion the minotaur, who demanded regular human sacrifice from the Greeks, - to them he was a deadly enemy to kill, to the Cretans his symbol was proudly displayed as a national icon as can be seen below on the gifts of a Cretan delegation to Egypt To the Etruscans too , the minotaur was a proud hero: " ... The view of the Minotaur as the antagonist of Theseus reflects the literary sources, which are biased in favour of the Athenian perspectives. The Etruscans, who paired Ariadne with Dionysus, never with Theseus, offered an alternative view, never seen in Greek arts: on an Etruscan red-figure wine-cup of the early-to-mid fourth century Pasiphaë tenderly cradles an infant Minotaur on her knee. ... The contest between Theseus and the Minotaur was frequently represented in Greek art. A Knossian didrachm exhibits on one side the labyrinth, on the other the Minotaur surrounded by a semicircle of small balls, probably intended for stars; one of the monster's names was Asterion ("star"). While the ruins of Minos' palace at Knossos were discovered, the labyrinth never was. The multiplicity of rooms, staircases and corridors in the palace has led some archaeologists to suggest that the palace itself was the source of the labyrinth myth, an idea that is now generally discredited. Homer, describing the shield of Achilles, remarked that Daedalus had constructed a ceremonial dancing ground for Ariadne, but does not associate this with the term labyrinth. Some modern mythologists regard the Minotaur as a solar personification and a Minoan adaptation of the Baal-Moloch of the Phoenicians. The slaying of the Minotaur by Theseus in that case indicates the breaking of Athenian tributary relations with Minoan Crete. According to A. B. Cook, Minos and Minotaur were different forms of the same personage, representing the sun-god of the Cretans, who depicted the sun as a bull. He and J. G. Frazer both explain Pasiphaë's union with the bull as a sacred ceremony, at which the queen of Knossos was wedded to a bull-formed god, just as the wife of the Tyrant in Athens was wedded to Dionysus. E. Pottier, who does not dispute the historical personality of Minos, in view of the story of Phalaris, considers it probable that in Crete (where a bull cult may have existed by the side of that of the labrys) victims were tortured by being shut up in the belly of a red-hot brazen bull. The story of Talos, the Cretan man of brass, who heated himself red-hot and clasped strangers in his embrace as soon as they landed on the island, is probably of similar origin. A historical explanation of the myth refers to the time when Crete was the main political and cultural potency in the Aegean Sea. As the fledgling Athens (and probably other continental Greek cities) was under tribute to Crete, it can be assumed that such tribute included young men and women for sacrifice. This ceremony was performed by a priest disguised with a bull head or mask, thus explaining the imagery of the Minotaur. Once continental Greece was free from Crete's dominance, the myth of the Minotaur worked to distance the forming religious consciousness of the Hellene poleis from Minoan beliefs. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 481 "Watercolour of an Egyptian wall-painting from the tomb of Senmut shows Minoans carrying precious vessels, as gifts for the Pharaoh. During the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III, (1473-1425 BC) " Alamy That's a sun over the head of the Minoan bull - to the Egyptians that's the symbol of Isis - a solar disc over the horns of a bull .... eventually this was transformed into the Islamic crescent and star - Roman Hermaphrodite 482 "Royal Tombs of Mycenae. 16th century BC. Silver rhyton in the shape of a bovine head, gold horns and rosette. Tomb IV. Grave Circle A. National Archaeological Museum. Athens, Greece. " Alamy Thats a solar disc over the head of a bull. The symbol of Isis ... The bull is Osiris the Pharaoh The solar disc is Isis the Queen - but also Pharaoh and probably the Egyptian Augusta - Roman Hermaphrodite 483 Minoan fresco of a topless goddess - Roman Hermaphrodite 484 Minoan fresco of a topless goddess - Roman Hermaphrodite 485 Minoan fresco of a topless goddess, blue monkey and young girl - Roman Hermaphrodite 486 Minoan fresco of a topless goddess gathering flowers - Roman Hermaphrodite 487 Minoan fresco of a topless goddess. Detail from a fresco found at Hagia Triadha in Crete. Reconstruction by Mark Cameron - Roman Hermaphrodite 488 Nude male fresco, from the excavation site of Akrotiri,Santorini, Greece 1700 BC 'Dog-leash" tan - could be part African. but Africans are also present and usually painted black with African hair - Roman Hermaphrodite 489 2 African runners and a tanned male runner - Roman Hermaphrodite 490 Nude and tanned or "dog-leashed" fisherman. Unlike Rome, the "dog-leash" tan seems to have been common in little boys too. Maybe that's why you have examples of small Sacral Knots. And also unlike Rome, adult women seem to have been universally topless. The pent up sexual energy in Minoan Crete must have been very high ... hence the raging bull - and sex with bulls ... The Minoan hair style on men was probably influenced by ancient Egypt - shaved clean except for small areas allowed to grow out. The skull colored blue .. - Roman Hermaphrodite 491 Nude , "dog-leash" tanned and blue -skulled man and boy - Roman Hermaphrodite 492 Nude , "dog-leash" tanned and blue -skulled fisherman - Roman Hermaphrodite 493 Topless Bronze female figure - Cretan Minoan - 1600-1450 BC - at the Metropolitan Museum of Art - Mary Harrsch This seems more African topless ie not erotic. But that's just a point of view. National Geographic magazine used to be a form of pornography when there were topless African women to photograph African men also, before the British, used to walk around buck naked, without it being considered erotic by the locals ... For example all central Kenyan tribes in 1850. On the other hand, there are no "dog-leashed" African men - maybe a long time ago, and maybe a few "dog-leashed" by the "jinns" - but for the most part eros in Africa is undeveloped and purely instinctual ... Anti-miscegenation customs in the west are a form of the "dog-leash" and are are probably why black American male eros is much higher than African male eros. My physical body changes from skinny in Africa to large and physical in the United States. It can't be purely diet ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 494 "Daedalus, Pasiphae and wooden cow. Roman fresco from the northern wall of the triclinium in the Casa dei Vettii (VI 15,1) in Pompeii." Wikipedia Note the "dog-leash" tan on Daedalus. - That's what distinguished ruling class roman men from ordinary romans - Roman Hermaphrodite 495 Topless Minoan women at a Temple Reproduction of a fresco painting from Knossos ('The Grandstand Fresco'). Original dated to 1450BC-1375BC; from the Palace of Minos - Roman Hermaphrodite 496 Famous 2 lions Minoan gate symbol. This is what the complete image probably looked like. A topless goddess a the top of a mountain , flanked by 2 lions and being saluted by a presumably dog-leashed man. * - (June 14, 2020) That's probably not a "dog-leashed" man saluting the topless goddess. it's almost certainly a topless female "bull-jumper" with a large male codpiece symbolizing a large bull phallus. There are several examples below.I think that was the archetype of Minoan amazon cult * Mountain goddess, Minoan seal, Knossos. - Knossos Seal Impression M1-5 The obvious parallel is Cybele her 2 lions and Attis " ... 16 - KNOSSOS SEAL IMPRESSION M1-5 Heraklion Archaeological Museum Central Shrine, Knossos in five fragments, LM II – LM IIIA, 1425-1340BC Found in five fragments (catalogued with numbers M1-5) in the Central Shrine of the palace at Knossos, this reconstruction of a broken seal impression depicts another 'sacred conversation' (type V) between a female deity and a male celebrant, in almost precisely the same postures (but with gender roles reversed) as the Epiphany Ring. We see a female figure atop a mountain here who must surely be the epiphany of the deity. The mountain is flanked by two lion figures, an image highly resonant with later Greek images of the goddess Rhea and the numerous depictions of the deity flanked by griffins, two of which are discussed below. She is greeted by a saluting male figure whose body displays the same tense arched-back posture seen in the Amnisos ring and numerous peak sanctuary figurines. The image of the deity on the mountain strongly resonates with the notion that many epiphany rituals took place at peak sanctuary sites. The visual link here between the female deity of the mountains and Classical images of Rhea is striking, and we recall Warren's remarks concerning the continuity of iconography of that goddess from Minoan Crete into Hellenistic times. Her sceptre links her overtly to the young male god in previous scenes and it is tempting to regard their relationship as mother and son, much like Rhea and the infant Zeus whose myth begins in Crete. But we note that while Zeus is an unambiguously Indo-European word, the myth of the infant Zagreus tells a similar story to that of the birth of Zeus, and the name Zagreus is pre-Greek. Such notions provide tantalising echoes of a lost Minoan mytheme. Nilsson's similar favouring of the identification of the female deity in this image as a Minoan forebear of Rhea is reported by Moss, who then notes the similarity of this image with depictions of Anatolia Cybele (with whom Rhea was sometimes conflated), and posits an ancient religious connection between the peoples of Crete and those of Anatolia and Phrygia. She also considers the lack of any evidence for lions living on Crete as a further indication that the symbol came from Anatolia or Asia. Moss also briefly notes the possible origins of Cybele in a Hittite goddess Kubaba, from the early second millennium B.C., and a remarkable figurine of a goddess seated between two lions from Çatal Hüyük which resonates with our present image and further suggests an ancient origin in Anatolia. Given the long history of the presence of baetyls in Crete (Vasiliki, e.g.) and the evidence (from Moss, Warren and elsewhere) that peak sanctuary cults began in the very early Protopalatial period (EM III – MM I) in central Crete, associated with the polity of Knossos, we might speculate that the modification of a native popular epiphany cult towards mountain sites occurred with an influx of Anatolian cultural influences. It is at this point that we can perhaps return to our initial discussion of the interpretation of such 'sacred conversation' scenes as a hieros gamos or sacred marriage, presumably between the female and male deity, both enacted and envisioned, and challenge the above-discussed interpretation of the sceptre as a symbol of authority. It is, of course, perfectly plausible that in this seal impression, the female deity is imparting her authority to the male saluting figure – though note in Minoan iconography, the double axe is the customary symbol of female authority – however it may also be possible to interpret the passing of the sceptre as symbolic of the act of marriage, or indeed a visual depiction of one episode of the marriage ritual. This mixture of ritual and vision would be perfectly in keeping with epiphanic visual conventions. Marinatos and others have interpreted the hieros gamos as a central informing influence on notions of royal authority, that is to say, the members of ruling families took part in the hieros gamos both as a way to gain royal and sacred authority and to continuously confirm it. Thus, the sceptre may have had both meanings above, and we must bear in mind that as images that accompanied trade transactions and personal communications, the epiphany of the 'sacred conversation' was a particularly emphatic signal disclosing intimacy with the sacred. ... " biroz (Bruce Rimell) Roman Hermaphrodite 497 Wild goats having sex on a Minoan seal. Agrimi or wild goats, Middle Minoan II sealstone Minoan men were tanned, lean and "dog-leashed" and either naked or in miniskirts. It's almost certain topless Minoan women were very promiscuous having wild goat sex - like roman women and the goat -legged and phallic Faunus That's what started the Trojan war - The trojan Paris seduced Helen away from her Greek husband. Not sure who the top goat is - same thing for the mechanical cow that was made for the queen of Crete to have sex with a bull --The better reading is the queen of Crete entered the mechanical cow and became the bull - or in other words the queen of Crete was the Minotaur It's not a crazy idea: in the roman case there are many examples above where the fecund spirit of Faunus enters a roman matron giving her a phallus - the female phallus is a roman icon - and was almost certainly a Cretan icon too ... Also this image occurs in an Etruscan tomb, a dark skinned woman is anally penetrating a "dog-leashed" light skinned male just to the left of a sexually aroused bull. I analyzed that as a futa initiation or a futa binding - its an idea that exists independently in Japanese erotica - A Japanese sun goddess binds men by penetrating them and seeding them with futa semen. Also when I was working on those queen of Crete / Minotaur images I had an inner vision of one of my "jinns" with a very large and very aroused bull's phallus. It was more x-rated than that, but now I get the message - the queen of Crete was not entering the mechanical cow to be penetrated - that white mechanical beast is the white bull sent by Poseidon ... Roman Hermaphrodite 498 Minoan Antelope fresco. Room B1, building B in Akrotiri. 1650 and 1500 BC Those are African animals. There are also lions , blue monkeys and Papyrus which are from Africa. Minoan Crete was heavily African. Roman Hermaphrodite 499 Topless woman gathering plants "Adult Saffron-Gatherer", detail from the "Saffron-Gatherers", wall-painting from Thera, Greece, c.1650 B.C. The topless imagery signals sex or erotic power. The plants too. Many Minoan seals feature topless women harvesting some sort of plant that give me the subjective impression of bees gathering nectar for honey - Roman Hermaphrodite 500 Topless Minoan snake Goddess, Ivory and gold 1600–1500 BC Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Suspected to be fake: " ... I start with the suspected Minoan forgeries, which have often been compared to the ROM Goddess. These are discussed in detail by Kenneth Lapatin in Mysteries of the Snake Goddess (2002). It is very hard to certainly prove that any of these are in fact forgeries made in the early 20th century, but they share characteristics which, taken together, suggest that the figurines were not genuine Minoan objects. They all have a vague acquisition story and no known archaeological findspot, although several of them are linked to particular areas of Crete as their stories were retold over the decades after they were acquired. This sort of imprecise archaeological provenience is not in itself particularly surprising, since, if genuine, these pieces were smuggled out of Crete without permission from the authorities. However, many of the figurines have a suspiciously similar collection pattern, travelling through the hands of the same people. They are also similar in aspects of their stylistic and technical details – resembling the archaeologically excavated Minoan artefacts, but different in certain key respects. As I discuss in an earlier post, there is evidence that fake Minoan artefacts were being made and then artificially aged in Crete by the people who worked with Arthur Evans excavating the genuine Minoan remains at Knossos. ... The first of the figurines to appear outside Crete was this chryselephantine (ivory & gold) goddess which was acquired by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1914. There are several versions of the story about how this object travelled from Crete to the US, explained by Lapatin, whose 2002 book concentrated on this figurine. It arrived at the museum as many fragments of ivory and gold in a small tin, which were then restored using wax and plaster to replace the missing right arm and pieces of skirt. The figure had originally been carved from several pieces of ivory joined together – the two arms were separate, as was the lower skirt. The gold decoration on the dress was attached with gold pins, and pins were also used on the breasts as nipples. The crown of the goddess is all that remains of a larger headdress, and the row of holes around the forehead may once have held the pins securing a gold diadem or metal locks of hair. The restored figurine is a Snake Goddess who holds two gold snakes, very similar to two faience figurines excavated by Evans at Knossos in 1903 (see my next post). Evans declared it to be a genuine Minoan goddess and published it in Palace of Minos. However it was questioned by other scholars, and Lapatin’s work has convincingly shown that it was probably a carving of the early 20th century. Lapatin gives many reasons, but the most convincing (to me) are the details of technique. He shows that the surviving ivory arm was joined to the body using dovetail-slot joins, a technique which didn’t appear in Cretan ivories (although it was used for Egyptian objects). He also points out that the carving of the face (which had always intrigued because of its ‘modern’ features) must have happened after the ivory had been aged, since it is complete and centred on the surviving ivory, despite some of the ivory on one side of the face being lost. What Lapatin was not able to do was prove the case scientifically. Radiocarbon dating (C14 testing) of some fragments of ivory that weren’t used in the reconstruction (but which were thought to be part of the figurine) showed that the ivory dated to either AD 1420-1535 or AD 1545-1635. This test can only determine the age of the ivory (when the elephant died) not the date of the carving, but it is still an unexpected result – about 3,000 years too late to be genuine, but more than 300 years too early to be a fake created from fresh ivory following Evans’ Minoan discoveries in the early 1900s. There are several alternatives that could explain this result. Either the fragments did not belong to the figurine after all, or they were contaminated by restoration and conservation treatments. Alternatively, the figurine was made reusing ivory that dated to the Renaissance period, an early 20th century fake carved from older ivory. The Boston goddess is no longer on display, and the online collection information reflects the doubts about the date saying that it is either Minoan (1600-1500 BC), or modern of the early 20th century.. ... " rom - Roman Hermaphrodite 501 "Seal ring with bee-headed women and goddesses (most clearly on the seated woman at right). An ecstatic male dancer approaches a hilltop sanctuary, while a woman dances under a tree shrine (left) and a boatwoman poles through waters at the base of the mountain. Mycenaean." suppressedhistories - Roman Hermaphrodite 502 Young blue-headed girl gathering plants .Probably an Egyptian blue skull cap with a few holes for tufts of hair detail from the "Saffron-Gatherers", wall-painting from Thera, Greece, c.1650 B.C. - Roman Hermaphrodite 503 Unreconstructed "Saffron-Gatherers", wall-painting from Thera, Greece, c.1650 B.C. - Roman Hermaphrodite 504 Topless Minoan women in seated in a temple Reproduction of a fresco painting from Knossos ('The Grandstand Fresco'). Original dated to 1450BC-1375BC; from the Palace of Minos - Roman Hermaphrodite 505 'Minoan' Ivory Goddess - Authenticity questioned. Only example I have found of a Minoan goddess with a penis - or in this case a codpiece like the ones used in bull-jumping I'm fairly certain Crete was the location of the Amazons that the Greeks were fighting - I am also fairly confident that the female phallus originates here and in Egypt - so maybe this is not a fake piece " ... This exquisite ivory and gold figurine (museum registration number 931.21.1) has been an icon of the ROM collection since she was acquired in 1931, but she has also attracted huge controversy. When she was bought by the ROM, she was believed to be a rare example of a female bull-leaper from the Minoan civilisation of Bronze Age Crete, and to date to around 1600 BC. She was an expensive prize for the new museum, much admired by experts, including Sir Arthur Evans, who had himself discovered the remains Minoan civilisation at the beginning of the 20th century and who named her ‘Our Lady of Sports’. However, within less than a decade questions were raised as to her authenticity. With no certain archaeological findspot, and only a vague collection history before she came to the museum, she was condemned by some scholars as a modern forgery, associated with several other `Minoan` figurines made of stone and ivory that appeared on the art market in the early decades of the 20th century. Other scholars defended her on technical grounds, comparing her to Bronze Age ivory fragments recovered from excavations on Crete. For many years her fortunes wavered as scholarly opinion castigated and then rehabilitated her. She remained on display, but was little publicised. Finally, a 2001 article in Archaeology magazine by Dr K. Lapatin, a specialist in chryselephantine antiquities and now Associate Curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum, reached the Canadian press and prompted a reassessment of the display. For the first time the doubts about her authenticity were voiced in the gallery label, and the museum visitor was invited to form their own opinion. In 2005, when the Bronze Age Aegean gallery was re-opened after renovations, she was not included. Throughout the long history and fluctuating fortunes of the goddess, there has been little actual investigative work, and what there was has been directed towards dating her to the Bronze Age. The current investigation seeks to open up the stories of the figurine herself, rather than proving a point. Standard scientific testing of the ivory is still not an option – it would be impossible to take a sample for a Carbon-14 test that hadn’t been contaminated by more recent conservation treatments without destroying the figure. But non-destructive examination of the figure and close study of the techniques of her manufacture may tell us more about how and when she was made. Whenever she dates to, she will enhance our understanding of the culture that created her. If she does come from Bronze Age Crete, she reveals the network of Minoan trading contacts that brought raw materials to Crete, and shows the skill of the ancient craftsmen that fashioned her. If she was made in the early 20th century, she has a story to tell about the craze for Minoan artefacts and Minoan-inspired fashions prompted by Sir Arthur Evans’ discovery of Knossos, and his ‘invention’ of the Minoan culture at the beginning of the century. Indeed, she embodies the way in which the ideas of a single expert, Evans himself, can influence the study and understanding of a period of history. ... " Rom (Royal Ontario Museum) - Roman Hermaphrodite 506 'Minoan' Ivory Goddess - side view - Large codpiece for a large female phallus - That was the true religious center of the Minoan world - the white bull sent by Poseidon and "mounted" by the Queen of the Minoans. This was a religious pattern for Minoan women to experience the bull eros. I suppose Minoan men also experienced bull eros as the objects of bull sexual desire - Roman Hermaphrodite 507 Ivory figurine of a youth ('Boy-God'), Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Either African or "dog-leashed" bull - jumper. Authenticity questioned Focus on the face suggests this is a woman, not a man. This would class this among the famous Roman "women with a penis" - my guess a black African woman ... " ... Little is known about this figurine before Evans published it in 1935. He claimed that it had been found in southern Crete, and had been in a “collection across the Atlantic” (North America), before returning to Britain to become part of his own collection. In 1938 Evans donated the figurine to the Ashmolean Museum. As with the Seattle ‘Boy God’, this figure stands on a wedge-shaped plinth, arms raised, but this ‘God’ wears a gold loin cloth or apron, which hides his carved male genitals. Slight damage to the surface of the legs was restored sometime before 1935. The arms, one now missing, were carved separately and join the body at the biceps (the arms of the other figurines join at the shoulders). The hair is shorter than that of the Seattle figurine, and seems to have a bald patch on top, which Evans believed was a tonsure that was once covered with a gold cap. This hairstyle, not seen elsewhere in Minoan art, suggested to Evans that this youth was older than the Seattle ‘Boy God’ and had dedicated some of his hair as a votive offering when he reached puberty, a tradition that existed later in the Greek world. Lapatin argues that a comparison with the Seattle ‘Boy God’, both the similarities of style and the crucial differences, proves that this Ashmolean god is a forgery made after the Seattle figurine. The Cretan forgers, now aware of a demand for Boy Gods, improved on their earlier attempt (the Seattle God) by making the figurine unequivocally male. Certainly, the style of this figurine is unlike that of the archaeologically excavated Minoan figurines, in any respect – either in dress, stance, expression or style of carving. Radiocarbon tests seem to show that the ivory is several centuries old, which is another unexpected scientific result. The ‘Boy God’ is exhibited in the Ashmolean Museum’s Aegean Bronze Age Gallery in a display called ‘A World of Myths’, which discusses the modern views and interpretation of the Bronze Age Aegean. In this context it is clear that the museum believes this figurine to be a modern creation based on Arthur Evans’ visions of the Bronze Age past. ... " Royal Ontario Museum - Roman Hermaphrodite 508 Lithe Minoan female bull-jumper woman with a large cod-piece Minoan Bronze statuette of a votary c. 1600 B.C. - Metropolitan Museum of Art The Met thinks this may be a forgery: "Close examination of the patina of this figure indicates that it may be a modern forgery." - Roman Hermaphrodite 509 Side-view of the Met's lithe Minoan female bull-jumper woman with a large cod-piece What was in the Minoan microcosm, was also in the Minoan macrocosm - this was probably the central religious icon in Minoan temples. - The large female bull phallus - Roman Hermaphrodite 510 Ancient Roman mosaic in the Louvre depicting an Amazon warrior in combat with a hippeus, 4th century AD; from Daphne, a suburb of Antioch (modern Antakya, Turkey)." From this mosaic we can deduce that the Romans considered Minoans to be Amazons - the double headed axe that the amazon is wielding is an Minoan icon: the Labyrs " ... Plutarch relates that the word labrys was a Lydian word for "axe": The word probably appears in Linear B inscriptions, and it may be Minoan.Many scholars including Evans assert that the word labyrinth is derived from labrys, and thus would imply "house of the double axe". ... However, in Crete the "double axe" is not a weapon and always accompanies women and not a male god. ... It is also possible that the word labyrinth is derived from the Egyptian loperohunt, meaning "palace or temple by the lake". The Egyptian labyrinth near Lake Morris is described by Herodotus and Strabo. The inscription in Linear B, on tablet ΚΝ Gg 702, reads da-pu2-ri-to-jo-po-ti-ni-ja. The conventional reading is ... "mistress of the labyrinth". ... In ancient Crete, the double axe was an important sacred symbol of the supposed Minoan religion. In Crete it never accompanies male gods, only female goddesses. It seems that it was the symbol of the arche of the creation (Mater-arche). ... In the context of the mythical Attic king Theseus, the labyrinth of Greek mythology is frequently associated with the Minoan palace of Knossos. This is based on the reading of Linear B da-pu2-ri-to-jo-po-ti-ni-ja ... ("mistress of the labyrinth"). ... "Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 511 Male idol, terracotta statue from Petsofa (Greece). Minoan Civilization, 21st Century BC. Candia-Iraklion, Arheologikó Moussío (National Archaeological Museum) Shot blocked - used workaround That's not a male, despite the large phallus. It's a female "bull-jumper" . The direct parallel is Mami Wata in the Fon religion of west Africa - Mami Wata is usually depicted with 3 heads and a phallus Also the labrys was a female weapon in Minoan Crete - probably used in human sacrifice - just as in the Fon of Benin. the Greeks were explicit about what happened in the labyrinth - human sacrifice " ...Pasiphaë, wife of King Minos of Crete, had several children. The eldest of these, Androgeos, set sail for Athens to take part in the Panathenaic Games, which were held there every four years. Being strong and skillful, he did very well, winning some events outright. He soon became a crowd favorite, much to the resentment of the Pallantides who assassinated him, incurring the wrath of Minos. When King Minos heard what had befallen his son, he ordered the Cretan fleet to set sail for Athens. Minos asked Aegeus for his son's assassins, and if they were to be handed to him, the town would be spared. However, not knowing who the assassins were, King Aegeus surrendered the whole town to Minos' mercy. His retribution was that, at the end of every Great Year, which occurred after every seven cycles on the solar calendar, the seven most courageous youths and the seven most beautiful maidens were to board a boat and be sent as tribute to Crete, never to be seen again. In another version, King Minos had waged war with the Athenians and was successful. He then demanded that, at nine-year intervals, seven Athenian boys and seven Athenian girls were to be sent to Crete to be devoured by the Minotaur, a half-man, half-bull monster that lived in the Labyrinth created by Daedalus. On the third occasion, Theseus volunteered to talk to the monster to stop this horror. He took the place of one of the youths and set off with a black sail, promising to his father, Aegeus, that if successful he would return with a white sail. Like the others, Theseus was stripped of his weapons when they sailed. On his arrival in Crete, Ariadne, King Minos' daughter, fell in love with Theseus and, on the advice of Daedalus, gave him a ball of thread (a clew), so he could find his way out of the Labyrinth.That night, Ariadne escorted Theseus to the Labyrinth, and Theseus promised that if he returned from the Labyrinth he would take Ariadne with him. As soon as Theseus entered the Labyrinth, he tied one end of the ball of string to the doorpost and brandished his sword which he had kept hidden from the guards inside his tunic. Theseus followed Daedalus' instructions given to Ariadne: go forwards, always down, and never left or right. Theseus came to the heart of the Labyrinth and also upon the sleeping Minotaur. The beast awoke and a tremendous fight then occurred. Theseus overpowered the Minotaur with his strength and stabbed the beast in the throat with his sword (according to one scholium on Pindar's Fifth Nemean Ode, Theseus strangled it). After decapitating the beast, Theseus used the string to escape the Labyrinth and managed to escape with all of the young Athenians and Ariadne as well as her younger sister Phaedra. Then he and the rest of the crew fell asleep on the beach of the island of Naxos, where they stopped on their way back, looking for water. Athena woke Theseus and told him to leave early that morning and to leave Ariadne there for Dionysus, for Naxos was his island. Stricken with distress, Theseus forgot to put up the white sails instead of the black ones, so his father, the king, believing he was dead, committed suicide, throwing himself off a cliff of Sounion and into the sea, thus causing this body of water to be named the Aegean Sea. ... " Wikipedia * - In my reading princess Ariadne was the "Augusta" of Crete. That's the only way she could have gotten Daedalus to spill the secrets of the labyrinth to Theseus. - Roman Hermaphrodite 512 Figurine of an ithyphallic character from the mountain sanctuary at Petsofas. MM II, Hagios Nikolaos Shot blocked - used workaround Probably another female "bull-jumper" with a large female bull phallus - Roman Hermaphrodite 513 Phallus-shaped ladle from Sesklo Shot blocked - used workaround Female "bull-jumper" phallus to me. I saw one of those in action in an inner vision when working on Poseidon's white bull - gift to the Minoans. This Minoan tradition of a large female bull phallus was resumed in imperial Rome - you can see them in Pompeii. Virgil was probably one of the black Minoans " ... In Greek mythology, Pasiphaë "wide-shining" derived from ... pas "all, for all, of all" and ... phaos/phos "light"was a queen of Crete. ... After a curse from Poseidon, Pasiphae experienced lust for and mated with a white bull sent by Poseidon. Mythological scholars and authors Ruck and Staples remarked that "the Bull was the old pre-Olympian Poseidon". ... In the Greek literalistic understanding of a Minoan myth,in order to actually copulate with the bull, she had the Athenian artificer Daedalus construct a portable wooden cow with a cowhide covering, within which she was able to satisfy her strong desire. ... Pasiphaë appeared in Virgil's Eclogue VI (45–60), in Silenus' list of suitable mythological subjects, on which Virgil lingers in such detail that he gives the sixteen-line episode the weight of a brief inset myth. In Ovid's Ars Amatoria Pasiphaë is framed in zoophilic terms: Pasiphae fieri gaudebat adultera tauri—"Pasiphaë took pleasure in becoming an adulteress with a bull." ... In other aspects, Pasiphaë, like her niece Medea, was a mistress of magical herbal arts in the Greek imagination. The author of Bibliotheke (3.197–198) records the fidelity charm she placed upon Minos, who would ejaculate serpents, scorpions, and centipedes killing any unlawful concubine; but Procris, with a protective herb, lay with Minos with impunity. ... " Wikipedia The "mistress of the Labyrinth" was the queen of Crete who was promiscuous and had a strong sexual drive, but required her husband to be faithful to her - through the "sacral knot"... That was the upper class Roman world ... Upper class Roman men were "honey-pots". By contrast, in Minoan Crete all men were tanned and athletic "honey-pots" due to life long use of the "sacral knot". That knot seems to have been attached at a very young age in Crete - Roman Hermaphrodite 514 Minoan Lyra player with dancers Shot blocked - used workaround Clearly the lyre was not a male-only instrument in ancient Crete . To me these dances were preludes to female initiated Minoan sexual activity. - Roman Hermaphrodite 515 Minoan clay model ritual dance from Knossos Shot blocked - used workaround Nude female Minoan dancing - prelude to a Minoan orgy - Roman Hermaphrodite 516 "Bronze male figure c. 1400–1200 B.C. or later Minoan Statuette of a male figure with long hair. On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 151" Shot blocked - used workaround Only that's not a male - just because of a large phallus ... It's female Minoan "bull-jumper" The labyrinth imagery from Daedalus was maybe a way for Minoan women to tap into the white bull energy - downwards and never to the left or the right - until you hit the sweet spot Minoan men did not need help activating their sexual energy - all they needed was to remove the sacral knot ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 517 Crete. Bronze figure of worshipper at salute. Found at Tylissos Muscle-bound bull-leaper with erect nipples and a large codpiece. That's a female to me. The male Minoan is always depicted with a very small penis - like Greeks and Romans - thats the "dog-leash" - only low class men walked around with a loose penis - Roman Hermaphrodite 518 Minoan bronze male Votary . Late Minoan c. 1400-1100 BC - Christie's Erect nipples, large codpiece and ritual salute. Female "bull-leaper" to me - Roman Hermaphrodite 519 Lithe bull-leaper in ritual salute with a codpiece - Roman Hermaphrodite 520 Gold Mycenaean seal ring. 2nd half of the 15th century BC. National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Lithe bull-leaper in ritual flight over a bull - thats the sun-disc over the horns of a bull - the symbol of a phallic Isis - Roman Hermaphrodite 521 4 bull-jumping scenes - Roman Hermaphrodite 522 Minoan frescoes from Tell el-Daba - 18th dynasty Egypt " ... The Minoan wall paintings at Tell El-Dab'a are of particular interest to Egyptologists and archaeologists. They are of Minoan style, content, and technology, but there is uncertainty over the ethnic identity of the artists. The paintings depict images of bull-leaping, bull-grappling, griffins, and hunts. They were discovered by a team of archaeologists led by Manfred Bietak, in the palace district of the Thutmosid period at Tell el-Dab'a. The frescoes date to the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, most likely during the reigns of either the pharaohs Hatshepsut or Thutmose III, after being previously considered to belong to the late Second Intermediate Period. The paintings indicate an involvement of Egypt in international relations and cultural exchanges with the eastern Mediterranean either through marriage or exchange of gifts. ... The frescoes were found in the precinct of the Thutmosid palace at Tell el-Dab'a in thousands of fragments on lime plaster. The paintings have been partially reconstructed to reveal bull-leaping and bull-grappling scenes, some against a maze pattern, and felines chasing ungulates. There are also hunting scenes, life sized figures, men with staffs, and a white female wearing a skirt, as well as griffins. The paintings can date to the early phase of the palaces. One group of paintings was found fallen off the wall of a doorway, and the other group of fragments was found in dumps deposited by the north-east palace. They seem to have been applied to the walls during the early part of Thutmose III's reign, and removed during the later Thutmosid period.There is a long frieze of bull-leaping and bull-grappling against a maze pattern. Especially important are the emblems of the Minoan palace such as the half rosette frieze and the presence of big griffins which are the same size as the ones in the throne room at Knossos on Crete, and the technique of the paintings are typically Aegean. The paintings are made with a basic coating of two or three layers of lime plaster, the surface is polished with a stone float, and then the paintings are made with a combination of fresco and stucco. The style of painting is very high quality, and compares with some of the best paintings from Crete. ... The question of why these paintings appear in the Thutmosid palaces is a perplexing question for archaeologists and Egyptologists. According to Bietak, the use of specific Minoan royal motifs in a palace in Tell el-Dab'a indicates "an encounter on the highest level must have taken place between the courts of Knossos and Egypt." Manfred Bietak offers us one hypothesis. He points to the presence of Minoan royal emblems, the full scale griffins, and the large representation of the female in the skirt might suggest a political marriage between Thutmose III and a Minoan princess. The paintings are unique. They are one of a kind, and they compare with artwork from Knossos. Nanno Marinatos has made the case that the rosette motif, which is a prominent feature of the Taureador paintings, reproduces the Knossian rosettes and that it is a distinct Minoan symbol. In regards to Egypt, the paintings reveal an international era of cultural interaction between Egypt and the eastern Mediterranean. They also point to Tell el-Dab'a as a place where these cultural exchanges took place, meaning the city was incredibly important to Egypt. Marinatos has additionally argued that the Tell el Dab'a paintings are evidence of a koine, a visual language of common symbols, which testifies to interactions among the rulers of neighboring powers. The marriage of a Minoan princess to an Egyptian pharaoh may be one possible scenario but there are other ones. Minoan Knossian authority was involved in Egyptian affairs possibly because Crete had a strong naval force to offer the pharaoh. ... " Wikipedia * - The myth is Memnon was the nephew of a Trojan King - King Priam. There was probably an Minoan queen of Egypt around this time - maybe the mother of Memnon/Amenhotep III. Her name was Mutemwiya: "Mutemwiya was a minor wife of the Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Thutmose IV, and the mother of Pharaoh Amenhotep III. Mutemwiya's name means "Mut in the divine bark". Mutemwiya is not attested during the reign of her husband Thutmose IV. She would have been overshadowed at court by the chief queens Nefertari, and later Laret. Mutemwiya is only shown on the monuments of her son Amenhotep III. While she occasionally was identified by some researchers as a daughter of King Artatama I of Mitanni, no evidence proves that she is the same person, and nothing about her own background is known. There seemed to be evidence that she was not a daughter of Artatama, but this theory has been discarded. Cyril Aldred has suggested that Mutemwiya be a sister of Yuya. He argues that since Mutemwiya was present during the early years of her son's reign, she might have engineered the marriage between Tiye and the young king to connect her family with royalty. However, this theory is poorly supported by texts or archaeological finds. Mutemwiya held many titles including God’s Wife (Hm.t-nTr), Lady of The Two Lands (nb.t-tAwy), Great King’s Wife, his beloved (Hm.t-nsw-wr.t mry.t=f), noblewoman, countess (r.t-pa.t), Great of Praises (wr.t-Hsw.t), Sweet of Love (bnr.t-mrw.t), Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (Hnw.t-rsy-mHw), and God's Mother (mwt-nTr). The titles king's mother and god's mother amount to the same thing since the god in question was the reigning king, Amenhotep III. All of these titles, including that of Great Royal Wife, were used only after her husband's death, during her son's reign. At the time of Amenhotep III’s accession to the throne she gained prominence as the new pharaoh's mother. Mutemwiya is shown in the Luxor temple, in scenes depicting the divine birth of her son Amenhotep III. The scenes resemble (and in some cases copy) scenes of the divine birth of Hatshepsut in Deir el-Bahari. Hatshepsut had used the birth story to reinforce her claims to the throne. Amenhotep was the son of a ruling Pharaoh and it seems that the birth scene is used to stress the semi-divine nature of Amenhotep III. In a key scene Mutemwiya is shown seated on a bed receiving the god Amun who had taken the form of her husband Thutmosis IV. They are in the presence of the goddesses Selket and Neith. The scenes show Amenhotep III to be the result of the union of his mother with the god Amun himself. A pregnant queen Mutemwiya as later shown being led to the birthing room by Isis and Khnum Along with her daughter-in-law, Tiye, she also is shown on the Colossi of Memnon erected by Amenhotep III. ... " Wikipedia * As mother of the king - or mother of god, Mutemwiya became the Egyptian Augusta, the living Isis - hence the Minoan artifacts. The Greek victory over Troy was also a victory over Memnon's Egypt and is the reason Minoan artifacts in Egypt are rare. But Memnon/Amenhotep III was a great builder so there must be Minoan discoveries in Egypt still to be found. Probably the most intriguing being the mythical Egyptian labyrinth - which was reputed to be larger and more impressive than the pyramids at Giza. - Although, the history books say Greek pharaohs dismantled the labyrinth and used its material for their own monuments. - Roman Hermaphrodite 523 Bronze Male Votary - Minoan 1400-1100 B.C. - George Ortiz Collection To me that's a female "bull-jumper" with a large codpiece symbolizing a large bull phallus and saluting a topless mountain goddess as can be seen in the seal on plate 496. These were still being made after the collapse of Knossos and are usually found in cave sanctuaries. - Roman Hermaphrodite 524 Bronze Minoan salute from topless goddess in long skirt Minoan figurine praying - Berlin Roman Hermaphrodite 525 Bronze Male Votary - Minoan c. 1600-1500 B.C. - George Ortiz Collection To me thats a female with a large codpiece giving the Minoan salute - My guess is like the Cybele /Attis cult, the bull was sacrificed with the focus on it's sexual vitality That's what Poseidon had requested and had not happened - the sacrifice of the snow-white bull. We know something about the male members of the Cybele cult - the self castrating followers of Attis - but the female members still remain in the shadows - they were probably descended from the Knossos Amazons - This is almost certainly the source of the popular roman woman with a penis. The Greeks usually get credit for the female phallus - but the source was almost certainly Knossos and ancient Egypt. Roman Hermaphrodite 526 Ancient Minoan fresco from Knossos, Crete My guess is that's a female "bull-jumper" with a green cod-piece. While this is usually labeled a prince - the white skin tone almost certainly means female - compare with the funeral procession below - white females and all dark skinned "dog-leashed" males ... Roman Hermaphrodite 527 The Hagia Triada sarcophagus " ... The Hagia Triada sarcophagus is a late Bronze Age 137 cm (54 in)-long limestone sarcophagus. It was originally dated to 1400 BC and was rediscovered in Hagia Triada on Crete in 1903. It provides probably the most comprehensive iconography of a pre-Homeric thysiastikis ceremony and one of the best pieces of information on noble burial customs when Crete was under Mycenaean rule, combining features of Minoan and Mycenaean style and subject matter. The sarcophagus is on display in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Coated in plaster and painted in fresco, it has posed an art historical conundrum ever since its rediscovery, since the Minoans (unlike the ancient Egyptians) otherwise only used frescoes for the enjoyment of the living and not in funerary practice.It is the only limestone sarcophagus of its era discovered to date and the only sarcophagus with a series of narrative scenes of Minoan funerary ritual (later sarcophagi found in the Aegean were decorated with abstract designs and patterns). It was originally used for the burial of a prince. The painted frieze around the sarcophagus shows all the stages of the sacred ceremony which was performed at the burial of important personages. In the centre of one of the long sides of the sarcophagus is a scene with bull sacrifice. On the left of the second long side a woman wearing a crown is carrying two vessels. By her side a man dressed in a long robe is playing a seven string lyre. This is the earliest picture of the lyre known in classical Greece. In front of them another woman is emptying the contents of a vessel-perhaps the blood of the sacrificed bull-into a second vessel, possibly as an invocation to the soul of the deceased. (This scene brings to mind a description in Homer, where the dead needed blood.) On the right three men holding animals and a boat are approaching a male figure without arms and legs and presumably he represents the dead man receiving gifts (the boat for his journey to the next world). It is possible that they believed that the dead were living in a different state and he could probably reappear. Recent 20th century excavations on the same site have allowed the sarcophagus's dating to be tightened up to 1370-1320 BC, which coincides with the end of the 18th Dynasty in Egypt, a period of extensive contact between Crete and Egypt, thus allowing the sarcophagus's technical and artistic elements to be related to similar decorative techniques in Egyptian temples and tombs. Some miniature sculpture found in other places of Crete (Kamilari, Archanes) during this period are connected with the worship of the dead and there are traces of a true funereal Egyptian cult at the same period. Funereal cults were not common in Crete, but they were practiced in certain instances: at the tombs of dead kings, or possibly of higher officials and kings. The sacrifice scene may in part be interpreted by the following criteria from classical and archaic Greece used in worshiping two sets of deities, the ouranioi, deities of the heavens, and the chthonioi, earth deities: position of the hands of the worshipers, level of the altar and color of the deity. The position of the hands of the participants is hands down, palms down indicating the deity invoked is a chthonic deity who is the deity in epiphany as a black bird on the betyl behind the low altar, the altar for the chthonioi, who has black color, the color of the chthonioi. The position of the throat of sacrificial animal, the bull, is down indicating the sacrifice is for the chthonioi or chthonic deity. The high altar is reserved for the ouranioi, deities of the heavens. Above the low altar, chthonic altar, are two objects, a jug of water and a basket of fruits of the earth (standard Egyptian icon). The jug of water is for purification of the sacrifice participants who wash their hands before sacrificing the bull. In Classical Greece the offering of fruits of the earth was made to a chthonic deity just as on the Hagia Triada Sarcophagus. On the high altar, altar for the ouranioi, are the horns of consecration and a tree with seven branches. Most often, but not always, the horns of consecration are found in high places in Minoan religious art indicating they related to the ouranioi. The tree, with seven branches, may be a tree representing regeneration and the seven branches is an Egyptian number signifying completeness. There are seven participants in the sacrifice scene with hands down palms down possibly indicating a forceful prayer or invocation of the chthonic deity behind the low altar in epiphany. Also, the sacrifice scene has three other elements common in sacrifices in Classical Greece, the presence of a pipe player, incense in the hand of one of the four rear participants and the jug of water for purification. The time of day of the sacrifice is night because chthonic rituals took place during the night, ouranic rituals took place during the day. The action of both the sacrifice scene and the libation scene moves from left to right. In Egyptian religion, the left was the side of death and right was the side of life. The libation scene has seven participants giving force to the offering. The two birds in gold color on betyls sit on double axes and are the highest objects in the scene indicating they are deities in epiphany. The blood in the sacrifice scene is transformed into water because it quenches lips of the "thirsty dead" as mentioned in the Pylos Linear B tablets. The dead man (lowest object) receives the "water" as nourishment because the dead did not feed on solid food, but rather on liquids. Therefore, the calves are symbolic food for dead. The stairs in front of the dead man's tomb, an Egyptian concept, allows the spirit of the dead man to ascend into the realm of the living. The tree on a sarcophagus in ancient Egypt represented resurrection or regeneration. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 528 The Hagia Triada sarcophagus: the bull sacrifice scene - Roman Hermaphrodite 529 Minoan Bull-leaper at the British Museum. 1600-1450 BC. You can see the cod-piece - that's a female bull-jumper: greco-roman men kept their penis tightly wrapped up. The cod-piece is a symbolic transfer of sexual power from the bull phallus to the female bull jumper ... My intuition is that the bull-leaping was inseparable from the white -bull sent by Poseidon and the cause of Minoan female sexual potency following the example of queen Pasiphaë The sarcophagus above tells us who wore the crown on Minoan culture - it was the women - it was also probably the women doing the actual sacrificing of victims in the mythical labyrinth. The bull's testicles on later statues of Artemis probably directly descend from the Minoan bull-leaping tradition. " ... The Minoan bull leaper is a bronze group of a bull and leaper in the British Museum. It is the only known largely complete three-dimensional sculpture depicting Minoan bull-leaping. Although bull leaping certainly took place in Crete at this time, the leap depicted is practically impossible and it has therefore been speculated that the sculpture may be an exaggerated depiction. This speculation has been backed up by the testaments of modern-day bull leapers from France and Spain. ... Arthur Evans, the excavator of Knossos, first published this object in the Journal of Hellenic Studies. Evans dated the bull-leaper to the Late Minoan I period, so that this object dates to approximately 1600 BC. It was acquired by the British Museum in 1966 as part of the collection of Captain Edward George Spencer-Churchill.... He acquired it in Crete in 1921. The object was widely known before its acquisition and display in the Museum. It was illustrated in several general books and exhibited at the British Academy in 1936. ... Bull leaping and bulls in general are believed to have been an important part of Minoan culture; excavations at Knossos have revealed several frescoes depicting bull-leaping. It has been suggested bulls may have had some religious significance to them for example the large, exaggerated size of the bull compared to the human leaper may give an idea of the Minoans' reverence for the power of the animals. This object has been central to discussions of bull-leaping, since Arthur Evans used it as the basis for his reconstruction of the mechanics of the leap: the leaper grabs the bull's horns, executes a back flip onto the bull's back and then dismounts. As John Younger has pointed out, although this reconstruction has become part of bull-leaping in the popular imagination, comparatively few Minoan depictions show exactly this schema. The majority show the leaper diving over the bull's horns onto the back. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 530 Center scene from the Bull-Leaping Fresco from the Great Palace at Knossos, Crete. That's probably a black woman bull-leaper. Minoans had a large African population - my guess is from Libya and Egypt. Probably more from ancient Libya. - Roman Hermaphrodite 531 Minoan Harvester Vase. Steatite ( soapstone ) libation vase (rhyton) with a relief scene of a procession of men led by a man holding a staff – an official or priest. They hold harvesting tools and sing to the accompaniment of the sistrum. New-Palace period 1500-1450 BC Minoan harvest scene - workers are singing during harvest. The assumption is they are men, but I think those are women - those are the famous large codpieces -erect!- and at the left is a sistrum - usually associated with Egyptian women. Greco-roman men did not walk around with erect phalli I suppose the sacrificed bulls and their potent sexual organs were the harvest - the bull-leapers them became symbolic "men" or Amazons - Black is the color of the chthonic gods in Egypt - that's where the sexual power resides - in the underworld, or the labyrinth ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 532 “Unrolled” image of the Harvester Vase relief, to show detail of procession. c. 1500 BCE (Minoan) from Hagia Triada. Steatite. - Albertis " ... Last week I introduced my ancient art students to the Harvester Vase, and some aspects of our discussion have caused me to do some further research on this vessel. This is a Minoan work of art which comes from Hagia Triada; it is thought to perhaps represent harvesters or sowers in some type of religious procession. Even though only fragments of the original vase remain, it is likely that the Harvester Vase had a hole at the bottom (in addition to the wider “filler” opening at the top), so that liquid could “flow through [it] like a funnel.” This small hole at the bottom could be covered by the hand of whoever was carrying the vessel during a ritual or procession, and then the hand easily could be moved away to dispense the liquid libation or offering. Only the upper portion of the vase (and part of the lid) are original pieces; they have been mounted together to give a semblance of the original body of the vase. This appearance has been determined by comparing the steatite fragments to other similarly-shaped Minoan vases .... Sir Arthur Evans suggested that the relief on this vase may have been covered with gold leaf.3 No gold traces of gold have been found on the Harvester Vase, but other Minoan vases have been discovered since with traces of gold leaf. ... This vase is quite small, being only 4.5″ (11.3 cm) in diameter. However, there are so many details to notice in this small space, which make the artistry and craftsmanship all the move impressive to me. Recently I’ve found a few things that I haven’t noticed before. One thing that I realized is that many of the participants have one fist raised to their chests, which is a gesture that has been connected with ritual ... Barry P. C. Molloy also points out that this gesture is found in figurines of boxers that are located on Minoan peak sanctuaries, and could be associated with physical combat and warriors. Given the context that the Harvester Vase is also a rhyton (used for libations and religious ceremonies), the association of the clenched fist with ritual makes more sense to me. Another thing that I noticed recently was the clothing and the hair styles of the figures. Most of them are bald, wearing a cap or headband, and are bare-chested (sometimes exhibiting a keen attention to musculature and anatomy on part of the sculptor). However, the three figures who are singing (behind the man who is playing the sistrum) are wearing long robes, unlike the rest of the bare-chested marchers. Of course, these men still seem less significant than the large priest-like figure who seemingly marches in front of the procession, who has long hair and wears an elaborate tasseled garment. ... John Forsdykh argues that the one exception to the solemn procession is a man who has turned backwards to shout at a man who is stooping or stumbling. Forsdyke explains, “That man is usually said to be one of the harvesters who is fallen down in his drunkenness; but he has no forked implement and there is no reason to suppose that he is drunk.” Forsdyke, however provides no explanation for why the man is stooping. I’m not entirely convinced of the shouting exchange between the turned man and the stooping man either, since they are directly placed over the same vertical axis and there isn’t even a suggestion of eye contact between the two figures. Could the turned man be shouting orders or directions to the solemn, closed-mouth harvesters who stand directly next to him instead? Perhaps we would get a better suggestion of what was happening in this vignette if we were able to see the whole vase. Maybe we would also get a better indication of why one of the men is either stooping or stumbling – did something on the ground trip him? Other people have also considered how our understanding of this vase is limited due to its incomplete state, too. For example, tn the early 20th century, a father and son artistic team (Emile Gilliéron Sr. and Emile Gilliéron Jr.) set out to to create an object which imagined the original appearance of the Harvester Vase. The Gilliérons specialized in creating reconstructions of antiquities for sale and were able to profit over the cultural interest in Minoan art following Sir Arthur Evans’ excavations. Unfortunately, though, I can only find one image of this Gilliéron vase and it doesn’t include the scene with the stooping man, so I don’t know how they interpreted this vignette in the overall scene. I like this image of the Gilliéron restoration, though, because I like being prompted to think about the legs of the figures who would have been energetically marching in the procession. I’m even reminded how some of the curves and angles are made for practical purposes (such as how the tilt of the priest’s kilt is likely due to a raised leg in motion). It is common today to discuss how the Harvester Vase depicts a sense of dynamic energy and movement, but it’s easy to forget that the sense of movement that is only a portion of what would have been seen on the intact vase in antiquity! ... " Alberti's Window - Roman Hermaphrodite 533 The Minoan Chieftain's Cup, Steatite conical cup with processional scene, Haghia Triada, c. 1550-1450 B.C. Those look like 2 women or Amazons to me - with codpieces. - Roman Hermaphrodite 534 The Minoan Pylos Combat Agate c.1450 BC Looks to me like a woman or Amazon killing a soldier in combat. She's wearing the classic Minoan bull-jumper codpiece and is topless with small breasts visible and long hair. But she's considered male by most authorities. " ... The Pylos Combat Agate is an Ancient Greek sealstone of the Mycenaean era, likely manufactured in Late Minoan Crete. It depicts two warriors engaged in hand-to-hand combat. It was discovered in the Griffin Warrior Tomb near the Palace of Nestor in Pylos and is dated to about 1450 BCE. The seal has come to be known as Pylos Combat Agate. The seal is noted for its exceptionally fine and elaborate engraving, and considered "the single best work of glyptic art ever recovered from the Aegean Bronze Age" the quality of the work anticipates later developments as far ahead as the Classical era of a millennium later. ... The seal portrays a warrior who, having already defeated one opponent sprawled at his feet, is plunging his sword into the exposed neck of another foe with a "figure-of-eight" shield, while at the same time grabbing the crest of the man's helmet. The scene strikingly resembles that of the gold cushion seal from Shaft Grave III in Grave Circle A in Mycenae (and is similar to other Late Bronze Age signets or seals, such as the "Battle of the Glen" gold signet from the Shaft Grave IV at Mycenae). It is believed that both objects were modeled after a well-known prototype, perhaps a wall painting, as it had already been suggested for other Early Mycenaean works of glyptic art; this view is partly shared by the discoverers, who otherwise see an intentional parallel between the winning hero in the sealstone and the person who was buried with it, also in view of the correspondence between his arms and ornaments (e.g., a necklace and a sealstone) and objects that are also found in the grave, close to the body. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 535 Minoan bull-jumper. Looks female to me. The bull phallus is prominent and will probably be harvested by the jumper. - Roman Hermaphrodite 536 Graphic from Boxer Vase - Hagia Triadia, c. 1600 B. C. - Candia Museum. Scenes from boxing practice in helmets and codpieces and and bull-jumping on lower level. All topless and probably all female. My impression is Minoan men did not take part in combat - like the topless temple scenes , fighting was all female. Men were probably exclusively for sex - holy and dog-leashed honey pots for the aggressive Minoan amazons. There were male troops in Minoan Crete, but they were probably foreign mercenaries and as shown above they had a different uniform - they were wore miniskirts, not codpieces ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 537 The original scene above Relief from a Minoan Rhyton - Steatite, Hagia Triada, c. 1700 B.C. - Alamy - Roman Hermaphrodite 538 Topless women with swords in codpieces "Some medium size early Minoan swords are also represented on a cup dated around 1700-1550 BC." salimbeti What caught my eye here was the women on the right in the dresses - one of those dresses is the leader of the harvest vase scene above.- plates 531 & 532 "A Bronze Age Minoan cup, c. 1530-1750 B.C. The drawing depicts a treaty ceremony involving soldiers and farmers. The soldiers are holding swords and wearing plumed hats, while the two farmers off to the right are carrying staffs and wearing bulkier clothing. Image: University of Illinois at Chicago" pinterest - maybe those are men in dresses; women fight, men farm and fish and raise children and have sex - a female dragons fantasy world ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 539 "A Bronze Age Minoan cup, c. 1530-1750 B.C. The drawing depicts a treaty ceremony involving soldiers and farmers. The soldiers are holding swords and wearing plumed hats, while the two farmers off to the right are carrying staffs and wearing bulkier clothing. Image: University of Illinois at Chicago" pinterest - Roman Hermaphrodite 540 Topless female Minoan boxer in a codpiece knocking out an opponent - although the official reading is that is a man. Fighting men in the Greek isles are almost always bearded. The codpiece is symbolic. The romans went ahead and removed it and attached a real penis ... The Boxer rhyton Late Bronze Age, 1550 - 1500 BC "This fragmentary rhyton from the Agia Triada mansion is a true masterpiece of Neopalatial stone carving. It has one handle and the rim is decorated with engraved lines. The entire surface bears relief scenes separated into four zones. The upper and two lower zones depict boxing and wrestling matches of men wearing helmets, while the middle zone carries a scene of bull-leaping. The muscular athletes, dressed only in a loin-cloth, gloves and tall boots, are depicted in different stages of the events. Their anatomy, the tension in their faces and bodies and their physical strength, are rendered with great detail and verve and make up a composition of remarkable liveliness. It is worth noting on the first and third zones the small columns with banners which adorned the facades of Minoan sanctuaries, since they not only indicate the location where the games took place, but also the connection between athletic events and religion." The permanent exhibition of the Heraklion Archaeological Museum - Roman Hermaphrodite 541 2 Minoan girls boxing. Officially this is 2 boys boxing - but there is not a penis in sight. Note the blue Egyptian skull caps and the shaved heads with a few tufts of hair. A class of Minoan women were raised to fight. And it was not purely for show - the Greeks have an entire genre of statuary memorializing their struggle with the Amazons. My guess is Minoan Cretan armies that dominated Athens and other Greek cities were commanded by amazons and staffed by men - mostly foreign mercenaries. - Roman Hermaphrodite 542 Topless female Minoan boxer in a codpiece knocking out an opponent - Roman Hermaphrodite 543 Probably Minoan command structure - topless white goddess with a staff next to a white woman in a robe with a large sword and in between them two naked men - one black and one brown. The brown naked man is probably a tanned "dog-leashed" Minoan. The black naked man is from Egypt. Below them is a white woman next to a Griffin . It's an easy deduction that Egypt at this time - 18th dynasty, was also under rigid female domination - the ruler was always the queen, not the Pharaoh - and in the absence of a queen, the senior princess - pharaohs were outranked by their daughters. In the world of the curbed penis or the Isis knot, the female always dominates.... But why and how? It's the eros of the "dog-leash" - In Galen's Rome it was not unheard of men to die of pleasure from unregulated sex - after a lifetime on the leash, thats how drug-like the nectar of Eros became ... Minoan marriage was probably based on the Queen Pasiphaë/king Minos model - or Cybele/Attis model. ie Polyandrous for the females and monogamous for the males. - Which was the later Roman model. Roman women were possessive of their honey pots - if a male wanted to have multiple sex partners he was better off single - then the wide world of Cybele orgies and organized male prostitution was open to him. - Roman Hermaphrodite 544 Minoan bull-slaughter scene. 2 lithe female black bull-jumpers are in the process of harvesting a virile bull. They are probably Egyptians - that's how they earn their cod-piece and commanding bull-phallus - by sacrificing a bull to the chthonic - or black earth gods - modern day Voodoo in Haiti and Brazil is exactly the same ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 545 Golden cup with an athletic female Minoan bull-jumper in a large codpiece, binding the back legs of a well-endowned bull in preparation for bull phallus and testicle harvesting. Behind her are 2 other bulls watching her " ... Vaphio is an ancient site in Laconia, Greece, on the right bank of the Eurotas, some five miles south of Sparta. It is famous for its tholos or "beehive" tomb, excavated in 1889 by Christos Tsountas. This consists of a walled approach, about 97 feet long, leading to a vaulted chamber some 33 feet in diameter, in the floor of which the actual grave was cut. The objects found here and transferred to the National Archaeological Museum of Athens include a large number of gems and amethyst beads, together with articles in gold, silver, bronze, iron, lead, amber and crystal. Many of the seals and rings found in the tholos have such strong affinities in style and subject matter with contemporary Cretan glyptic art that J.T. Hooker found it impossible to determine whether or not they were locally made or imported from Crete. By far the finest of the grave goods are a pair of golden cups decorated with scenes in relief, picturing the netting of wild bulls on one and their domestication (perhaps for the bull-leaping activities practised in Crete) on the other. The so-called "Violent Cup" showing netting of bulls, bears a remarkable resemblance to the description of the beginning of the ritual of consecration for the laws of Atlantis described in Plato's dialogue, Critias. These form perhaps the most perfect works of Mycenaean-Minoan art which have survived. Of them Sir Kenneth Clark observed that even on such evolved works "the men are insignificant compared to the stupendous bulls". It seems likely that these Vaphio cups do not represent a local art but were imported from Crete, which at that early period was far ahead of mainland Greece in artistic development. As further support for the connection to Crete, C. Michael Hogan notes that a charging bull painting is evocative of an image extant at the Palace of Knossos on Crete. However, Ellen Davis has strongly suggested that at least one of the cups was produced in Mainland Greece. Davis illustrates both the compositional and stylistic differences between the cups, demonstrating that one appears to be Minoan and the other Mycenaean. The tomb, which probably belonged to the territory of Amyclae rather than to Pharis, as is commonly stated, is now almost entirely destroyed. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 546 Reconstructed Minoan Fresco from Tell El-Dab'a, now in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Crete Egyptian female bull-jumper - from 18th dynasty Minoan fresco - that's probably the cause of the shift from Amun worship to Aten or sun worship during Akhenaten's reign - - Akhenaten was a phallic Egyptian princess turned pharaoh. The successful bull -jumping cult activated the inner sun - or Aten. Akhenaten was Memnon's daughter, but also the daughter of a Minoan princess - Which explains the confused racial signature of 18th dynasty Egypt. It was both European and African ... Akhenaten was simply doing what her Minoan side did - female domination - in the Minoan world, the men were focused on the home and more importantly the phallus - like Legba in west Africa ... But that's a holy function, so Minoan men were probably sacred cows ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 547 Pasiphaë or Ariadne coin from Crete 330 BC, Swastika labyrinth on the other side - the "mistress of the labyrinth" Crete, Knossos AR Stater. c 330–300 BC. Female head (Ariadne or Pasiphae?) left, hair rolled, in pendant earring / Labyrinth in form of swastika, four crescents between arms, five pellets in center. Cf. Svoronos 40, pl. v, 16 & 20, pl. v, 3". wildwinds The conquering Greeks did what barbarians usually do when they conquer a more civilized race - they began to emulate them ... The hermaphrodite tradition and aggressive female sexuality came back in Greece and bloomed in Imperial Rome - Roman Hermaphrodite 548 A faïence plaque of a wild goat from the Snake Goddess sanctuary at Knossos, c. 1700 BC Wild goat suckling a baby goat. From Knossos snake temple. That's probably a coded sexual image. The unleashed Minoan gray-beard sexually servicing a young Minoan female buck ... kind of like the harvester vase above. The young female soldiers and the older male farmers Ancient images of the queen of Sheba give her a goat -foot - which is probably code for a female phallus - Roman Hermaphrodite 549 Combat scene in gold cushion seal from Grave III of Grave Circle A in Mycenae . Similar to Pylos Combat Agate. A lithe topless Amazon, with a large codpiece decapitating a male soldier. The techniques used to dispatch bulls were also deployed on men ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 550 A lithe topless Amazon plunging a sword into a lion Officially this is a gold seal representing a man fighting with a lion - but based on Minoan male soldiers attire - this is a woman - that's bull jumper attire. - Roman Hermaphrodite 551 Female with a bulging codpiece under dress giving a Minoan salute. Officially, this is a man. "Clay figurine of a man with powerful thighs and a zoma. Neopalatial period (1600-1500 BC)." The images of male nude Minoans are always very small penis - the dog-leash, only. Minoan men did not walk around with large erections. - Roman Hermaphrodite 552 Bull-jumper goddess with a staff standing on top a Minoan city. Decapitated head of a bull floating behind her. - that's where the female bull phallus energy comes from - the bull sent by Poseidon ... Most readings are this is a man though: " ... Poseidon-Poteidan commanding the sea from a coastal temple or town The clay sealing from Kydonia ... showing a god dominating a sea-shore temple or city may also combine two or more aspects of Poteidan. There is the human form of the god, shown as the epitome of young Minoan manhood, and there is, floating in the sky behind him, what seems to be the head of a bull. In the foreground, sea waves break at the temple-or city-gates. G. Kopcke (Tzedakis and Hallager 1987) has gone so far as to suggest that the curious high ‘ rock’ formation in the centre of the picture may actually represent the tsunami or tidal wave generated by the great Thera eruption of 1470 bc. If so, the iconographic link with Poteidan, lord of earthquakes and tsunamis, is strengthened. The equally odd banner which the god is holding may also contain a symbolic reference to the god’s domain; the large terminal shape appears to be a stylized fish. The Bull God was the Sun God, and he was also the Earth-shaker. In the tablets he was called Poteidan, sometimes King Poseidon, Lord of the Earth. He could appear in several different forms and have several identities, and it seems that other deities had the same ability. .... " erenow THE MINOAN BELIEF-SYSTEM - Roman Hermaphrodite 553 Cretan snake goddess - Alamy " ... The ‘Magna Mater’ goddess is named ‘Potnia’, ‘The Lady’, in the archive tablets, and she had shrines or sanctuaries in many places. She was worshipped, in the later part of the Minoan period at least, on the mainland as well, so perhaps cult practices and deities were among the Minoans’ exports. At Knossos, there are dedications of offerings to ‘The Lady of the Labyrinth’: ‘Potnia’ occurs repeatedly as the main goddess’s name; later on, in the classical period, the term was used as a respectful, honorific title in addressing women of rank, but it originated as the proper name of the principal Minoan goddess. In her aspect as a domestic goddess, guardian of households and cities, Potnia survived, transformed, in Athena, Rhea and Hera. In fact, there is even one occurrence at Knossos of the name Potnia in conjunction with the epithet ‘a-ta-na’. The incomplete tablet V52+52b+8285 has been reassembled from three fragments and gives a list of dedications, including offerings to the gods Poseidon and Paiawon, who was an early forerunner of Apollo. The dedication to ‘a-ta-na po-ti-ni-ja’ on the same tablet unfortunately breaks off after this momentous invocation. The meaning of the epithet ‘a-ta-na’ is not known, but it suggests that the Minoan goddess was already being addressed, among other things, as ‘Athena’. John Chadwick (1976, p. 87) comments that the word ‘Athena’ has a form suggesting a pre-Greek place-name, so it may be that Athena originated as the Potnia worshipped at a place called Athens or something similar. In classical times, Athena had become the warrior-queen of her city on the mainland. A millennium earlier we can assume that her personality and role were less specifically defined. The double-axe was probably Potnia’s symbol, and possibly the pillar and the snake were her symbols too. The snake, living in crevices near the hearth, made a natural symbol for the earth-dwelling Earth-mother; the ‘house-snake’ cult survived into modern times and the snake was sometimes known as the Master of the House or House Mother. Tablet Gg 702 from the Knossos archive refers to an offering of honey dedicated to ‘da-pu-ri-to-jo po-ti-ni-ja’, meaning ‘Potnia of the Labyrinth’. This tells us that Potnia had a sanctuary dedicated to her in some part of the Labyrinth at Knossos, since this temple - and only this one - was referred to in antiquity as the Labyrinth, at least as far as Crete was concerned. We can be fairly sure that there were sanctuaries dedicated to Potnia in the other major temples as well, at Kydonia, Phaistos, Mallia and Zakro. How far the other goddesses in the Minoan pantheon were separate independent deities is very hard to tell. In the first instance, it is probably simpler, and in evolutionary terms truer, to deal with them as separate. One goddess was concerned with fertility and procreation; the dove, proverbially the most amorous of birds, was her symbol. She is often shown with doves perching on her; sometimes birds are shown perched on sacral horns or on a double-axe, as if to suggest the invisible presence of the goddess. Another and possibly separate goddess was concerned with renewal and the central rites of the vegetation cycle. Since the goddess herself was not permitted to die, the annual death and rebirth were acted out by a young male Year-spirit, a small and inferior deity who took the roles of son and consort, and represented the important principle of discontinuity in nature. In the Minoan period he remained subordinate to his goddess, but at its end, as Zeus, he became much more important; his original Minoan name, Velchanos, seems to have endured into the classical period as one of the titles attributed to Zeus on Crete. Zeus Velchanos was also known on Crete as ‘Kouros’, ‘The Boy ’. Velchanos was always subject to the goddess and always shown in attitudes of adoration. The two ivory ‘Divine Boy’ figurines described by Evans as probably having come from the Labyrinth, may well be representations of Velchanos before and after puberty. The older boy, leaner and more muscular, has shorter hair and a small skull-cap which may conceal a tonsure. It is known that youths grew their hair long in preparation for a ritual offering of a lock of hair to the deity. The older boy appears to have gone through this initiation ritual, but still stands erect with arms raised in a gesture of worship and submission. Professor Stylianos Alexiou reminds us that there were other divine boys who survived from the religion of the pre-Hellenic period - Linos, Plutos, and Dionysos - so not all the young male deities we see depicted in Minoan works of art are necessarily Velchanos. Jacquetta Hawkes (1968) suggests that perhaps there were once seashore shrines dedicated to a Sea Goddess. If so, they have been washed away by the sea. Nilsson (1949), thinking along the same lines, proposes that there was a Goddess of Navigation. A gold ring from the port of Mochlos shows a goddess sailing on a boat with a shrine apparently built on to the afterdeck behind the goddess. It may be that the goddess in this case is a priestess conveying a portable shrine from one coastal site to another. The lost ‘Ring of Minos’ similarly showed a priestess steering a shrine-laden boat across a bay. On the rocky shore in the background, no less than three separate shrines or temples were shown, one with a presiding goddess indicating the sacral horns on her altar, and two with sacred trees growing out of them. The genuineness of the Ring of Minos has been questioned by Nilsson, but now that it is lost, allegedly buried somewhere in the garden of Nicolaos Pollakis, the priest of Fortetsa, who for a time shortly after its discovery was its owner, the question will probably never be resolved (Warren 1982). The ritual imagery of the Ring of Minos is nevertheless consistent with what we know of Minoan religious practices and it does offer some additional support for the idea of a sea-shore cult involving both fixed shrines built on the land and portable shrines ferried coastwise by priestesses. Perhaps deities were transported in ships to describe a magic circle of divine protection round the whole island. The idea of a sea-journeying goddess may be the origin of the earliest known version of the legend of Ariadne, according to which she was abducted and taken to the offshore island of Dia, where she died. Willetts (1965, p. 136) believes that leaping into the sea was a feature of some Minoan initiation rituals. Some mythic elements seem to be transformations of this cult practice, for example the episode where the young goddess Britomartis leaps into the sea to escape the clutches of Minos, or the contest at Aptera between Muses and Sirens which ended in the defeat of the Sirens, who then threw themselves into the sea. Willetts detects in these later stories a reminiscence of a Minoan initiation ordeal. The Mistress of Wild Animals or Queen of Wild Beasts was a chaste and free hunting-goddess, a forerunner of the Artemis and Diana of the classical period. Her province was terrestrial, the mountains and hillsides where wild animals needed her protection for their nurture. It may be that this goddess was worshipped at the peak sanctuaries, where it is known that pyres were lit; the later Artemis cult also involved mountain-top bonfires. This goddess survived little changed into the classical pantheon. Even her Minoan name, Britomartis, or ‘Sweet Virgin’, seems to have survived in a slightly spoonerized form in the later Greek name, Artemis. ... " erenow THE MINOAN BELIEF-SYSTEM - Roman Hermaphrodite 554 Limestone fragmentary stela showing ancient Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten - British Museum A clearly female Akhenaten in a blue skull cap - like Minoan athletes wore .... Minoan analysis has an Egyptian blind-spot - this may have something to do with race - Akhenaten, like many lithe Minoan bull-jumpers had dark skin . The "girdle of Hippolyta" may have been the reason, Egyptian men were darker than their wives - it was almost certainly the "dog-leash" or "Isis knot" that Egyptian and Roman women used to curb their husbands Penis. Hippolyta was the Amazon queen and the girdle was a belt that held her weapons. Stealing it was the 9th labor of Hercules " ... In Classical Greek mythology, Hippolyta ... was the Amazonian queen who possessed a magical war belt (a waist belt that signified her authority as queen of the Amazons) given to her by her father Ares, the god of war. ...." Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 555 One exception to the rule of darker skinned husbands was the wife of of the founder of the 18th dynasty Amenhotep the first - she was as dark as modern day east Africans - Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. Going by the rule by Amazon - Queen Ahmose-Nefertari was the Augusta of Egypt. My guess is the uncle of Memnon, King Priam of Troy was also black African - his wife was probably white though - and was probably the true ruler - following the example of Queen Pasiphaë/King Minos " ... In most colored depictions of Ahmose-Nefertari, she is pictured with black skin, while in rarer instances her skin is blue. In 1939 Flinders Petrie argued that the "black queen" could have been of Nubian descent, but he also acknowledged the possibility of the skin color being purely symbolic. In 1961 Alan Gardiner could not explain the reason for Ahmose-Nefertari's peculiar iconography but taking into account her ancestry, he ruled out that she might have had black blood in her veins. Conversely, in his controversial book Black Athena, Martin Bernal recognized in her skin color a clear sign of Nubian ancestry. In more recent times, other scholars such as Joyce Tyldesley, Sigrid Hodel-Hoenes, and Graciela Gestoso Singer, argued that her skin color is indicative of her role as a goddess of resurrection, since black is both the color of the fertile land of Egypt and that of the underworld. ... " Wikipedia * Wow! Race has great power! But credit to Flinders Petrie - he's usually quite anti-negro when it comes to Egypt - And to add insult to injury, her corpse is being displayed as much as her regular portraits! A very powerful "jinn" is keeping Africa bottled up .... - Roman Hermaphrodite 556 Queen Ahmose-Nefertari. Wall painting from Kinebu's tomb in Thebes. c.1150 BC. 18th Dynasty. 43 cm. London, British Museum. - Roman Hermaphrodite 557 Topless Minoans dancers and topless seated Minoans under a grove of trees. Red area is speculated to be for men who are usually a tanned color Minoan 'Sacred Grove and Dance Fresco', wall art from Knossos Palace, 1600-1450 BC. Heraklion Archaeological Museum. - Roman Hermaphrodite 558 Grandstand Fresco of the Palace of Knossos/ 1500 BCE; Knossos, Crete Topless temple scene at Knossos. Red areas are speculated to be men. My speculation is the toplessness is similar to what happens at the sambadrome in Brazil - a charging up of erotic energy ... The men were either buck naked and "dog-leashed" like Greek Olympic athletes, or in tight miniskirts. The ration of men to women suggests Minoans were polyandrous - more than one male per female. That was the Egyptian model : in Egypt adultery was considered to be a female affair - and the little sexual material we have on ancient Egypt is restricted to female brothels. Like in Rome, the "dog-leash" tended to focus men on the key-holder only, whereas, women could have many men under lock and key. - Roman Hermaphrodite 559 Topless female Minoan boxers with erect codpiece. "This fragment of a vase has incised lines filled with white around figures. Depicted are two boxers and a fragment of a third to the right towards a column. 16th century BC ... black steatite, carved" - Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore - Roman Hermaphrodite 560 Female boxer in a codpiece and helmet Boxer vase from Hagia Triada c. 1600 BC Candia Museum. - Roman Hermaphrodite 561 Roman Egyptian polyandry: 2 "dog-leashed" tanned men having sex with a white woman on a Nile valley boat. Fresco found in the "House of the Ephebus". Pompeii. 1st Century AD National Archaeological Museum of Naples That's probably the model for elite Egyptian sex going back thousands of years. The common people probably had conventional sexual behavior. Roman Hermaphrodite 562 Isis, Roman, AD 1–79 - Temple of Isis, Pompeii, marble with traces of pigment No female phallus! But basically naked - you can see everything under the sheer see-through dress. - That's a very common image from ancient Egypt - which telegraphs female sexual power. - Male dominated societies tend to cover up their women from head to toe ... It's not male-dominated, but rather male deity - or something else .... American society is female dominated, but also anti-Eros - the cause is more subtle - or deeply buried. Female deities are never anti-Eros. But you can argue that the virgin Mary is anti-Eros - also roman goddesses like the castrating Cybele/Artemis were also anti-Eros ... My theory is American females are anti-Eros because Eros in the US is projected onto the wrong phallus - the ghetto Negro - the cure I suppose is to withdraw the projection. But the ego can't do that, since the ego is not responsible for the projection onto the ghetto Negro. Careful dream-work can do it though - but that takes years of respectful work with the unconscious psyche Roman Hermaphrodite 563 Roman Naiskos for Alexandra wife of Ktetos, portrayed as the goddess Isis, from the Kerameikos cemetery. Reign of Hadrian, c. 117-138 A.D. Note the "Isis knot" on her chest - that's the symbol of the "dog-leash" Roman Hermaphrodite 564 Marble statue of Isis, the goddess holds a situla and sistrum, ritual implements used in her worship c.117 until 138 AD, Hadrian's Villa (Pantanello), Palazzo Nuovo, Capitoline Museums Note the "dog-leash" knot and the sistrum - those are female tools - the figures on the Minoan harvester vase with prominent erections are playing the sistrum Roman Hermaphrodite 565 Aphrodite anadiomene , Roman Temple of Isis, Pompeii - Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli Note the "dog-leash" knot " ... Venus Anadyomene (from Greek, "Venus Rising From the Sea") is one of the iconic representations of the goddess Venus (Aphrodite), made famous in a much-admired painting by Apelles, now lost, but described in Pliny's Natural History, with the anecdote that the great Apelles employed Campaspe, a mistress of Alexander the Great, for his model. According to Athenaeus, the idea of Aphrodite rising from the sea was inspired by the courtesan Phryne, who, during the time of the festivals of the Eleusinia and Poseidonia, often swam nude in the sea. A scallop shell, often found in Venus Anadyomenes, is a symbol of the female vulva. ... According to Greek mythology, Aphrodite was born as an adult woman from the sea, which also perpetually renewed her virginity. A motif of the goddess wringing out her hair is often repeated. The subject was often repeated in Antiquity, a fourth-century sculptural representation from a Gallo-Roman villa in Aquitania (Louvre) testifying to the motif's continued viability in Late Antiquity. Apelles' painting was executed for the temple of Asclepius at Kos, from which it was taken to Rome by Augustus in part payment of tribute, and set up in the Temple of Caesar. In the time of Nero, owing to its dilapidated condition, it was replaced by a copy made by the painter Dorotheus. Pliny, listing Apelles' best paintings, noted "[Another of] Venus emerging from the sea, dedicated by the late Augustus of blessed memory in the shrine of Caesar his [adoptive-]father, which is called "The Anadyomene", praised in Greek verses like other works, conquered by time but undimmed in fame." ... " Wikipedia * Aphrodite and Isis were often fused by the romans. There's an intriguing clue about the Eleusinian mysteries in the description above: "According to Athenaeus, the idea of Aphrodite rising from the sea was inspired by the courtesan Phryne, who, during the time of the festivals of the Eleusinia and Poseidonia, often swam nude in the sea." All this ties in to the Minoan bull-jumper cult - the Minoan white bull that gifted Minoan women with a bull phallus came from Poseidon - god of the sea. A recent inner image is the female Dionysus - Ampelus - the childhood companion of Bacchus was a "bull-jumper" - in her mythology she has a phallus and was also killed by a bull. " ... In Nonnus's etiology, Ampelos is a beautiful satyr youth, who was loved by Dionysus, and whose death was foreseen by the god. There are two versions of his death and Dionysus's reaction to it. According to Nonnus, Ampelos was gored to death by a wild bull after he mocked the goddess Selene, a scene described as follows: "Ampelos, love of Dionysos, rode upon the back of a wild bull: He shouted boldly to the fullfaced Moon — ‘Give me best, Selene, horned driver of cattle! Now I am both—I have horns and I ride a bull!’ So he called out boasting to the round Moon. Selene looked with a jealous eye through the air, to see how Ampelos rode on the murderous marauding bull. She sent him a cattle chasing gadfly; and the bull, pricked continually all over by the sharp sting, galloped away like a horse through pathless tracts [it then threw and gored him to death]" Upset by his death, Dionysus transformed Ampelos's body into the first grape vine and created wine from his blood. ... " - Only Ampelus was not a man. She was a phallic woman - a Minoan "bull-jumper" Roman Hermaphrodite 566 Statue of the Goddess Isis during Roman time, 1st century A.D. - Museum of Egyptian Art in Munich Note the "Isis knot": " .[T]oday’s post will be about that sister of the ankh, the Tiet, Tyet, Tet, also known as the Knot of Isis, the Girdle of Isis, the Buckle of Isis, or the Blood of Isis. There’s a famous passage from the Book of Coming Forth by Day, commonly called the Book of the Dead, that tells us the words to use to magically charge this important amulet: Spell for a knot amulet of red jasper. “You have your blood, O Isis; you have your power, O Isis; you have your magic, O Isis.” As for him for whom this is done, the power of Isis will be the protection of his body, and Horus son of Isis will rejoice over him when he sees him; no path will be hidden from him, and one side of him will be towards the sky and the other towards the earth. A true matter; you shall not let anyone see it in your hand, for there is nothing equal to it. (Formula 156, Book of Coming Forth by Day) ... The origins of the amulet are unknown. As a knot, however, its symbolism revolves around the idea of binding and releasing, the joining of opposites, and, since a knot secures things, protection. Knot magic was well known in Egypt from an early period; an inscription in one of the pyramids states, “Isis and Nephthys work magic on Thee [Osiris] with knotted cords.” ... The tiet first appears in Egyptian iconography in the third dynasty. It was frequently used in association with the djed pillar of Osiris and so became almost exclusively associated with Isis. Used together, the two symbols could refer to the power of the Goddess and God to engender Life. Because of this, the symbols may also be seen as sexual symbols; the pillar referring to the phallus of the God and the knot to the vulva and womb of the Goddess. It may have been the combination of the tiet’s connection with life and its association with Isis’ sexuality that led to it being called the Blood of Isis and so being made of red jasper, carnelian, or even red glass. It might represent the red lifeblood a mother sheds while giving birth. On the other hand, it might represent menstrual blood. Some say the amulet is shaped like the cloth worn by women during menstruation. Others have interpreted it as a representation of a ritual tampon that could be inserted in the vagina to prevent miscarriage. In this case, it would have been the amulet Isis used to protect Horus while He was still within Her womb. In addition to blood, the amulet’s red color could represent fire and the Sun—and the living, regenerative properties of Isis the Flame, the Radiant Solar Goddess and Lady of Rebirth. Goddesses other than Isis could be accompanied by the tiet as well. In later periods, the tiet was associated with Isis’ sister, Nephthys, and Her mother, Nuet, especially in situations having to do with resurrection and rebirth. Earlier, it served as a badge of office in the cults of the Cow Goddesses Bat and Hathor. Yet the knot remains primarily associated with Isis. There are many representations of Isis with knots (surely, magical knots) tied into the straps of Her clothing. This tradition followed the Goddess into the Graeco-Roman world where the Knot of Isis was also tied into the robes of Her priestesses. ... "isiopolis Roman Hermaphrodite 567 Roman sculpture of Isis - Purple and white marble, 2nd century A.D., Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum That's royal purple marble - my guess is that's a portrait of a 2nd century Augusta - her "knot of Isis " is probably a roman emperor's "dog-leash" Roman Hermaphrodite 568 Cult of Isis fresco, Roman, 4th Pompeian Style, c. 62–79 AD. - Herculaneum White and black female cult members in white robes with sistrums - dancing "dog-leashed" semi nude tanned man Roman Hermaphrodite 569 Cult of Isis. 1st century AD. Priest disguised as Bes performs a ritual dance. Herculaneum. Italy. National Archaeological Museum, Naples - Alamy Four royal purple-clad females - a girl and a woman on the left and a girl and a woman on the right. My guess is that's not Bes dancing - Bes is a dwarf god. That's not a dwarf My guess is that's the "dog-leashed" companion of Isis - Probably Horus, the resurrected Osiris - Out of the black east African earth from the annual summer Nile flood - discontinued by the Aswan dam - and the lead coffin of Osiris - Horus and Osiris are up from the earth - or Chthonic Roman Hermaphrodite 570 Priestess of Isis holding a situla , 2nd century AD Note the "knot of Isis" Roman Hermaphrodite 571 Navigium Isidis among river gods Ship of Isis, transporting Osiris, and busts of River Nile gods. 2 Serpents are moving toward a basket which has a crescent moon symbol on it. North wall. The Sacrarium. Temple Isis. Pompeii. Italy. National Archaeological Museum, Naples. Italy. According to Wikipedia " ... The Navigium Isidis or Isidis Navigium (trans. the vessel of Isis) was an annual ancient Roman religious festival in honor of the goddess Isis, held on March 5. The festival outlived Christian persecution by Theodosius (391) and Arcadius' persecution against the Roman religion (395). In the Roman Empire, it was still celebrated in Italy at least until the year 416. In Egypt, it was suppressed by Christian authorities in the 6th century. The Navigium Isidis celebrated Isis' influence over the sea and served as a prayer for the safety of seafarers and, eventually, of the Roman people and their leaders. It consisted of an elaborate procession, including Isiac priests and devotees with a wide variety of costumes and sacred emblems, carrying a model ship from the local Isis temple to the sea or to a nearby river. Modern carnival resembles the festival of the Navigium Isidis, and some scholars argue that they share the same origin (via carrus navalis, meaning naval wagon, i.e. float – later becoming car-nival). Many elements of Carnival were in turn appropriated in the Corpus Christi festival, most prominently in the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). ..." Roman Hermaphrodite 572 Landscape with fisher and a priest offering in front of the sarcophagus of Osiris. Roman fresco from the temple of Isis in Pompeii. Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples) - - Wikipedia. Roman Hermaphrodite 573 Roman Isis/Serapis coin - Serapis with an Attis crown , Isis with sistrum in mule driven cart Shot blocked. Used workaround " ... Anonymous Issue for the Festival of Isis, AE4, 4th Century, Rome [DEO S]E-RAPIDI Radiate, draped bust of Serapis right, wearing modius VOT[A] PVB[LIC]A Isis standing left, sistrum in right hand, reins in left, in tensa drawn by two mules RIC VI-IX, --; (cf. RIC VIII 500-1 (Julian II for reverse type); Alföldi, Festival 207; Vagi 3371 Image courtesy Classical Numismatic Group, Electronic Auction 229, Lot 445, March 2010 Notes from CNG on the auction: "The Ptolemaic cult of Serapis and Isis enjoyed great popularity throughout Hellenic and Roman times, and indeed the Romans, like the Greeks and Persians before them, were fascinated by the culture and monuments of ancient Egypt. The Ptolemies and the Roman emperors were not content with just being the foreign rulers of Egypt, but wanted to be viewed as legitimate successors of the Pharaohs. To this end, the Roman rulers portrayed themselves as Pharaohs to the native population (the Egyptian concept of the Pharaoh as a god was certainly appealing to the Roman emperors). The Isis festival was a major celebration in Rome in the 3rd and 4th centuries, heralding the arrival of the ship of Isis (navigium Isidis) from Alexandria on 5 March. Besides Isis and Horus, other members of the Egyptian pantheon appear - Serapis, Anubis, Harpocrates, and Nilus. Such coins or tokens with imperial busts were first struck by Diocletian at Rome to mark the arrival of the ship, and the tradition continued through the 4th century; the latest imperial bust to appear is that of Valentinian II. Alföldi proposes that in the Middle Ages the festival associated with the Isis ship (also known as carrus navalis) became the car naval or carnival. ... " beastcoins - Coinage from the Festival of Isis * According to Wikipedia: " ... Serapis ... is a Graeco-Egyptian deity. The cult of Serapis was introduced during the third century BC on the orders of Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter of the Ptolemaic Kingdom as a means to unify the Greeks and Egyptians in his realm. A serapeum ... was any temple or religious precinct devoted to Serapis. The cultus of Serapis was spread as a matter of deliberate policy by the Ptolemaic kings, who also built the immense Serapeum of Alexandria. Serapis continued to increase in popularity during the Roman Empire, often replacing Osiris as the consort of Isis in temples outside Egypt. Serapis was depicted as Greek in appearance but with Egyptian trappings, and combined iconography from a great many cults, signifying both abundance and resurrection. Though Ptolemy I may have created the official cult of Serapis and endorsed him as a patron of the Ptolemaic dynasty and Alexandria, Serapis was a syncretistic deity derived from the worship of the Egyptian Osiris and Apis and also gained attributes from other deities, such as chthonic powers linked to the Greek Hades and Demeter, and benevolence linked to Dionysus. There is evidence that the cult of Serapis existed before the Ptolemies came to power in Alexandria: a temple of Serapis in Egypt is mentioned in 323 BC by both Plutarch (Life of Alexander, 76) and Arrian (Anabasis, VII, 26, 2). The common assertion that Ptolemy "created" the deity is derived from sources which describe him erecting a statue of Serapis in Alexandria: this statue enriched the texture of the Serapis conception by portraying him in both Egyptian and Greek style. ... The name of the deity is derived from the syncretic worship of Osiris and the bull Apis as a single deity under the Egyptian name wsjr-hp. This name was later written in Coptic as ... Userhapi. "Sarapis" was the most common form in Ancient Greek until Roman times, when "Serapis" became common. The most renowned serapeum was in Alexandria. Under Ptolemy I Soter, efforts were made to integrate Egyptian religion with that of their Hellenic rulers. Ptolemy's policy was to find a deity that should win the reverence alike of both groups, despite the curses of the Egyptian priests against the gods of the previous foreign rulers ... Alexander the Great had attempted to use Amun for this purpose, but he was more prominent in Upper Egypt, and not as popular in Lower Egypt, where the Greeks had stronger influence. The Greeks had little respect for animal-headed figures, and so a Greek-style anthropomorphic statue was chosen as the idol, and proclaimed as the equivalent of the highly popular Apis. It was named Userhapi (i.e. "Osiris-Apis"), which became Greek Sarapis, and was said to be Osiris in full, rather than just his ka (life force). ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 574 Serapis in attis crown/Isis guiding the boat coin - Imperial rome Shot blocked. Used workaround Festival of Isis. Mid 4th century AD. Æ 13mm (1.23 g, 6h). DEO SA-RAPIDI, radiate and draped bust of Sol-Serapis right, wearing modius / VOTA PVBL-ICA, Isis standing right, head left, on galley, holding sail in both hands. Alföldi, Festival 199; Vagi 3373. Roman Hermaphrodite 575 Isis-Termutis, Serapis-Agathodaemon and Osiris Canopus. Stele of the Greco-Roman period, Leiden Museum. Not sure what that's all about - but it reminds me of the snakes in the Konark Sun Temple. The Hindu reading would be the rising of the "Kundalini" energy Roman Hermaphrodite 576 "EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (35mm, 31.50 g, 12h). Dated RY 17 (AD 153/4). Laureate and draped bust left / Coiled Serapis-Agathodaimon serpent rising right from ground line; behind, grain ear on either side; L I Z (date) across field. Köln 1721 var. (date placement); Dattari (Savio) 8688 (this coin); K&G 35.594. Good VF, brown and green patina, a couple of edge splits. Very rare. From the Greenpoint Collection. Ex Classical Numismatic Group 41 (19 March 1997), lot 1185; Auctiones 17 (7 June 1988), lot 411; Giovanni Dattari Collection, 8688." cngcoins " ... In the Hellenistic age, from 323 to 31 B.C., Serapis became one of the most important gods of the Egyptian and Greco-Roman pantheons. He was revered as the patron of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt and as the founding deity of the great city of Alexandria. There are numerous historical records of the intimate contact of Serapis with men throughout Egypt and Asia Minor, and there are over 1,080 statues, temples and monuments dedicated to Serapis Bey that were erected during that era. Demetrius of Phalarum, the founder of the Alexandrian library under Ptolemy I, was miraculously cured of blindness by Serapis and wrote hymns of thanksgiving. Serapis often spoke through oracles and gave counsel as well as personal, miraculous healings to many people. There is a famous historical account involving Serapis that marked an important era in the establishment of him as the most prominent deity of Egypt and Greece. King Ptolemy I, ruler of Egypt, was visited in a dream by Serapis, who commanded the king to bring the god’s statue to Alexandria. After vacillation and a second dream with Serapis, the king had the statue brought with the blessings of the Delphic Oracle and installed it in the Serapium, or great Temple, of Alexandria. This is the temple that contained the famous Alexandrian library of three hundred thousand volumes. Many epithets are ascribed to Serapis, including “Father,” “Saviour” and “the greatest of the deities.” He was regarded as the sponsor of intimate contact between the gods and mortals. Serapis is regarded in the annals of the esoteric tradition as the hierophant of the secret Egyptian initiatory rites. The lesser mysteries were dedicated to Isis and intended for the layman; the greater mysteries were dedicated to Serapis and Osiris and transmitted only to initiated priests who underwent severe rites of trial and initiation in the temple of Serapis. Over a period of six to seven hundred years, Serapis became the supreme deity of Egypt and Greece. However, in the late fourth century A.D., the emperor Theodosius issued edicts against polytheism, and Christians took this as license to attack pagans, including the adherents of mystery religions. The Christian Bishop of Alexandria provoked mobs to destroy the great symbol of paganism in Alexandria, the mystery temple of the god Serapis. They hacked apart the huge statue of Serapis, which had inspired worshipers for six hundred years. The mob destroyed at least one of Alexandria’s great libraries. ... " Serapis Bey, Wikipedia * - Again, not sure what's going on here, but it feels right - that's probably where I got the ability to stare into to the sun in 1994 ... Roman Hermaphrodite 577 Serapis-Agathodaemon - bronze, National Museum, Athens. Roman Hermaphrodite 578 "Julia Domna (AD 193-217). AR denarius (19mm, 3.32 gm, 1h). XF. Rome, AD 200-207. IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust of Julia Domna right / SAECVLI - FELICITAS, Isis standing right, left foot on prow, holding infant Horus (Harpocrates), rudder resting against altar behind. RIC IV.I " coinarchives Augusta Julia Domna as Isis with infant Horus guiding the Roman boat ... " ... Harpocrates ... was the god of silence, secrets and confidentiality in the Hellenistic religion developed in Ptolemaic Alexandria (and also an embodiment of hope, according to Plutarch). Harpocrates was adapted by the Greeks from the Egyptian child god Horus, who represented the newborn sun, rising each day at dawn. Harpocrates's name was a Hellenization of the Egyptian Har-pa-khered or Heru-pa-khered, meaning "Horus the Child". See the equivalent roman godess of silence, Tacita. ... In the Alexandrian and Roman renewed vogue for the Greco-Roman mysteries at the turn of the millennium into the common era — mystery cults had already existed for centuries — the worship of Horus became widely extended, linked with his mother Isis and his father Serapis. In this way Harpocrates, the child Horus, personifies the newborn sun each day, the first strength of the winter sun, and also the image of early vegetation. Egyptian statues represent the child Horus, pictured as a naked boy with his finger on his chin with the fingertip just below the lips of his mouth, a realization of the hieroglyph for "child" that is unrelated to the Greco-Roman and modern gesture for "silence". Misunderstanding this sign, the later Greeks and Roman poets made Harpocrates the god of silence and secrecy, taking their cue from Marcus Terentius Varro, who asserted in De lingua Latina of Caelum (Sky) and Terra (Earth). These gods are the same as those who in Egypt are called Serapis and Isis, though Harpocrates with his finger makes a sign to me to be quiet. The same first gods were in Latium called Saturn and Ops. Ovid described Isis: Upon her Isis' brow stood the crescent moon-horns, garlanded with glittering heads of golden grain, and grace of royal dignity; and at her side the baying dog Anubis, dappled Apis, sacred Bubastis and the god who holds his finger to his lips for silence sake. One other tale relates the story about the Greek gods. Aphrodite gave a rose to her son Eros, the god of love; he, in turn, gave it to Harpocrates to ensure that his mother's indiscretions (or those of the gods in general, in other accounts) were kept under wraps. This gave roses the connotation of secrecy (a rose suspended from the ceiling of a council chamber pledged all present – sub rosa "under the rose"), which continued through the Middle Ages and through the modern era. ..." Wikipedia - We can conclude from this myth that elite Greco-Roman women were by nature high libido and polyandrous! That's the dog-leash effect ... Elite Egyptian women too ... Harpocrates is the female phallus - that's the inner image that came to me - or that's a child female with a penis ... The female version of the "hieros-gamos" Roman Hermaphrodite 579 Harpocrates, Ptolemaic bronze -Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon Double crown of Egypt - but also a female hairdo - that's the Egyptian Augusta Roman Hermaphrodite 580 Isis, Serapis and their child Harpocrates (Louvre) Roman Hermaphrodite 581 " ... Pompeii. Painting found in niche on east wall. It shows a montage of features concerned with the worship of Isis, including a statue of Harpocrates, a boy with a finger in his mouth holding a cornucopia, with a lotus blossom resting on his forehead. Before him stands a priest in a long white robe with a candlestick in each hand. In the background is a temple surrounded by a portico. See Mau, A., 1907, translated by Kelsey, F. W., Pompeii: Its Life and Art. New York: Macmillan. (p. 172). Now in Naples Archaeological Museum. Inventory number 8975. ... " pompeiiinpictures -Only that's not a boy - thats the basic archetype of all those roman statues of women with a penis ... Roman Hermaphrodite 582 " ... Pompeii. May 2006. Room F, painting of gods on the south wall of the peristyle. Isis is in the centre wearing a red and black sash and holding a sistrum. Anubis is dressed in red. A small figure between Isis and Anubis is possibly Harpocrates. Serapis or Osiris is dressed in white with the horn of plenty in his left hand and a sistrum in his right. See Fröhlich, T., 1991. Lararien und Fassadenbilder in den Vesuvstädten. Mainz: von Zabern. (L74, T. 38,1-2). ... " pompeiiinpictures - Anubis/Hermes is "dog-leash" tanned or black African. Serapis is playing a sistrum - I thought that was for women only ... " ... In classical mythology, Hermanubis ... was a god who combined Hermes (Greek mythology) with Anubis (Egyptian mythology). He is the son of Set and Nephthys. Hermes' and Anubis's similar responsibilities (they were both conductors of souls) led to the god Hermanubis. He was popular during the period of Roman domination over Egypt. Depicted having a human body and a jackal head, with the sacred caduceus that belonged to the Greek god Hermes, he represented the Egyptian priesthood. He engaged in the investigation of truth. The divine name ... is known from a handful of epigraphic and literary sources, mostly of the Roman period. Plutarch cites the name as a designation of Anubis in his underworldly aspect, while Porphyry refers to Hermanubis as ..."composite" and ... "half-Greek". Although it was not common in traditional Greek religion to combine the names of two gods in this manner, the double determination of Hermanubis has some formal parallels in the earlier period. The most obvious is the god Hermaphroditus, attested from the fourth century BC onwards, but his name implies the paradoxical union of two different gods (Hermes and Aphrodite) rather than an assimilation in the manner of Hermanubis. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 583 Greco- Roman Harpocrates from the Ambelokipoi Hoard - 1st century BC/early 1st century AD - National Archaeological Museum, Athens - Double crown of Egypt - that position like the Augusta was female - the "living Isis" Roman Hermaphrodite 584 "Anonymous Issue for the Festival of Isis, AE4, 4th Century, Rome ISIS F_ARIA Draped bust of Isis right wearing hem-hem crown surmounted by lotus flower VOTA P_VBLICA Anubis standing facing, head left, wearing military dress, chlamys spread behind, sistrum in right hand, caduceus in left" beastcoins - Anubis is an black African priest - with the head of a jackal - as shown above - or African wolf as shown by more recent research - Ancient Egyptian animals are African animals, despite the best efforts to westernize them. Also the mythical Egyptian silence. That's pure Africa - although you would not know it from the images coming to us " ... Anubis or Inpu, Anpu in Ancient Egyptian ... is the Greek name of the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Archeologists have identified Anubis's sacred animal as an Egyptian canid, the African golden wolf. (The African wolf was formerly called the "African golden jackal", until a 2015 genetic analysis updated the taxonomy and the common name for the species. As a result, Anubis is often referred to as having a "jackal" head, but this "jackal" is now more properly called a "wolf".) Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC), Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055 – 1650 BC) he was replaced by Osiris in his role as lord of the underworld. One of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the "Weighing of the Heart," in which it was determined whether a soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead. Despite being one of the most ancient and "one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods" in the Egyptian pantheon, Anubis played almost no role in Egyptian myths. Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized regeneration, life, the soil of the Nile River, and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming. Anubis is associated with his brother Wepwawet, another Egyptian god portrayed with a dog's head or in canine form, but with grey or white fur. Historians assume that the two figures were eventually combined. Anubis' female counterpart is Anput. His daughter is the serpent goddess Kebechet. ... By the late pharaonic era (664–332 BC), Anubis was often depicted as guiding individuals across the threshold from the world of the living to the afterlife. Though a similar role was sometimes performed by the cow-headed Hathor, Anubis was more commonly chosen to fulfill that function. Greek writers from the Roman period of Egyptian history designated that role as that of "psychopomp", a Greek term meaning "guide of souls" that they used to refer to their own god Hermes, who also played that role in Greek religion. Funerary art from that period represents Anubis guiding either men or women dressed in Greek clothes into the presence of Osiris, who by then had long replaced Anubis as ruler of the underworld. ... " Wikipedia * - It seems to be an academic issue - but it really isn't - the dead need a guide to the land of the dead. Without that, they remain trapped on earth where they end up abusing regular human beings. The Maya were being ruled by the dead - the Xibalbans, before the hero twins altered their reality ... Roman Hermaphrodite 585 " ... Valentinian I. AD 364-375. Æ Medallion (24mm, 6.98 g, 12h). Festival of Isis commemorative. Rome mint. D N VALENTIN ANVS P F AVG, pearl-diademed and cuirassed bust right VOT A PV B LIC A, Isis seated facing, her head right, holding sistrum with her right hand and a scepter with her left, on Sothis running right, who is looking back at her. Alföldi, Festival 90 (pl. XII, 16). Good VF, brown and tan surfaces with touches of green, holed in antiquity. From the estate of Thomas Bentley Cederlind. ... " cngcoins " .... Sothis (Greek:) is the name of a star that the Egyptians considered unusually significant. The star is not explicitly identified, but there are enough clues for modern scholars to be almost unanimous in identifying Sothis as Sirius. Plutarch states that The soul of Isis is called Dog by the Greeks. Sothis was identified with Isis in many Egyptian texts. The Greeks called Sirius the Dog. Sirius is the brightest star visible in the sky. The first appearance of Sirius in the sky each year occurs just before the annual Nile flooding. The Greeks called the Sirius period the Dog Days and associated them with the hottest days of summers as well as diseases ’caused’ by this heat. The Egyptians also associated the Sothic period (of Sirius) with epidemics. Prof Karl Kerenyi claims an ancient mythic figure Iachen (or Iachim) represents a sublimated form of Sirius or Sothis. Sirius rose with the Nile flood and was also associated with epidemics, Sothis was thus a destructive and greatly feared goddess (perhaps akin to Sekhmet, or an Egyptian equivalent of Kali). Iachen was said to be an Egyptian magician who’tamed’ the power of Sirius and transformed it into a life giving power (just as the flood fertilised the land of Egypt with fresh Nile mud). When he died he became the centre of a cult which kept a flame burning on his altar. When Sirius rose the priests of Iachen entered the streets with torches lit from the altar, in order to channel the power of Sirius and heal any diseases unleashed by it. Iachen was known in Minoan Crete as I-wa-ko, who became the Greek torch bearing son of Persephone – Iakchos, who was also associated with Sirius, as ’the light bearing star of the nocturnal mysteries’ according to Kerenyi. The late Isis took on the role of many more ancient deities, including Neith, Hathor and the lion headed Sekhmet. The connection between Sirius and a dog may reflect the stars association with the destructive power of the goddess, universally symbolised by various predators of feline or canine origin (lions, tigers, panthers, wolves and hunting dogs in particular). In Greek culture this became the she-dog of Orion, the sublimated form perhaps. Gods who ride such animals, notably Shiva and Dionysos, or who have canine servants, notably Orion and Osiris (with Anubis his gatekeeper and embalmer), were also regarded by Kerenyi as partly derived from Iachen, the sublimator, or an even older myth. Dogs associated with various incarnations of Dionysos, as well as with Orion’s dog (Sirius), were regarded as the discoverers, or bearers, of the first grapevine, this was probably because Sirius rose in the period of the vines blossoming, shortly before harvest. It also reached its highest point in the sky on around Jan 1st, just before the birth of Dionysos on Jan 6th (epiphany), associated with the opening of the first wine. The universality of Sirius lore, even the Pawnee tribe of North America, and others, referred to Sirius as the’Wolf Star’, indicates this Sothic Mythos may have extremely ancient roots, perhaps as old as the first humans to migrate from Africa. ... " ancientromancoinsonline * Isis riding the "dog" Sothis also probably refers to the famous roman-"dog-leash" - or the caged penis My guess is the caged penis was unleashed on an annual basis at the minimum - Summer was probably orgy season in ancient Egypt and Rome - That's probably the Nilotic "reverse mulier equitans" sexual position - Isis riding the dog facing away from the head Roman Hermaphrodite 586 Festival of Isis 4th Century AD Serapis/Isis/Sothis/Orion Gnostic Coin DEO SA-RAPIDI. Draped bust of Serapis right. VOTA-PV-[B]-L-IC-A Isis, with sistrum and sceptre, riding facing on the Sothis-dog running right and looking backwards. Alföldi 153. - Roman Hermaphrodite 587 " ... Harpokrates in an Egyptianizing Crown and holding the club of Herakles A.D. 1st century. Roman Period Harpokrates, or "Horus the child," the son of Isis and Osiris/Serapis, is here represented as a chubby toddler with a plump, crooked forefinger reaching toward his small mouth. He holds the knobby club of the Greek god Herakles and on his head wears a vestigial Egyptian double crown detailed with striations and dots. The crown is obscured in the front by a very large sun disk bearing a uraeus. A rarely noted deep blue corrosion gives the piece a rich tone. Harpokrates, the quintessential divine son, was extremely popular and had already been assimilated to other gods during pharaonic times. During the Hellenistic and Roman eras the syncretisms multiplied. The association of Harpokrates with Herakles in these eras seems to be based on warrior characteristics that Harpokrates had acquired in earlier conflations with other dieties. Once Roman rule came to Egypt the worship of Harpokrates spread throughout the empire, so it is possible that the unusual details of the god's crown and disk denote a non-Egyptian origin. ... " Metropolitan Museum of Art - My guess is that's not a male deity - it's a female with a phallus - Why? The very large sun disk bearing a uraeus is a symbol of Isis - Female phallus is the "hieros gamos" or the integration of the male contents of the female psyche - symbolized by a phallus. The finger to the mouth is to remain silent about this - the female phallus is not a welcome development by most - Roman Hermaphrodite 588 " ... Harpokrates is the Greek name for Horus the Child, the son of Isis and Osiris. Here he is depicted as a chubby boy with a sidelock and (lost) finger to his mouth. The pose suggests that the figure may once have sat on the lap of a statuette of his mother. late 8th-late 6th century BC Leaded bronze ... " harvardartmuseums - Sidelock was a female hairstyle in ancient Egypt. Looks like Horus is a phallic female. - Roman Hermaphrodite 589 " ... Harpocrates or "Horus the Child" was the son of Isis and Osiris. He represents legal kingship as mythical successor of his father Osiris, who, in death, became Lord of the Netherworld. He was especially popular in the Late and Greco-Roman periods. Representations such as this show him as a nude boy with his finger to his mouth, and a sidelock of hair, the symbols of childhood. Here he also has a uraeus (a cobra serpent) above his forehead, symbolizing his entitlement to kingship. 664 and 342 BC bronze with silver inlay Walters Art Museum, Baltimore ... " Wikipedia - Legal kingship was the "living Isis" - which can only be a female - That's the Egyptian Augusta - usually the Pharaoh's mother or his wife, or sometimes his daughter - like Akhenaten - Roman Hermaphrodite 591 " ... Male god c. 1390–1352 B.C. New Kingdom The god's elegant features are carved in a style belonging to the reign of the pharaoh Amenhotep III .... In his massive fist the god holds a was-scepter, signifying dominion, and in his missing right hand he would have held the ankh hieroglyph, meaning life. Though attributes or an inscription that would identify this god are missing, the statue was almost certainly one of the series of divine statues erected by Amenhotep III in his vast mortuary temple in western Thebes. These represented the congregation of the Egyptian gods in attendance at the king's 30 year festival, or heb-sed. The site of this temple is identified by the colossi of Memnon, two monumental seated statues representing the king which stood in front of the entrance pylon of the temple. Amenhotep III celebrated three Heb-sed’s and constructed a palace city for this purpose at the site of Malqata, a mile or so south of his mortuary temple. This site was excavated by the Museum’s Egyptian Expedition in the early twentieth century, and objects from these excavations are on view in galleries 119 and 121. ... " Metropolitan Museum of Art - My first impression was a female with a large female phallus - this was the Minoan "bull - jumper" period and the large female bull phallus. - Those are breasts on the chest and a female face under the false beard - Roman Hermaphrodite 592 Another female statue with a phallic display: " ...Statue of Sekhmet in a very small chapel of the temple of Ptah in the Precinct of Amun-Re at Karnak Temple. The statue receives light only from a small hole in the ceiling, which make it a very impressive figure when you enter in the chapel and your eyes gradually adjust to the light level. The statue is about 2 meters high. ... " Wikipedia " ... In Egyptian mythology Sekhmet ... , is a warrior goddess as well as goddess of healing. She is depicted as a lioness. She was seen as the protector of the pharaohs and led them in warfare. Upon death, Sekhmet continued to protect them, bearing them to the afterlife. Sekhmet is also a solar deity, sometimes called the daughter of Ra and often associated with the goddesses Hathor and Bastet. She bears the Uraeus, which associates her with Wadjet and royalty, and the solar disk. ... Sekhmet was considered the daughter of the sun god, Ra, and was among the more important of the goddesses who acted as the vengeful manifestation of Ra's power, the Eye of Ra. Sekhmet was said to breathe fire, and the hot winds of the desert were likened to her breath. She was also believed to cause plagues, which were called her servants or messengers, although she was also called upon to ward off disease. In a myth about the end of Ra's rule on the earth, Ra sends the goddess Hathor, in the form of Sekhmet, to destroy mortals who conspired against him. In the myth, Sekhmet's blood-lust was not quelled at the end of battle and led to her destroying almost all of humanity. To stop her Ra poured out beer dyed with red ochre or hematite so that it resembled blood. Mistaking the beer for blood, she became so drunk that she gave up the slaughter and returned peacefully to Ra. The same myth was also described in the prognosis texts of the Calendar of Lucky and Unlucky Days of papyrus Cairo 86637. Sekhmet was considered the wife of the god Ptah and mother of his son Nefertum. She was also said to be the mother of a lion god, Maahes. ... Sekhmet was envisioned as a fierce lioness, and in art, was depicted as such, or as a woman with the head of a lioness, who was dressed in red, the color of blood. Sometimes the dress she wears exhibits a rosetta pattern over each breast, an ancient leonine motif, which can be traced to observation of the shoulder-knot hairs on lions. Occasionally, Sekhmet was also portrayed in her statuettes and engravings with minimal clothing or naked. The royal biers were fashioned to represent Sekhmet symbolizing her role as protector, even in death. They are depicted in all images of the embalming rites, showing her head, the characteristic tufted tail, and her feet. In the tombs, the coffins were placed on them. It is estimated that more than seven hundred statues of Sekhmet once stood in one funerary temple alone, that of Amenhotep III, on the west bank of the Nile. ... " Wikipedia - 18th dynasty was a Sekhmet dynasty - the fiery female phallus Roman Hermaphrodite 593 " ... Image from a ritual Menat necklace, depicting a ritual being performed before a statue of Sekhmet on her throne, she also is flanked by the goddess Wadjet as the cobra and the goddess Nekhbet as the white vulture, symbols of Lower and Upper Egypt respectively who always were depicted on the crown of Egypt and referred to as the two ladies, and the supplicant holds a complete menat and a sistrum for the ritual, circa 870 B.C. (Berlin, Altes Museum, catalogue number 23733) ... " Wikipedia - The supplicant has sidelocked hair and a phallus - a phallic woman - Roman Hermaphrodite 594 "Painting of the ancient egyptian lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, the powerful one, accompanied by her consort Ptah" - Sekhmet has an erect phallus. That's an image of the female ruler of Egypt. - Ptah usually has a symbol of the "dog-leash" an ankh over a djed pillar - That's ancient Egypt! " ... Ptah is an ancient Egyptian deity, the god of craftsmen and architects. In the triad of Memphis, he is the husband of Sekhmet and the father of Nefertum. He was also regarded as the father of the sage Imhotep. ... Like many deities of ancient Egypt he takes many forms, through one of his particular aspects or through syncretism of ancient deities of the Memphite region. Sometimes represented as a dwarf, naked and deformed, his popularity would continue to grow during the Late Period. ... Ptah is generally represented in the guise of a man with green skin, contained in a shroud sticking to the skin, wearing the divine beard, and holding a sceptre combining three powerful symbols of ancient Egyptian religion: The Was sceptre The sign of life, Ankh The Djed pillar These three combined symbols indicate the three creative powers of the god: power (was), life (ankh) and stability (djed). " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 595 An un-reconstructed image of the Sekhmet female erection above. Read as a symbol - she is the anima of the Pharaoh. The "dog-leash" is directly linked to the female phallus. But the female phallus was probably more than a symbol - elite Egyptian women probably had high libidos, like Roman women - Roman Hermaphrodite 596 " ... Ptah and Sekhmet Ancient Egypt, 7th - 6th century BC This group belongs to a widespread type of Ancient Egyptian temple sculpture showing a married couple of divinities. This monument formed part of the decoration of a temple and was an object of veneration, possibly a gift to the temple from an individual. Cut from a single block of black basalt are the two figures of the god-creator Ptah and his lion-headed wife, the terrible goddess of war and the burning sun, Sekhmet, both of whom formed part of the famous Triad of the ancient capital of Egypt, Memphis. Ptah is shown, according to tradition, in a long clinging robe, wearing his typical headgear - a small round cap - and with a ritual beard. In his hands the god holds a rod made up of combined symbols: the uas in the lower part, and the djed for the upper. Nearby, in a slightly smaller scale, is Sekhmet in a classical pose, with her left leg stretched out in front. The goddess's head is crowned with the disc of the sun and a ureus symbol in the form of a cobra. In her left hand Sekhmet holds a rod, while in her right, the ankh or symbol of life. Compositionally, these elongated figures are not linked to one another and yet the treatment of volume and the smooth conveying of the muscles seem to emphasize the unity of the block of basalt. Statues from this period had their stone surfaces very carefully polished. The proportions of the figures and Ptah's facial type - the broad oval shape, the full cheeks and pouting lips, the relief treatment of the eyebrows and the thick outline of the eyes - are characteristic of monuments of the Sais period (663-524 BC), during which Egyptian masters turned to the traditions of the classical heritage. 7th - 6th century BC Epoch. Period: Late Period, XXVIth Dynasty (?) basalt Entered the Hermitage in 1919; transferred from the Institute of the History of Art; previously in the collection of Sondarev ... " hermitagemuseum - Read Negro for what the Hermitage describes as "Ptah's facial type - the broad oval shape, the full cheeks and pouting lips, the relief treatment of the eyebrows and the thick outline of the eyes" 27th dynasty was Persian - these are probably 26th dynasty - usually described as the last native dynasty of ancient Egypt - Roman Hermaphrodite 597 4 statues of the Goddess Sekhmet from the Precinct of the Goddess Mut at 'Uaset'-Thebes. British Museum Era of Amenhotep III (c. 1390–1352 BCE). 18th Dynasty That was the "bull-jumper" dynasty. Egypt was under Minoan influence - that's why there were so many statues of Sekhmet. The female phallus was at a mass level in Knossos. Roman Hermaphrodite 598 Statuette of Ptah. Gilded wood, faience and glass. Thebes, Valley of the Kings, Tomb of Tutankhamen. 1323 BC. 18th dynasty Blue skull-cap is similar to skull-caps on Minoan Crete - This is probably the prototype of the "caged penis" Minoan man ... Roman Hermaphrodite 599 "The lid of a casket of Tutankhamun.The king is in a garden with Queen Ankhesenamun. The costumes, jewelery and hairstyles of the couple are clearly depicted. This is a detail showing the queen only. Egypt. ... 18th dynasty c 1357 1349 BC. " Getty Images "Ankhesenamun was a queen of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.... she was the third of six known daughters of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten and his Great Royal Wife Nefertiti, and became the Great Royal Wife of her half-brother Tutankhamun." - Note the sidelock - That's a female hairdo. Harpokrates or Horus the Child has a sidelock. King Tut was the consort of Queen Ankhesenamun who was the legal sovereign or the "living Isis" Her father us unknown as it is impossible that she had 2 biological mothers - Akhenaten was a woman ... Roman Hermaphrodite 600 "... The lid of a casket of Tutankhamen. The king is in a garden with Queen Tutankhamen. ... The Queen wears a perfumed oil cone in her hair and holds bunches of lotus flowers and mandragora bulbs in her hands ... 18th dynasty c 1357- 1349 BC. ... " Getty Images Roman Hermaphrodite 601 Sekhmet with her arms providing power to Ptah. Ramesseum Temple, Luxor - 19th dynasty - My reading is that's the male "inner sun" - that's also the control point of the caged penis. Ptah or the "dog-leashed:" Egyptian man does not have control over his erections - they come and go as the goddess sees fit ... Roman Hermaphrodite 602 . Sekhmet with a sun disk and Uraeus and holding a Wadj sceptre in the form of a papyrus flower. Turin. Italy - My reading is "Wadj sceptre in the form of a papyrus flower" is code for an erect penis Mandragora bulbs or flowers as in the king Tut coffin above are a story-line in an erotic comic book from an Italian artist - "Druuna Mandragore" by Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri " ... Druuna is an erotic science fiction and fantasy comic book character created by Italian cartoonist Paolo Eleuteri Serpieri. Most of Druuna's adventures revolve around a post-apocalyptic future, and the plot is often a vehicle for varied scenes of hardcore pornography and softcore sexual imagery. Druuna is frequently depicted as sparsely clothed or nude, and Serpieri's high quality renditions of her are often reproduced as poster prints. ... " - Druuna is a cross between the spiciest Samba "bum bum" and movies like "Blade runner" and "Alien" - with a strong dose of the best adult pornography - like pre-viagra porn (pre- 1998) from "Evil Angel" video - especially work in Brazil and Hungary Roman Hermaphrodite 603 Sekhmet holding the “ankh” sign before the mouth of pharaoh Seti I. The sign is entwined in her “menat” necklace. 19th Dynasty. - Note the "dog-leash" tan on Seti I. That pattern continued in Rome Roman Hermaphrodite 604 Statue of God Ptah. 18th - 20th Dynasty. 1550-1070 BC. Egyptian Museum of Turin. Italy. Shot blocked. used workaround Roman Hermaphrodite 605 Statues of goddess Sekhmet at Museo Egizio - Turin, Italy Roman Hermaphrodite 606 Statue of the Egyptian lioness goddess Sekhmet with a sun disk and Uraeus and holding a Wadj sceptre in the form of a papyrus flower. Turin. Italy. Roman Hermaphrodite 607 Roman relief of Hathor suckling Horus to the left, Ihy the Great in His aspect of youthful God with the sidelock of youth and a finger on His lip) wearing the Double Crown and holding the ‘Ankh’ in his right. Roman “House of Birth" (the Mammisi) of the Sanctuary of the Goddess Hathor at Nitentóre (Dendera) Not pictured on right - The Roman Emperor Trajan, depicted as a pharaoh and wearing a shuty crown, offers a necklace to the goddess Hathor while she is suckling her son, the god Ihy, who is represented as adult, on the left, with white crown or hedjet. - That's a girl Horus and then a woman Horus with a penis. The woman is wearing a transparent dress and is also making the "silent" gesture - which I read as relating to her female phallus. The double crown means she is the sovereign - or Augusta to the Roman Augustus Trajan. That would be his wife - Pompeia Plotina Claudia Phoebe Piso Augusta - Roman Hermaphrodite 608 "Egypt. Dendera. Temple complex. Roman Birth House of Mammisi. The Roman Emperor Trajan, depicted as a pharaoh and wearing a shuty crown, offers a necklace to the goddess Hathor while she is suckling her son, the god Ihy, who is represented as adult, on the left, with white crown or hedjet. Relief. " - Alamy " ... The ancient Egyptian Shuti, a two-feather adornment for crowns, is part of a series of hieroglyphs for "crowns"; usage as a hieroglyph is not as common as the actual crown represented in Egyptian art, and artworks. One popular use of the Shuti, two-feather crown is by the deity Amun, one of his many crowns he is portrayed wearing. The tail feathers in this crown are generally straight, and are assumed to be the tail feathers of a falcon. They can be compared to the ostrich features in the Atef crown of Osiris, or the single ostrich feather that symbolizes Maat. ... The Budge two-volume dictionary of hieroglyphs records 20 spellings for shuti, from multiple sources. Besides the single hieroglyph, nine spellings use the shuti as a determinative. Most spellings use the Shu-feather, often twice, the feather being the representation, and feather of Maat. Maat as a representative of truth, wisdom, justice, order, etc., in the kingdom, the iconographic headdress implies her role, to the one who wears the shuti two-feather adornments. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 609 "A bas relief image of Egyptian gods and pharaohs carved on a wall at the Temple of Kom Ombo, Egypt." - Alamy - Pharaoh, wearing a Shuti crown, is being supported by nude goddess' Sekhmet and Isis or Hathor and on far right Horus in double crown. Horus is wearing a male skirt - but there is a female phallus inside based on previous knowledge - That would be his wife, the queen and his penis "dog leash-holder" - The famous Egyptian fake beard makes sense now - that's a code for the female phallus - Roman Hermaphrodite 610 " ... ’Raising the “djed” pillar at Abydos’. Pharaoh Seti I (right) and Isis raise the “djed” pillar in a relief on the west wall of the Inner Osiris Hall in the Seti I Temple at Abydos. It is unclear what the “djed” pillar actually represented. It might simply have been nothing more than a pillar, and as such a symbol of strength, support and stability. It could also have symbolized the backbone of Osiris, or a reliquary in which his backbone was kept. It is sometimes depicted in an anthropomorphic form (with attached human limbs etc.) but in this relief it only has a set of eyes. But whatever it represented, it became to be regarded as a symbol for Osiris. The rite known as the “Erection of the djed-pillar” represents Osiris’ victory over death and at Abydos was part of the annual festival which celebrated his resurrection. The Seti Temple at Abydos was begun by Seti I and completed by his son Ramses II in the 13th century BC. Photo Mick Palarczyk. ... " paulsmit.smugmug - That's the famous roman "dog-leash" or penis cage My inner vision after posting this was the rising of the male "kundalini" - caused by the penis cage. I also saw the classic Egyptian eye symbol waking up - like the tiny eye of a massive black beast - a black "chthonic" monster! - Roman Hermaphrodite 611 " ... ’Seti before Min at Abydos.’ This relief detail Seti kneeling before Min, the fertility god with his erect penis who was associated with Amun-Ra. The relief can be found on the north wall in the Chapel of Amun, one of the seven chapels that are located directly west of the Second Hypostyle Hall of the Seti I Temple at Abydos. ... The detail in this picture is part of the 36 episodes of the Daily Temple Ritual that are shown in the chapel, ranging from Seti entering the sanctuary to cleaning and dressing the statue of Amun-Ra and his manifestation Min. The temple at was begun by Seti I and completed by his son Ramses II in the 13th century BC. Photo Paul Smit. ... " paulsmit.smugmug.com - Saw a female goddess - Sekhmet in the classic Min pose - one arm raised under a flail and an erect penis. So I suppose the gender of Min is not set in stone. - plate 595 above "Min ... is an ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in the predynastic period (4th millennium BCE).He was represented in many different forms, but was most often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail. Min's cult began and was centered around Coptos (Koptos) and Akhmim (Panopolis) of upper Egypt, where in his honour great festivals were held celebrating his "coming forth" with a public procession and presentation of offerings. His other associations include the eastern desert and links to the god Horus. Flinders Petrie excavated two large statues of Min at Qift which are now in the Ashmolean Museum and it is thought by some that they are pre-dynastic. Although not mentioned by name, a reference to "he whose arm is raised in the East" in the Pyramid Texts is thought to refer to Min. His importance grew in the Middle Kingdom when he became even more closely linked with Horus as the deity Min-Horus. By the New Kingdom he was also fused with Amun in the form of Min-Amun, who was also the serpent Irta, a kamutef (the "bull of his mother" - aka father of his own mother as well as her son). Min as an independent deity was also a kamutef of Isis. One of Isis's many places of cult throughout the valley was at Min's temple in Koptos as his divine wife. Min's shrine was crowned with a pair of bull horns ... In Egyptian art, Min was depicted as an anthropomorphic male deity with a masculine body, covered in shrouds, wearing a crown with feathers, and often holding his penis erect in his left hand and a flail (referring to his authority, or rather that of the Pharaohs) in his upward facing right hand. Around his forehead, Min wears a red ribbon that trails to the ground, claimed by some to represent sexual energy. The legs are bandaged because of his chthonic force, in the same manner as Ptah and Osiris. ... " Wikipedia * The "bull of his mother" - may refer to the female phallus - that's probably the better reading - like the Minoan bull-jumper female phallus. The experience was probably exactly the same. The bull sexual energy was absorbed by women, not men in ancient Egypt Min-Horus sounds male, but as shown above Horus was female not male ... The direct cause of this Egyptian female sexual power was was the caged penis - Roman Hermaphrodite 612 Statue of Amun-Min-Kamutef. Walters Gallery Baltimore Shot blocked. Used workaround. " The representation of the mummiform Amun-Min-Kamutef with an erect phallus alludes to his role as a fertility god. His right arm is raised in a gesture of rejoicing. The name Kamutef ("bull of his mother") conveys that the god is both father and son and, therefore, self-created. Instead of the god's usual tall, feathered crown, this statuette (a rare example) depicts the god wearing the crown of Upper (south) Egypt, emphasizing his southern origins. . 7th-4th century BC (Late Period) bronze, gold ... " The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore - My reading of "bull of his mother" is the female phallus - My comparison is Legba in modern west Africa. On page 134 of this website, there are androgynous statues of Legba made by a female shaman from Benin. When Legba is invoked he activates the "inner sun" which is associated with sexual energy - Roman Hermaphrodite 613 Shot blocked. used workaround Ithyphallic god Min- Luxor, Karnak Temple, Egypt That's a clearly black African face. Min has retained his black African features. Maybe that's why we hear so little of him. Egyptologists like Fliders Petrie could not deny that this was a negro - so they just don't mention him. The subject matter - the erect black penis - was also taboo for Victorians, and is still taboo. - Roman Hermaphrodite 614 A symbol of the female phallus - the Dendera Light. - A snake emerging from a lotus supported by a Djed pillar. In ancient Egypt, Isis resurrected Osiris - but one piece was missing - his penis was eaten by a fish. So Osiris was unable to rule and became lord of the Underworld. The ruling penis was attached to a female after Horus defeated Set and took the double crown of Egypt. My reading is the male penis was confined must of the time in the penis cage, and only brought out for procreation and religious occasions. This had the side effect of forcing the male Eros upwards - lighting up the chakras as the Kundalini does for the Hindus. Another side effect of the caged penis was a strong female sex-drive in ancient Egypt - the "female phallus" centered on the fiery lioness goddess Sekhmet and her ever-erect "Wadj sceptre in the form of a papyrus flower" * " ... The Dendera light is a motif carved as a set of stone reliefs in the Hathor temple at Dendera in Egypt, which superficially resemble modern electric lighting devices. A fringe hypothesis suggests that the Dendera light depicts advanced electrical technology possessed by the ancient Egyptians; however, mainstream Egyptologists view the carvings as representing instead a typical set of symbolic images from Egyptian mythology. These depict a djed pillar and a lotus flower spawning a snake inside it, symbols of stability and fertility, respectively. The view of Egyptologists is that the relief is a mythological depiction of a djed pillar and a lotus flower (Nymphaea caerulea), spawning a snake within, representing aspects of Egyptian mythology. The djed pillar is a symbol of stability which is also interpreted as the backbone of the god Osiris. In the carvings the four horizontal lines forming the capital of the djed are supplemented by human arms stretching out, as if the djed were a backbone. The arms hold up the snake within the lotus flower. The snakes coming from the lotus symbolize fertility, linked to the annual Nile flood. ... "Wikipedia " ... 'Creation of the cosmos in Dendera.' Some of the most famous images from the Hathor Temple at Dendera can be found in the crypt beneath its southern wall. The reliefs here portray human figures next to bulb-like objects reminiscent of oversized light bulbs. What we witness here is the creation of the cosmos, in the from of an elongated bulb. It springs from a lotus-flower on a boat, the lotus being the first object that floated on the primordial sea, according to Egyptian cosmology. From the flower also appears a snake, which is equated to the rising sun and the god Harsomptus and which is enveloped by the cosmos. Harsomptus is also present in human form, standing behind the bulb. The top of the cosmos-bulb is supported by the God of Infinity, Heh, kneeling on a square base, while the sun-snake is supported by a Djed pillar with arms, symbol of stability and continuity. Sitting beneath the bulb are the goddess Hathor (on the right) and, facing each other, two representations of the ka (living essence) of Harsomptus. Upu, the frog-headed baboon on the right holding two knives in his hands, is a protective genie. It is in this crypt below the southern wall that the golden statue of the ba (soul) of Hathor (mother of Harsomptus) was kept. And it was probably here that the sacred procession started on the eve of the first day of the New Year, bringing the statue of the goddess to the roof of the temple, just as the newly created sun rose from the abyss on the First Day. This part of the Dendera Temple was built during the later Ptolemaic period (first century BC). Photo Mick Palarczyk. ... "paulsmit.smugmug Roman Hermaphrodite 615 Looks like there is a Djed pillar at the center of the Great Pyramid at Giza: the "King's Chamber". Down below is the "Queens Chamber" with tiny air shafts that probably aligned with the stars. My guess is this was a functional religious instrument related to the Dendera light above. * " ... According to Napoleonic legend, the future emperor of France emerged from Egypt’s Great Pyramid pale and shaken, having spent hours alone in the King’s Chamber. He never revealed what had rattled him, but supposedly the episode changed his life. Whether or not the story is true, it certainly attests to the power of the Great Pyramid to rouse a great leader’s imagination as well as our own: What could Napoleon possibly have seen to provoke such a reaction? What exactly is inside the Great Pyramid? The plain answer is, well, not a lot, really. The Great Pyramid, or the Pyramid of Khufu, is the oldest and the tallest of the three pyramids towering over Giza. Constructed c. 2551–2528 BCE, it originally stood at 481.4 feet (147 meters), or about 45 stories. Its immense size makes it a marvel to behold, but the Great Pyramid, and its neighbors, the Pyramids of Khafre and Menkaure, are mostly just solid masses of stone—2.3 million blocks of cut limestone, to be more precise, which is the approximate number making up the Great Pyramid. All three pyramids would originally have had an outer casing of lighter limestone, as seen on the cap of Khafre’s pyramid. We can only imagine how the gleaming white limestone would have made the pyramids an even more dazzling spectacle than they are now. The Pyramids of Giza, like the Egyptian pyramids that came before and after them, were royal tombs, a final resting place for their pharaohs, or kings. They were often part of an extensive funerary complex that included queens’ burial sites and mortuary temples for daily offerings. The pharaoh’s final resting place was usually within a subterranean burial chamber underneath the pyramid. Although the Great Pyramid has subterranean chambers, they were never completed, and Khufu’s sarcophagus rests in the King’s Chamber, where Napoleon is said to have sojourned, deep inside the Great Pyramid. Like its neighbors, the Great Pyramid has very little open space inside its hulking mass. Napoleon would have reached the King’s Chamber through a very tight ascending passageway, past the Queen’s Chamber (a misnomer), and then through a taller corbelled passageway called the Grand Gallery. Once inside the King’s Chamber, Napoleon would have seen that it was small and lined, like other kings’ chambers, with thick granite blocks. The space would have been very austere, as Egyptians only began decorating burial chambers with hieroglyphic texts in later pyramids. Moreover, by the time of Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign at the end of the 18th century, the pyramids would have long been plundered. He would not have found any rumored treasures in the chamber, only the enormous granite sarcophagus, once containing the king’s mummy, set firmly in the floor. With not much to see inside the Great Pyramid, or either of the other pyramids near Giza, we can only imagine what could have disconcerted the proud Napoleon—just as we can only imagine the pyramids’ other mysteries: the royal treasures they once might have hidden, the brilliant sight they must have been when first completed, and the disciplined effort it took to construct them. ... " Alicja Zelazko, Encyclopedia Britannica * - (July 18, 2020) Had a recent nightmare of being attacked by skeletal midget mummies come to life after being excavated. They began attacking full sized humans with needle - like objects that probably tranquilized them an brought them under their control ... All that while screaming in a guttural language that sounded vaguely Arabic. I was able to escape them, but just barely Roman Hermaphrodite 616 Dendera light, Hathor temple at Dendera in Egypt Note the female Horus on the far right with the double white crown of Egypt and the "sidelock of youth". That's probably where the snake is emerging from - the "female phallus" Roman Hermaphrodite 617 Pharaoh Seti I making an offering to the dressed sacred Djed column. The pillar possesses two eyes and wears two high feathers. Interior of Abydos Temple, el Balyana, Egypt. The male dress and the 2 high feathers crown mean the Djed column corresponds to the male Pharaoh - who is a consort to the sovereign of Egypt - the Queen or the female Horus Roman Hermaphrodite 618 Roman part of Dendera Temple with Sekhmet and flying snakes and stars. Note there is both a sitting female Sekhmet and a standing male and tan Sekhmet. Sekhmet is a lioness goddess but also has a penis " ... During an annual festival held at the beginning of the year, a festival of intoxication, the Egyptians danced and played music to soothe the wildness of the goddess and drank great quantities of wine ritually to imitate the extreme drunkenness that stopped the wrath of the goddess—when she almost destroyed humanity. This may relate to averting excessive flooding during the inundation at the beginning of each year as well, when the Nile ran blood-red with the silt from up-stream. In 2006, Betsy Bryan, an archaeologist with Johns Hopkins University excavating at the temple of Mut in Luxor (Thebes) presented her findings about the festival that included illustrations of the priestesses being served to excess and its adverse effects on them being ministered to by temple attendants. Participation in the festival was great, including by the priestesses and the population. Historical records of tens of thousands attending the festival exist. These findings were made in the temple of Mut because when Thebes rose to greater prominence Mut absorbed some characteristics of Sekhmet. These temple excavations at Luxor discovered a "porch of drunkenness" built onto the temple by the Pharaoh Hatshepsut during the height of her twenty-year reign. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 619 Two statues of the Sekhmet sun goddess in the "Ägyptisches Museum" of Berlin. Those are 2 erect female phalli - I take the Egyptians at their word when they say Osiris lost his penis and a female Harpocrates gained a penis- Egyptian men were sexually locked up or even castrated - Egyptian priests probably did what the priests of Artemis and Cybele did - removal of the testes and even complete castration. The rest of the male population was in the penis cage. The end-result of this was female sexual aggression which was given mass release every year right after the flooding of the Nile: The Nile festival of drunkenness. The flooding of the Nile was orgy-time in Egypt - its probably when there was a religious obligation to break the "dog-leash" - This tradition probably continued in Rome - Cybele and her lions and orgies reminds me of Sekhmet: " ... Johns Hopkins University's Betsy Bryan, who has been leading an excavation effort at the Temple of Mut since 2001, laid out her team's findings on the drinking festival here on Saturday during the annual New Horizons in Science briefing, presented by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. "We are talking about a festival in which people come together in a community to get drunk," she said. "Not high, not socially fun, but drunk — knee-walking, absolutely passed-out drunk." The temple excavations turned up what appears to have been a "porch of drunkenness," associated with Hatshepsut, the wife and half-sister of Thutmose II. After the death of Thutmose II in 1479 B.C., Hatshepsut ruled New Kingdom Egypt for about 20 years as a female pharaoh, and the porch was erected at the height of her reign. Some of the inscriptions that were uncovered at the temple link the drunkenness festival with "traveling through the marshes," which Bryan said was an ancient Egyptian euphemism for having sex. ... ... The point of all this wasn't simply to have a good time, Bryan said. Instead, the festival — which was held during the first month of the year, just after the first flooding of the Nile — re-enacted the myth of Sekhmet, a lion-headed war goddess. According to the myth, the bloodthirsty Sekhmet nearly destroyed all humans, but the sun god Re tricked her into drinking mass quantities of ochre-colored beer, thinking it was blood. Once Sekhmet passed out, she was transformed into a kinder, gentler goddess named Hathor, and humanity was saved. Bryan said the festival re-enactment came to its climax when the drummers woke up the celebrants. "The ultimate intention of inebriation is to see and experience the deity," she said. That's when the Egyptians would ask the goddess to preserve the community from harm. "It was a communal request, not an individual request," Bryan said. ... The discoveries at the Temple of Mut parallel historical references to drunken rituals during Egypt's Greco-Roman period. The writer Herodotus reported in 440 B.C. that such festivals drew as many as 700,000 people — with drunken women exposing themselves to onlookers. "More grape wine is consumed at this festival than in all the rest of the year besides," Herodotus wrote. The festival also turns up in chronicles from around A.D. 200. The new twist in Bryan's work is that such rituals were found to have taken place during a much earlier time in Egyptian history, said Aidan Dodson, an Egyptologist at the University of Bristol. "She's actually found the first definite evidence," he told MSNBC" Alan Boyle, nbcnews Roman Hermaphrodite 620 Mut wearing the double crown of Egypt giving Amun the gift of life or Ankh - Temple of Mut " ... Goddess Mut was the wife of Amun and mother of Khonsu (the Moon God) The Precinct of Mut is one of four areas of the Karnak temple site and occupies 150,000 square metres. It was originally known as Isheru or Asher. Isheru was the name of the spring that fed the Sacred Lake. It originates from the 18th Dynasty and goes through to the Graeco Roman period. Records have the temple dating from Middle Kingdom (2040-1650 BCE) and were in use until the Roman Emperor Tiberius (14-37 CE). Hundreds of statues are throughout the site and a great number were found in the Sacred Lake. More Sekhmet statues were found here than any other site in Luxor. There are scenes inside the temple that date from King Taharqa (690-664 BCE) ... " Mut Temple Precinct Opening – Karnak; My Luxor by Bernard M. Adams " ... Mut .... was a mother goddess worshipped in ancient Egypt. Her name literally means mother in the ancient Egyptian language. Mut had many different aspects and attributes that changed and evolved a lot over the thousands of years of ancient Egyptian culture. Mut was considered a primal deity, associated with the primordial waters of Nu from which everything in the world was born. Mut was sometimes said to have given birth to the world through parthenogenesis, but more often she was said to have a husband, the solar creator god Amun-Ra. Although Mut was believed by her followers to be the mother of everything in the world, she was particularly associated as the mother of the lunar child god Khonsu. At the Temple of Karnak in Egypt's capital city of Thebes, the family of Amun-Ra, Mut and Khonsu were worshipped together as the Theban Triad. In art, Mut was usually depicted as a woman wearing the double crown of the kings of Egypt, representing her power over the whole of the land. ... " Wikipedia The son of Mut and Amun - Khonsu seems to be both male and female - he wears the female "sidelock of youth" but also bears the male "djed pillar" - other times he is depicted as a female falcon - like Horus Mut herself , is sometimes depicted with a penis: " ... Related to this aspect of Mut may be depictions of her with an erect penis, indicating her capacity to create herself anew as her own daughter. BD spell 164 is to be said over such an image, specifically an image of Mut “having three faces – one like the face of Pakhet,” that is, the face of a lioness, “wearing twin plumes, another like a human face wearing the White Crown and the Red Crown,” – Mut’s normal aspect – “another like a vulture’s face wearing twin plumes – and a phallus and wings, with a lion’s claws.” ... " henadology - That's a mami wata image - 3 heads and a female phallus! - My theory is the female phallus is the serpent or dark side integrated rather than projected on to ghetto Negroes ... America is in the process of erasing the ghetto Negro - the ghetto is being gentrified out of existence. The new America is probably going to be more like Brazil It's a complicated subject - the ghetto had it's positives - artists need their ghettos ... Roman Hermaphrodite 621 Ramses III censing before a form of Sekhmet-Min In the chambers of the temple of Khonsu in the precinct of the temple of Amun at Karnak. - I saw a challenge to this image as not being Sekhmet - but to me the image is valid - I see these in the dream space - I call them Amazon-bulls It seems safe to generalize the 18th dynasty was defined by this image - this was also the age of the Minoan female bull phallus and the female bull-jumpers - and the female king and queen couple of Akhenaten and Nefertiti - One way I think of this is water or food. Withdraw food and water, and you create thirst and hunger. The male dog-leash was a withdrawal of an essential nutrient that had observable effects - the dog-leash tan on men and a heightened sexual drive in women - The original caption of this image was Sekhmet-Min and Ptah. - But that's not Ptah - it's Khonsu, the child of Mut and Amun. Roman Hermaphrodite 622 "17th or 18th dynasty king wearing an unusual early form of dress, Egypt c 1600 1295 BC. " - Getty Images - That's not a king - That's female head-gear. Also she has breasts in addition to a large penis-sheath. My guess is that's a female member of a Sekhmet-Min cult - an Amazon-bull - Or the "bull of my mother" which was a common Egyptian term Roman Hermaphrodite 623 "Queen Arsinoe II identified with the Goddess Isis. Ptolemaic period. 4th century B.C. " - Getty Images See-through dress with the Isis knot or "dog-leash" on her right shoulder She wore the double crown of Egypt - in keeping with Egyptian practice, with her brother Ptolemy II as consort " ... Arsinoë II, 316 BC – c .270 BC, was a Ptolemaic queen and co-regent of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of ancient Egypt. Arsinoe was queen of Thrace, Anatolia and Macedonia by marriage to King Lysimachus and co-ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom with her brother-husband, Pharaoh Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Arsinoe was given the unprecedented Egyptian title "King of Upper and Lower Egypt", marking her a full pharaoh. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 624 "Female figure, possibly Princess Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten, pink quartzite statue fragment ... Dynasty XVIII" - Getty Images Female nudity was not just for the "Festival of Drunkeness" in the 18th dynasty. It was an everyday event. That's more radical than classical Greece. Public nudity was male-only in ancient Greece. The only other example I can think of is Etruscan civilization - where women practiced polyandry and controlled their own property. Beyond this, you have to go pre-colonial Africa and and south American Indians to see open displays of female nudity Roman Hermaphrodite 625 Mut and Amun at the Walters. I was surprised that Amun was a consort to Mut. That's new to me ... " ... This carved sculpture depicts Mut with the crowns of upper and lower Egypt with a uraeus, and Amun with a crown with a uraeus with a hole for the insertion of plumes. Each holds the symbol of life. The right arm of Mut is broken. ... ca. 746-335 BCE (Late Period) brownish stone ... " Walters Gallery of Art, Baltimore Roman Hermaphrodite 626 " ... Cleopatra VII with cornucopia, basalt statue, Ptolemaic Period, 1st century BC. ... " Getty images " ... Cleopatra VII Philopator 69 – 30 BC was the last active ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. ... Her native language was Koine Greek, and she was the only Ptolemaic ruler to learn the Egyptian language. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 627 Colossal sandstone statue of Akhenaten, Ancient Amarna period, c.1350-1334 BC - That's a woman. My guess is she was part of the Khonsu cult - that's like Horus - a female with a phallus Roman Hermaphrodite 628 Gray granite statue of the god Khonsu - Djed pillar is male - but sidelock of youth is female. This was a cult for women in male positions of authority " ... Khonsu ... is the Ancient Egyptian god of the Moon. His name means "traveller", and this may relate to the perceived nightly travel of the Moon across the sky. Along with Thoth he marked the passage of time. Khonsu was instrumental in the creation of new life in all living creatures. At Thebes he formed part of a family triad (the "Theban Triad") with Mut as his mother and Amun his father. Khonsu's name reflects the fact that the Moon (referred to as Iah in Egyptian) travels across the night sky, for it means "traveller", and also had the titles "Embracer", "Pathfinder", and "Defender", as he was thought to watch over those who travel at night. As the god of light in the night, Khonsu was invoked to protect against wild animals, and aid with healing. It was said that when Khonsu caused the crescent moon to shine, women conceived, cattle became fertile, and all nostrils and every throat was filled with fresh air. In art, Khonsu is typically depicted as a mummy with the symbol of childhood, a sidelock of hair, as well as the menat necklace with crook and flail. He has close links to other divine children such as Horus and Shu. He is sometimes shown wearing an eagle or falcon's head like Horus, with whom he is associated as a protector and healer, adorned with the sun disk and crescent moon. Khonsu is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts and Coffin Texts, in which he is depicted in a fierce aspect, but he does not rise to prominence until the New Kingdom, when he is described as the "Greatest God of the Great Gods". Most of the construction of the temple complex at Karnak was centered on Khonsu during the Ramesside period. His temple at Karnak is in a relatively good state of preservation, and on one of the walls is depicted a creation myth in which Khonsu is described as the great snake who fertilizes the Cosmic Egg in the creation of the world. Khonsu's reputation as a healer spread outside Egypt; a stele records how a princess of Bekhten was instantly cured of an illness upon the arrival of an image of Khonsu. King Ptolemy IV, after he was cured of an illness, called himself "Beloved of Khonsu Who Protects His Majesty and Drives Away Evil Spirits". Locations of Khonsu's cult were Memphis, Hibis and Edfu. ... " Wikipedia -Roman Hermaphrodite 629 "Temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu/ reliefs on the wall in the first courtyard.The king offering to goddess Sekhmet " Alamy - Probably a "Festival of Drunkness" ritual. Pacifying Sekhmet was probably an annual sexual ritual around the time of the Nile flood. Not sure about the crown though ... Sovereign power was always in a queen, not a king. Rameses III was murdered by Queen Tiye who tried to place her son on the throne rather than the designated heir Rameses IV. Rameses III was killed, but Tiye and her conspirators were executed for what is know as the Harem conspiracy. " ... The harem conspiracy was a plot to murder the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses III. The principal figure behind the plot was one of the pharaoh's secondary wives, Tiye, who hoped to put her son Pentawere on the throne instead of the pharaoh's chosen successor, Ramesses IV. The plan was organized by the court official Pebekkamen. The plot succeeded in causing the death of the pharaoh, but failed to establish Pentawere on the throne. In the aftermath, the leading conspirators were convicted and executed. ... : Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 630 ""One of Ramesses III's queens from the tomb of his son Prehirwenemef." wikipedia Although there is a conflict - Wikipedia also states "Pareherwenemef was an ancient Egyptian prince of the 19th dynasty, the third son of Pharaoh Ramesses II, the second by Queen Nefertari." My intuition is this is the queen who murdered Ramesses III - That was the sovereign; she has the double crown. Pharaohs were proclaimed by Ptah. She's fully nude and is probably the living Sehkmet - or phallic Sekhmet - Sekhmet-Min My guess is that is the wife who murdered him, Queen Tiye. Only a sovereign could command such power. Her son was probably not a son of Ramesses. - The Roman Augusta system worked the same way. Queen Tiye led the "Harem conspiracy" - but Harem is probably not what we think of as a Harem. Sex was an all female affair in ancient Egypt - men were "dog-leashed" Roman Hermaphrodite 631 Relief of Pharaoh before Sekhmet (lion-headed goddess:a local form of Tefnut), Temple of Khnum, Esna, Egypt, Ptolemaic and Roman Periods. Behind Sekhmet is probably Isis. Roman pharaoh or Greek king appeasing Sekhmet. Probably the same as appeasing Cybele and her lions. During the Nile flood orgy season that became Sekhmet-Min - or a phallic Augusta. Roman Hermaphrodite 632 The Theban Triad: Amun-Re enthroned, accompanied by a lion-headed Mut and Khonsu Mut - the mother of Sekhmet was also a phallic lioness who had to be appeased during mating season - Nile flood tide Khonsu is always described as a son, but the sidelock of youth marks him as a daughter. Khonsou also had a phallus, which was "dog-leashed" like a male phallus and carried a djed pillar Roman Hermaphrodite 633 The lion-headed Goddess Mut at the Roman Temple of Deir El-Hagar. This sandstone Temple was erected during the reign of the Roman Emperor Nero (54-67 AD), and decorated during the time of Vespasian , Titus and Domitian Note the "sidelock of youth" marking the lion as female - and the double crown of Egypt - that's an image of the Augusta - Roman Hermaphrodite 634 The lion-headed Goddess Mut to the left and a nude "dog-leashed" Khonsu, center - the Roman Temple of Deir El-Hagar An erect Min is displayed on a side-panel on the right. Probably a signal of the "dog-days" of summer in Egypt during the Nile flood. That's the season when the "dog" or leashed penis was set free ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 635 Domitian - Roman emperor from 81 to 96 AD depicted as pharaoh and offering to Amun-Min - or an erect Amun. Behind Min is probably Mut in her lioness form - probably incarnated by the Augusta Domitia Longina Roman temple of Deir el-Haggar, Main Gate (X) Roman Hermaphrodite 636 Entrance of the Temple of Hathor and Nefertari (The Small Temple) in Abu Simbel, Aswan, Egypt. " ... The temple of Hathor and Nefertari, also known as the Small Temple, was built about 100 m (330 ft) northeast of the temple of Ramesses II and was dedicated to the goddess Hathor and Ramesses II's chief consort, Nefertari. ... The rock-cut facade is decorated with two groups of colossi that are separated by the large gateway. The statues, slightly more than 10 m (33 ft) high, are of the king and his queen. On either side of the portal are two statues of the king, wearing the white crown of Upper Egypt (south colossus) and the double crown (north colossus); these are flanked by statues of the queen. Remarkably, this is one of very few instances in Egyptian art where the statues of the king and his consort have equal size. Traditionally, the statues of the queens stood next to those of the pharaoh, but were never taller than his knees. ... ... Although Nefertari's family background is unknown, the discovery in her tomb of a knob inscribed with the cartouche of Pharaoh Ay has led people to speculate she was related to him. The time between the reign of Ay and Ramesses II means that Nefertari could not be a daughter of Ay and if any relation exists at all, she would be a great-granddaughter. There is no conclusive evidence linking Nefertari to the royal family of the 18th dynasty, however. Nefertari married Ramesses II before he ascended the throne. Nefertari had at least four sons and two daughters. Amun-her-khepeshef, the eldest was Crown Prince and Commander of the Troops, and Pareherwenemef would later serve in Ramesses II’s army. Prince Meryatum was elevated to the position of High Priest of Re in Heliopolis. Inscriptions mention he was a son of Nefertari. Prince Meryre is a fourth son mentioned on the façade of the small temple at Abu Simbel and is thought to be another son of Nefertari. Meritamen and Henuttawy are two royal daughters depicted on the façade of the small temple at Abu Simbel and are thought to be daughters of Nefertari. Princesses named Bak(et)mut, Nefertari, and Nebettawy are sometimes suggested as further daughters of Nefertari based on their presence in Abu Simbel, but there is no concrete evidence for this supposed family relation." Wikipedia - My guess is the sovereign was Queen Nefetari wIth Ramesses II as her consort. She did not give birth to the next pharaoh though. By the time the king died, all he male children were also dead. " ... Nefertari, also known as Nefertari Meritmut, was an Egyptian queen and the first of the Great Royal Wives (or principal wives) of Ramesses the Great. Nefertari means 'beautiful companion' and Meritmut means 'Beloved of [the goddess] Mut'. She is one of the best known Egyptian queens, next to Cleopatra, Nefertiti, and Hatshepsut. She was highly educated and able to both read and write hieroglyphs, a very rare skill at the time. She used these skills in her diplomatic work, corresponding with other prominent royals of the time. Her lavishly decorated tomb, QV66, is one of the largest and most spectacular in the Valley of the Queens. Ramesses also constructed a temple for her at Abu Simbel next to his colossal monument there. Nefertari held many titles, including: Great of Praises (wrt-hzwt), Sweet of Love (bnrt-mrwt), Lady of Grace (nbt-im3t), Great King’s Wife (hmt-niswt-wrt), his beloved (hmt-niswt-wrt meryt.f), Lady of The Two Lands (nbt-t3wy), Lady of all Lands (hnwt-t3w-nbw), Wife of the Strong Bull (hmt-k3-nxt), god's Wife (hmt-ntr), Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (hnwt-Shm’w-mhw). Ramesses II also named her 'The one for whom the sun shines'. ... " Wikipedia Roman Hermaphrodite 637 Nude Statue of Queen Tuya - the mother of Ramesses II - Vatican " ... This work, sculpted during Dynasty XVIII with the features of Queen Tiye, wife of Amenhotep III, was “usurped” and reused during the Dynasty XIX by Ramesses II, who dedicated it to his mother Tuya. This queen, who had an important political and court role, received after her death a funerary cult associated with that of her son in the so-called Ramesseum, the burial site of Ramesses situated in West Thebes, where this statue would originally have been erected. On the left side of the dorsal pillar the princess Henutmire is depicted, described in the brief inscription as the “royal daughter” or the “royal wife”. Considered in the past to have been one of the daughters of Ramesses II, Henutmire has now been identified as one of the pharaoh’s sisters, possibly the daughter of the same father Seti I. Her statue would have been brought to Rome and placed in the “Gardens of Sallust” of the emperor Caligula, along with the statues of Ptolemy II, Arsinoë II and Drusilla-Arsinoë. It was unearthed in 1714 in the gardens of Vigna Verospi, and entered the Vatican upon the foundation of the new Egyptian Museum in 1839. ... " museivaticani - Roman Hermaphrodite 638 Nude Queen Nefatari - Luxor Photo by Yakov_Oskanov This image is almost identical to that of Queen Tuya above. The are probably both Nefertari Roman Hermaphrodite 639 A nude Queen Nefertari propitiating the goddess Taweret, the god Thoth and the goddess Nut during year 1 of her reign - The public nudity probably means a high female sex drive. 19th dynasty was a sexual dynasty ... Evidence for this is above - an erect Sekhmet-Min being propitiated by Rameses III - plate 621 " .... West Silsila, Scene next to Year 1 Stela. i. Over Queen (before Taweret, Thoth and Nut) Great Royal Wife, Lady of Both Lands, who propitiates the Gods, Queen Nefertari, may she live forever, [playing] the sistra for the Lady of the Two Lands. ii. Taweret Taweret, <residing in> the Pure Water which is in the primordial waters (Nun); Mistress of the Gods. iii. Thoth Thoth, Lord of Hermopolis, true scribe of the Conclave of Gods, Great god residing at the Pure Water: "I grant to you all life, stability and dominion". iv. Nut (Wearing Disc within horns): Nut residing at the Pure Water, Ruler <of ...> ... "mathstat.slu Based on Lepsius, Abt III, Band 7, Bl. 175 Taweret or the Hippo like Papyrus is no longer found in Egypt. You have to go to east Africa to see her: " ... In Ancient Egyptian religion, Taweret ... is the protective ancient Egyptian goddess of childbirth and fertility. The name "Taweret" means "she who is great" or simply "great one", a common pacificatory address to dangerous deities. The deity is typically depicted as a bipedal female hippopotamus with feline attributes, pendulous female human breasts, the limbs and paws of a lion, and the back and tail of a Nile crocodile. She commonly bears the epithets "Lady of Heaven", "Mistress of the Horizon", "She Who Removes Water", "Mistress of Pure Water", and "Lady of the Birth House ... From her ideological conception, Taweret was closely grouped with (and is often indistinguishable from) several other protective hippopotamus goddesses: Ipet, Reret, and Hedjet. Some scholars even interpret these goddesses as aspects of the same deity, considering their universally shared role as protective household goddesses. The other hippopotamus goddesses have names that bear very specific meanings, much like Taweret (whose name is formed as a pacificatory address intended to calm the ferocity of the goddess): Ipet's name ("the Nurse") demonstrates her connection to birth, child rearing, and general caretaking, and Reret's name ("the Sow") is derived from the Egyptians' classification of hippopotami as water pigs. However, the origin of Hedjet's name ("the White One") is not as clear and could justly be debated. Evidence for the cult of hippopotamus goddesses exists from the time of the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 – 2181 BCE) in the corpus of ancient Egyptian funerary texts entitled the Pyramid Texts. Spell 269 in the Pyramid Texts mentions Ipet and succinctly demonstrates her nurturing role; the spell announces that the deceased king will suck on the goddess's "white, dazzling, sweet milk" when he ascends to the heavens. As maternal deities, these goddesses served to nurture and protect the Egyptian people, both royal (as seen in the Pyramid Texts) and non-royal. ... " Wikipedia Sekhmet is also missing from Egypt today. Between 1994 and 1998 I used to watch a lot of pornography - and a recurring image I would see before playing the videos was a pride of lioness' coming down to drink at a waterhole - they seemed to me like sex-positive jinn in the shape of female lions! I did not know anything about Sekhmet at this time. Unlike the modern day image of Sekhmet- I did not sense menace from them - just powerful lust ... " ... Nefertari depicted on monuments: Nefertari first appears in an inscription in year one when she accompanies Ramesses II to Abydos to elevate Nebwenenef to the position of High Priest of Amun. In the same year she also appears on a stela in Silsila. Nefertari is omnipresent in Karnak and Luxor. She appears in a scene for the festival of Amun-Min-Kamephis. She is shown dancing at this festival. She also appears as the Queen next to the great statues of Ramesses II throughout the temples. Princess-Queens Merytamen and Bint-anath also appear as royal consorts, but by far the great majority of the images of royal ladies belong to Nefertari. Nefertari followed in the footsteps of Queen Tiye, Amenhotep III's Great Royal Wife, by having a Nubian temple deicated in her honor. Ramesses had a temple dedicated to Hathor and Nefertari built at Abu Simbel, in close proximity of the great rock temple. Nefertari's presence in these two temples is rather unprecedented. In the great temple Nefertari is shown on the facade of the temple with other royal family members. Inside the temple we see Nefertari accompanying her husband in smiting scenes. This is quite unusual for a Queen. The smaller temple of Hathor is also dedicated to Queen Nefertari. She is depicted on the facade at equal size to her husband. Her two Colossal statues are flanked by her daughters Merytamen and Henuttawy. Inside the temple we see Neferatri being crowned by Hathor and Isis. Nefertari may have held her exalted position due to the fact that she gace birth to the heir to the throne, prince Amenhirkhepeshef. She is beyond a doubt the highest ranking royal lady in Egypt during the first 20 years of the reign of Ramesses II. She is known to have corresponded with Queen Puduheba of the Hittites as a letter by Nefertari was found in the royal archives in Bogazkoy in Hatti. Her health may have deteriorated by ca year 25. A stela by the viceroy Heqanakht shows Ramesses accompanied by his daughter-wife Merytamen making offerings at the temple at Abu Simbel. In a lower register the viceroy is shown adoring Queen Nefertari. Soon after Nefertari disappears from the scene altogether. Queen Nefertari was buried in QV66 in the Valley of the Queens. The decorations in her tomb are considered some of the most beautiful of the entire necropolis. The tomb was robbed in antiquity, but some items (shabtis etc) were found by Schiaparelli. The tomb was the focus of major restoration work done by the Getty foundation. Much damage had been done to the once beautiful decorations by seeping water and salt. The tomb is now closed to the public. A fragment of one of Nefertari's canopic jars is in the collection of the Petrie Museum - UC16418 ... " mathstat.slu. - Roman Hermaphrodite 640 3 nude daughters of Akhenaten - 18th dynasty. Note the "sideknot of youth" and the elongated skulls " .... From left to right: Setepenre, Neferneferure, and Neferneferuaten Tasherit at the Durbar in year 12. Setepenre was born around the 9th to 11th year of her father Akhenaten in the city of Akhetaten. She had five older sisters named Meritaten, Meketaten, Ankhesenpaaten, Neferneferuaten Tasherit, and Neferneferure. ... One of the earliest depictions of Setepenre is in a fresco from the King’s House in Amarna. She is depicted sitting on her mother Nefertiti's lap. The fresco is much damaged and only a small hand of Setepenre remains The fresco is dated to ca. year 9 of Akhenaten, and the entire family is depicted. The next time the six princesses appeared together was in Year 12, on the eighth day of the second month of winter, during the so-called “reception of foreign tributes”. This event was depicted in the Amarna tombs of Meryre II and Huya. In the tomb of Meryre II, Akhenaten and Nefertiti are shown seated in a kiosk, receiving tribute from foreign lands. The daughters of the royal couple are shown standing behind their parents. Setepenre is the last daughter in the lower register. She is standing right behind her sister Neferneferure, who is holding a gazelle. Setepenre is shown reaching over to pet the gazelle. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 641 Nude statue of Nefertiti; Limestone; 18th dynasty; c. 1345 BC. Egyptian Museum Berlin Note the elongated skull - That's probably the sovereign - Akhenaten was probably the consort of Nerertiti " ... Neferneferuaten Nefertiti (c. 1370 – c. 1330 BC) was an Egyptian queen and the Great Royal Wife of Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they worshipped one god only, Aten, or the sun disc. With her husband, she reigned at what was arguably the wealthiest period of Ancient Egyptian history. Some scholars believe that Nefertiti ruled briefly as Neferneferuaten after her husband's death and before the accession of Tutankhamun, although this identification is a matter of ongoing debate. If Nefertiti did rule as Pharaoh, her reign was marked by the fall of Amarna and relocation of the capital back to the traditional city of Thebes. Nefertiti had many titles including Hereditary Princess (iryt-p`t); Great of Praises (wrt-Hzwt); Lady of Grace (nbt-im3t), Sweet of Love (bnrt-mrwt); Lady of The Two Lands (nbt-t3wy); Main King's Wife, his beloved (Hmt-nswt-‘3t mryt.f); Great King's Wife, his beloved (Hmt-nswt-wrt mryt.f), Lady of All Women (Hnwt-Hmwt-nbwt); and Mistress of Upper and Lower Egypt (Hnwt-Shm’w-mhw). While modern Egyptological pronunciation renders her name as Nefertiti, her name was probably contemporaneously pronounced as Nafertyiti. She was made famous by her bust, now in Berlin's Neues Museum. The bust is one of the most copied works of ancient Egypt. It was attributed to the sculptor Thutmose, and it was found in his workshop. ... The exact dates when Nefertiti married Akhenaten and became the king's Great Royal Wife are uncertain. Their six known daughters (and estimated years of birth) were: Meritaten: No later than year 1. Meketaten: Year 4. Ankhesenpaaten, later known as Ankhesenamun, wife of Tutankhamun Neferneferuaten Tasherit: Year 8. Neferneferure: Year 9. Setepenre: Year 11. ... " Wikipedia - Roman Hermaphrodite 642 "Akhenaten leading Queen Tiye into the temple called Shadow of Re which he had dedicated to her (Amarnan Tomb of Huya)." - Alamy Tiye was the mother of Akhenaten and the wife of Amenhotep III. In large statues, Tiye is shown as the same size as Amenhotep III and was probably the sovereign. " ... Tiye (c. 1398 BC – 1338 BC) was the daughter of Yuya and Tjuyu. She became the Great Royal Wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III. She was the mother of Akhenaten and grandmother of Tutankhamun. ... " Wikipedia Women are nude; non-royals are bowing and men are bald and in skirts - in 18th dynasty Egypt nudity was for females only. They were probably the sexual aggressors. Queen Nefertiti and her six daughters probably spent a lot of time being serviced by un-leashed men in her male harem. - Shadow of Re temple is probably Sekhmet-Min or a phallic Sekhmet which is what Akhenaten was - a phallic woman. Amenhotep III had the highest concentration of statues of Sekhmet and was probably devoted to her cult. - Which was a Dionysun cult. Sekhmet had to be propitiated with large amounts of beer and wine and almost certainly sex. - Roman Hermaphrodite 643 A nude Akhenaten and family worshiping the Aten sun-disc. Boundary Stela S - Roman Hermaphrodite 644 "Line drawing made of scene from tomb (6) of Panehesy, in Amarna, (Akhet-Aten.) Akhenaten and Nefertiti offer incense and blooms wearing Atef-crowns. They are accompanied by the three eldest princesses. Below them, the queen's sister Mutnodjeme is shown with her two little people, (named elsewhere as Mutef-Pre and Hemetniswerneheh,) and a number of attendants." Pinterest Royal woman nude; men in skirts, non-royals bowing "Little people" was the subject a 4th dynasty pyramid nightmare recently - on plate 615 recorded above. I had a similar nightmare a long time ago - but that was dwarves conquering an ancient central African civilization ... The dream itself was deadly serious - although the image seems funny in retrospect. So its a little scary to find out there have been actual dwarf mummies dug up - and not a small number - and in prestigious tombs ... Apparently dwarves had high social status in early Egypt. This is new to me - the nightmare came first, then the awareness from the Internet: " ... In ancient Egypt, especially during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods, dwarfs and pygmies were seen as people with celestial gifts. They were treated with considerable respect and could enjoy high social positions. During the 1st Dynasty (c. 3150–2900 BC), dwarfs served and worked directly for the king and royal household, and a number have been found buried in subsidiary tombs around those of the kings. In fact, the rather high proportion of dwarfs in the royal cemeteries of the 1st Dynasty suggests some may have been brought into Egypt from elsewhere. Later, in the Old Kingdom (c. 2680–2180 BC), dwarfs were employed as jewellers, tailors, cup-bearers and zookeepers, could found families or be brought into one. Pygmies were employed as dancers for special occasions and religious festivals. The social position of dwarfs seems to have declined after the Old Kingdom. By the time of the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC) they were depicted in ridiculing ways, and while the papyrus "The wise doctrine of Amenemope, son of Kanakht" asks people not to treat them badly, this probably shows that they were subject to abuse. In Egyptian art, dwarfs and pygmies are depicted realistically which enables their identification as cases of nanism. The ancient Egyptians had three words and special hieroglyphs for dwarfs and revered several dwarf deities, in particular Bes, the god of the household and birth, and two dwarf forms of Ptah. ... ... The earliest known depictions of dwarfs in Egypt date to the early 1st Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC) and were found in the royal cemetery at Abydos. These are reliefs carved on private stelae placed in subsidiary tombs around that of the king. All surviving stelae are damaged and weathered, but the represented dwarfs can be seen to wear gold collars, fine linen skirts and carry insignia such as staffs of office and cloth seals, typical for high-ranking officials and priests. Depictions of dwarfs also appear in black-ink inscriptions on ceramics and earthen beer jugs. In addition, several ivory figurines showing male and female dwarfs were uncovered in Abydos. Again, many of these figurines show the dwarfs wearing gold collars, fine linen skirts and even fine stepped dreadlock wigs. Some of the female figurines are shown in a gesture typical for the birth in standing position and others clearly depict a pregnant woman. It is believed that these special figurines of female dwarfs were good luck charms for pregnant women intended to draw luck for the birth of healthy children. The proportion of dwarfs in the royal cemetery in Abydos is much larger than in a normal population. Thus, it is possible that some of these dwarfs were bought from elsewhere - or even came to Egypt voluntarily as a land where they could expect to rise to a high social status. In support for this hypothesis, Hermann Junker, Jacques Jean Clére and Hans Felix Wolf point to the Egyptian word Isww, meaning "I have bought (this)", and which often occurs in connection with dwarfs. However, it remains unclear if most of the dwarfs and pygmies were bought or if they "rented" themselves to institutions such as temples, shrines and even the pharaoh's court. Especially during the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2680 BC) and Old Kingdom (c. 2680–2180 BC), it was common in upper-class households that important sums of some kind were paid whenever dwarfs performed public dances or other duties. Similarly, valuables were exchanged whenever dwarfs and pygmies switched their employer or there was a change of the head of the house. Evidently, in rare cases, nanism would appear naturally within a healthy, normally grown family. Thus not all dwarfs and pygmies were inevitably gained by bestowal or acquisition. The Ancient Egyptians differentiated between "real" (genetic) dwarfs and pygmies, who arrived in Egypt, presumably as valuably exotic captives, from (again presumably) those areas of west Africa where members of this ethnic group still live (an enormous distance from the pharaonic kingdom, particularly given the lack of modern communications), though a possible origin for the dancing pygmies might have been modern day Sudan or Ethiopia (if they were formerly more widespread). Pygmies were exclusively hired on very special occasions for dancing and for acrobatic performances at temples and shrines. Dwarfs instead, were exclusively hired for highly skilled craftings and artistic duties. However, modern Egyptologists admonish for caution, the ancient Egyptian did not differ between dwarfs and pygmies to discriminate them, they simply chose their activities according to their skills. Dwarfs were treated with considerable respect in Ancient Egyptian society, notably during the Early Dynastic and Old Kingdom periods. Their natural nanism was seen as a celestial gift, and discrimination and social exclusion seem to have been unknown to the Egyptians. In most cases in which dwarfs were brought into a new family, they seem to have been accepted at once as full-fledged members. They were assigned special, exclusive duties, which were normally performed by the highest-ranked officials, such as priests and treasurers. Even in many royal households, next to the king, dwarfs were allowed to serve and work. The unusually high ranks and social positions that dwarfs enjoyed explain, for example, their important presence in subsidiary tombs around those of the 1st Dynasty pharaohs. These subsidiary tombs were reserved for the direct and most loyal servants of the ruler. To be allowed to be buried so close to the king shows how respected dwarfs were at that time. In the 6th Dynasty, during the reign of king Pepi II (2284–2184 BC), we know of a letter written by the then young king and addressed to his high official and prince Harkhuf who was sent to Elephantine in order to ask about the condition and whereabouts of a "dancing dwarf" (Egyptian Daneg ibaw). Harkhuf was ordered to bring the dwarf, which originated from the fabled Punt, to the palace of the king healthy and unharmed, no matter what the cost. The appointed passage includes that the king "desires to see the dwarf even more than to receive the precious gifts from Punt". The letter also reveals that before this event, already several dwarfs were brought from Punt into the royal household. ... " Wikipedia * - Wikipedia is separating Egypt from Africa! That's just not true ... In modern day Africa Pygmies are a tribe that lives in the jungles of Congo. It is almost a certainty that there is a massive ancient African civilization concealed in these massive tropical rain forests ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 645 Stele of the Sculptor Bek with his wife TaheretBek or Bak (Egyptian for “Servant”) was the first chief royal sculptor during the reign of pharaoh Akhenaten. - She is not nude - but everything is visible. He is in a skirt and is probably "dog-leashed" to his wife who is the sexual being. All that bowing probably had something to do with the biblical exodus. Bowing today is almost extinct but still exists in places like Islamic prayer. Many times I wonder if Moslem's are unknowingly bowing to an ancient Egyptian female spirit. In 18th dynasty Egypt women bowed their heads and men bent over for the Queen. In "She" a novel of central Africa - old men lay prostrate on the ground for the queen - who did not look to be over 30 years old. - The British aristocracy still bows their head to the queen - men bow, women curtsy. Americans do not bow. Japanese bow, but that's probably rooted in ancient sun-goddess worship - Roman Hermaphrodite 646 Standing-striding figure of Nefertiti; Limestone; Amarna; New Kingdom, 18th dynasty; c. 1345 BC. Egyptian Museum Berlin, Inv. no. 21263. - Queen Nefertiti is completely nude except for her sandals and her head-dress. I assume this was the normal mode of dress for the female Egyptian aristocracy - and Egyptian women in general. The only possible cause of this aggressive nudity and sexuality is the caged penis. Egypt was in the "dog-cage" most of the year. - Roman Hermaphrodite 647 "Tutankhamun and his wife Ankhesenamun at the Karnak Temple Complex in ancient Thebes, modern Luxor, Egypt, circa 1960" - Getty Images The queen is nude. My intuition is she was the sovereign, with King Tut as her consort. 18th dynasty - Roman Hermaphrodite 648 Female figure, possibly Princess Nefertiti, wife of Akhenaten, pink quartzite statue fragment, height 29 cm. Egyptian Civilisation, New Kingdom, Dynasty XVIII Both clothed and naked at the same time ... - Roman Hermaphrodite 649 Nude Akhenaten and Nefertiti shown in a wall decoration in the tomb of Parennefer at Amarna Nude daughters to left and bowing servant; below - chained Africans and Asians or Jews or Greeks and also below a row of bowing Egyptians. Above - is the Aten sun-disc; 18th Dynasty


	This sculpture is labeled the "Apollo of Cyrene" (Libya) but it is clearly a phallic woman playing a lyre. This lyre motif goes back to ancient Egypt and seems to have been associated with aggresive sexual behavior - even orgies - but with a twist. In elite Roman, Greek and Egyptian culture sexual behavior appears to have been the realm of women, with sexually restrained or infibulated men playing the passive role ... I call this wikipedia photo : "Apollo Citharoedus" Apollo of Cyrene, (Marble), British Museum, 2nd Century BC		Full screen version

ORIENS AVGGL: Latin abbreviation: Oriens Augusti - the rising Sun of the Emperor.