Kynodesme
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Deucalionite
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[[Image:Kynodesme image.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Picture of a classical Greek athlete wearing the Kynodesme (attributed to the Triptolemos painter, dating from about 480 BCE.)]]
A '''kynodesme''' ({{lang-gr|κυνόδεσμη}}, [[English language|English translation]]: "dog leash"), was a thin [[leather]] strip worn by athletes in [[Ancient Greece]] to restrain the [[penis]]. It was tied tightly around the part of the [[foreskin]] that extended beyond the [[glans penis|glans]]. The kynodesme could then either be attached to a waist band to expose the [[scrotum]], or tied to the base of the penis so that the penis appeared to curl upwards. Not all Greek athletes wore the kynodesme.
It is first alluded to in literature in the 5th century BC, in the partially preserved satyr play ''Theoroi '' by [[Aeschylus]]. There is also evidence from the illustration of athletes on Ancient Greek pottery.
==References==
* [http://www.cirp.org/library/history/hodges2/ Frederick M. Hodges] ''The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme'', The Bulletin Of The History Of Medicine, Volume 75: Pages 375–405, Fall 2001.
*{{cite book |title=Greek History |last=Osbourne |first=Robin |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=London and New York |isbn=0415317177 }} page 10
[[Category:Ancient Greece]]
[[Category:Ancient Olympic Games]]
[[Category:Penis]]
{{Ancient-Greece-stub}}