Phallus
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[[WP:UNDO|Undid]] revision 224342959 by [[Special:Contributions/202.83.57.131|202.83.57.131]] ([[User talk:202.83.57.131|talk]]) unexplained deletion
{{Otheruses4|the symbol of the erect penis|the male sex organ|penis|mushroom|Phallus (genus)}}[[Image:2005 walking penis.jpg|thumb|right|Penis costume at a 2005 parade. San Francisco, United States]]
The word '''phallus''' can refer to an erect [[penis]], or to an object shaped like a penis.
==Etymology==
Via [[Latin]], and [[ancient Greek|Greek]] ''{{polytonic|φαλλός}}'', from [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] [[root (linguistics)|root]] *''bhel''- "to inflate, swell". Compare with [[Old Norse]] (and [[Icelandic (language)|modern Icelandic]]) ''boli'' = "[[cattle|bull]]", [[Old English]] ''bulluc'' = "[[bullock]]", Greek ''{{polytonic|φαλλή}}'' = "[[whale]]". [http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=penis&searchmode=none]
==In physical anatomy==
[[Image:Mercury god.jpg|right|160px|thumb|[[Pompeii]] mural portraying the [[Roman mythology|Roman]] god [[Mercury (mythology)|Mercury]], 1st century, [[Current Era|C.E.]]]]The [[phallus (embryology)]] can refer to a precursor of the [[penis]] or [[clitoris]].
It also refers to the male sexual organ of certain [[bird]]s, which differs anatomically from a true (i.e. mammalian) penis; see [[Bird anatomy#Reproduction|Bird anatomy]].
==In art==
Ancient and modern [[sculpture]]s of phalloi have been found in many parts of the world, notably among the [[relic|vestiges]] of ancient [[Ancient Greece|Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]]. See also the [[Most Phallic Building contest]] for modern examples of phallic designs. In many ancient culture, phallic structures symbolized wellness and good health.
The [[Hohle phallus]], a 28,000-year-old siltstone phallus discovered in the [[Hohle Fels cave]] and first assembled in 2005, is among the oldest phallic representations known.<ref>{{cite news|first=Jonathan|last=Amos
|title=Ancient phallus unearthed in cave|publisher=BBC News|date=[[2005-07-25]]
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4713323.stm|accessdate=2006-07-08}}</ref>.
===India===
In [[Tantra|Tantric]] Shaivism a symbolic marker, the [[lingam]] is used for worship of the [[Hindu]] God [[Shiva]]. In related art the linga or lingam is the depiction of Shiva for example: [http://huntington.wmc.ohio-state.edu/public/index.cfm?fuseaction=showThisDetail&ObjectID=21606 mukhalinga]) or cosmic pillar.This pillar is the worship focus of the [[Hindu temple]], and is often situated within a [[yoni]], indicating a balance between male and female creative energies. Fertility is not the limit of reference derived from these sculptures, more generally they may refer to abstract principles of creation. Tantrism should not be generalised to all forms of Hindu worship.
The mukhalingas of the Huntington Archive[http://huntingtonarchive.osu.edu/] might well be compared with the personified Phallos terracotta of the [[Delos]] Museum, depicted by [[École française d'Athènes|Jean Marcadé]] in "Die Griechen" (''Ars et Amor: Die Erotik In der Kunst'', Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, München, 1978, pg 78).
===Ancient Egypt===
The Ancient Egyptians related the cult of phallus with [[Osiris]]. When Osiris' body was cut in 13 pieces, Seth scattered them all over Egypt and his wife [[Isis]] retrieved all of them except one, his penis, which was swallowed by a fish (see the [[Legend of Osiris and Isis]]).
The phallus was a symbol of fertility, and the god [[Min (god)|Min]] was often depicted ''ithyphallic'' (with an erect penis).
===Ancient Greece===
In traditional [[Greek mythology]], [[Hermes]], god of boundaries and exchange (popularly the ''messenger'' god) was considered to be a phallic deity by association with representations of him on [[herms]] (pillars) featuring a phallus. There is no scholarly consensus on this depiction and it would be speculation to consider Hermes a type of fertility god.
[[Pan (mythology)|Pan]], son of [[Hermes]], was often depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus.
[[Priapus]] was a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. The son of [[Aphrodite]] and either [[Dionysus]] or [[Adonis]], according to different forms of the original myth, he was the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. His name is the origin of the medical term [[priapism]].
===Ancient Scandinavia===
The [[Norse mythology|Norse]] god [[Freyr]] was a phallic deity, representing male fertility and love.
The short story ''[[Völsa þáttr]]'' describes a family of Norwegians worshipping a preserved horse penis.
===Ancient Rome===
Ancient Romans wore phallic jewelry as [[Evil eye#Protective talismans and cures|talismans against the evil eye]].
===Native America===
Figures of [[Kokopelli]] in [[Pre-Columbian America]] often include phallic content.
===Ancient Japan===
The Mara Kannon shrine (麻羅観音 or まらかんのん)in Nagato city, Yamaguchi prefecture, is one of many fertility shrines in Japan that still exist today. Also present in festivals such as the Danjiri Matsuri (だんじり祭)in Kishiwada city, Osaka prefecture, and the Kanamara Matsuri, in Kawasaki city, though historically phallus adoration was more widespread.
===Gallery===
<center><gallery>
Image:Phallic sculpture Kathmandu 1973.jpg|Phallic sculpture, [[Kathmandu]], [[Nepal]]
Image:Min.jpg|The Egyptian God [[Min (god)|Min]]
Image:DelosPhallus.jpg|Phallus-shaped column from the sanctuary of [[Dionysus]] in [[Delos]]
Image:Muddler2.jpg|Bartender's [[Muddler]], with scale for comparison
</gallery></center>
==In psychoanalysis==
[[Image:Esslingen-Dick-Schornstein.jpg|thumb|right|Skyscrapers, towers and smokestacks (here the one of the former Friedrich Dick factory at [[Esslingen am Neckar|Esslingen]], Germany) are popular phallic symbols.]]
The symbolic version of the phallus, a phallic symbol is meant to represent male generative powers. According to [[Sigmund Freud]]'s theory of [[psychoanalysis]], while males possess a penis, no one can possess the symbolic phallus. [[Jacques Lacan]]'s ''Ecrits: A Selection'' includes an essay titled ''The Significance of the Phallus'' which articulates the difference between "being" and "having" the phallus. Men are positioned as men insofar as they are seen to have the phallus. Women, not having the phallus, are seen to "be" the phallus. The symbolic phallus is the concept of being the ultimate man, and having this is compared to having the divine gift of God. {{clarifyme|date=June 2008}}
In ''Gender Trouble'', [[Judith Butler]] explores Freud's and Lacan's discussions of the symbolic phallus by pointing out the connection between the phallus and the penis. She writes, "The law requires conformity to its own notion of 'nature'. It gains its legitimacy through the binary and asymmetrical naturalization of bodies in which the phallus, though clearly not identical to the penis, deploys the penis as its naturalized instrument and sign" (135). In ''Bodies that Matter'', she further explores the possibilities for the phallus in her discussion of ''The Lesbian Phallus''. If, as she notes, Freud enumerates a set of analogies and substitutions that rhetorically affirm the fundamental transferability of the phallus from the penis elsewhere, then any number of other things might come to stand in for the phallus (62). {{clarifyme|date=June 2008}}
==In fiction==
Phallic symbolism can be perceived in a wide range of fiction and other [[popular culture]] works (in particular when analyzed in the context of [[psychoanalysis]], although frequently that view is unconfirmed or unsanctioned by the creators).
==See also==
*[[St. Priapus Church]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
*Vigeland Monolith - Oslo, Norway [http://www.cmap.polytechnique.fr/~yu/gallery/pictures/momuments/Monument,%20Oslo.JPG]
*{{cite book
| last = Honour
| first = Hugh
| title = The Visual Arts: A History
| publisher = H.N. Abrams
|date= 1999
| location = New York
| id = ISBN 0-810-93935-5 }}
*{{cite book
| last = Keuls
| first = Eva C.
| title = The Reign of the Phallus
| publisher = Harper & Row
|date= 1985
| location = New York
| id = ISBN 0-520-07929-9}}
*{{cite book
| last = Leick
| first = Gwendolyn
| title = Sex and Eroticism in Mesopotamian Literature
| publisher = Routledge
|date= 1994
| location = New York
| id = ISBN 0-415-06534-8}}
*{{cite book
| last = Lyons
| first = Andrew P.
| coauthors = Harriet D. Lyons
| title = Irregular Connections: A History of Anthropology and Sexuality
| publisher = U Nebraska Press
|date= 2004
| id = ISBN 0-8032-8036-X}}
[[Category:Sexology]]
[[Category:Sexuality and society]]
[[Category:Symbols]]
[[Category:psychoanalysis]]
[[Category:Penis]]
[[Category:Feminism]]
[[bg:Фалос]]
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[[el:Φαλλός]]
[[es:Falo]]
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[[it:Simbolismo fallico]]
[[fr:Phallus]]
[[he:פאלוס]]
[[lt:Falas]]
[[ja:ファルス (性)]]
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[[pl:Fallicyzm]]
[[pt:Falo]]
[[sv:Fallossymbol]]
[[uk:Фалос]]
[[zh:菲勒斯]]