Many of the earliest depictions of Shiva as a figure in human form are ithyphallic, as for example in coins of the Kushan Empire. The famous "man-size" Gudimallam Lingam in Andhra Pradesh is about 1.5 metres (5 ft) in height, carved in polished black granite, and clearly represents an erect phallus, with a figure of the deity in relief superimposed down the shaft. ![]() Although Lingam is neither a mere phallic iconography nor the textual sources signify it as so, stone Lingams with several varieties are found to this date in many of the old temples, and in museums in India and abroad, which are often more clearly phallic than later stylized lingams. Evidence of the lingam in India dates back to prehistoric times. Shiva, the most widely worshipped male deity in Hinduism pantheon, is worshipped much more commonly in the form of the lingam. Sexuality in ancient Rome has sometimes been characterized as " phallocentric". A sacred phallus was among the objects considered vital to the security of the Roman state which were in the keeping of the Vestal Virgins. The phallic deity Mutunus Tutunus promoted marital sex. According to Augustine of Hippo, the cult of Father Liber, who presided over the citizen's entry into political and sexual manhood, involved a phallus. Roman boys wore the bulla, an amulet that contained a phallic charm, until they formally came of age. Statues of Priapus similarly guarded gardens. The ruins of Pompeii produced bronze wind chimes ( tintinnabula) that featured the phallus, often in multiples, to ward off the evil eye and other malevolent influences. The phallus was ubiquitous in ancient Roman culture, particularly in the form of the fascinum, a phallic charm. The city of Tyrnavos in Greece holds an annual Phallus festival, a traditional event celebrating the phallus on the first days of Lent. His name is the origin of the medical term priapism. The son of Aphrodite and Dionysus, according to Homer and most accounts, he is the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. ![]() Priapus is a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. ![]() Pan, son of Hermes, was often depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus. There is no scholarly consensus on this depiction and it would be speculation to consider Hermes a type of fertility god. In traditional Greek mythology, Hermes, god of boundaries and exchange (popularly the messenger god) is considered to be a phallic deity by association with representations of him on herms (pillars) featuring a phallus.
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