{{Short description|Phallic symbol in ancient Rome}} {{Italics title}} [[File:Amulettes phalliques gallo-romaines Musée Saint-Remi 120208.jpg|thumb|300px|Gallo-Roman examples of the ''fascinum'' in bronze. The topmost is an example of the "fist and phallus" amulet with a ''manus fica''.]] [[File:Pompeji Penis Sign.jpg|thumb|150px|Phallus inscribed on a paving stone at Pompeii]] In ancient Roman religion and magic, the '''''fascinus''''' or '''''fascinum''''' was the embodiment of the divine phallus. The word can refer to phallus effigies and amulets, and to the spells used to invoke his divine protection.<ref>The neuter form ''fascinum'' is used most often for objects or magic charms, masculine ''fascinus'' for the god.</ref> Pliny called it a ''medicus invidiae'', a "doctor" or remedy for envy (''invidia'', a "looking upon") or the evil eye.
==Etymology== The English word ''fascinate'' ultimately derives from Latin ''fascinum'' and the related verb ''fascinare'', "to use the power of the ''fascinus''", that is, "to practice magic" and hence "to enchant, bewitch". Catullus uses the verb at the end of ''Carmen 7'', a hendecasyllabic poem addressing his lover Lesbia; he expresses his infinite desire for kisses that cannot be counted by voyeurs nor "fascinated" (put under a spell) by a malicious tongue; such bliss, as also in ''Carmen'' 5, potentially attracts ''invidia''.<ref>David Wray, [https://books.google.com/books?id=6Qg3kYF-WS4C&dq=fascinus&pg=PA152 ''Catullus and the Poetics of Roman Manhood''] (Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 152.</ref>
Fescennine Verses, the satiric and often lewd songs or chants performed on various social occasions, may have been so-named from the ''fascinum''; ancient sources propose this etymology along with an alternative origin from Fescennia, a small town in Etruria.<ref>Gian Biagio Conte, [https://books.google.com/books?id=NJGp_dkXnuUC&dq=fascinum&pg=PA23 ''Latin Literature: A History''] (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987, 1994), p. 23.</ref>
==Public religion== thumb|upright|150px|Fascinus from Pompeii showing a phallus The Vestal Virgins tended the cult of the ''fascinus populi Romani'', the sacred image of the phallus that was one of the tokens of the safety of the state ''(sacra Romana)''. It was thus associated with the Palladium.<ref>R. Joy Littlewood, ''A Commentary on Ovid:'' Fasti ''Book 6'' (Oxford University Press, 2006), p. 73; T.P. Wiseman, ''Remus: A Roman Myth'' (Cambridge University Press, 1995), p. 61 [https://books.google.com/books?id=7LPNHRUlWacC&dq=fascinus&pg=PA61 online.]</ref> Roman myths, such as the begetting of Servius Tullius, suggest that this phallus was an embodiment of a masculine generative power located within the hearth, regarded as sacred.<ref>Joseph Rykwert, ''The Idea of a Town: The Anthropology of Urban Form in Rome, Italy, and the Ancient World'' (MIT Press, 1988), pp. 101 and 159 [https://books.google.com/books?id=Jq78Ff2TYHAC&dq=fascinus&pg=PA159 online.]</ref> When a general celebrated a triumph, the Vestals hung an effigy of the ''fascinus'' on the underside of his chariot to protect him from ''invidia''.<ref>Pliny, ''Natural History'' 28.4.7 (28.39).</ref>
Augustine, whose primary source on Roman religion was the lost theological works of Marcus Terentius Varro, notes that a phallic image was carried in procession annually at the festival of Father Liber, the Roman god identified with Dionysus or Bacchus, for the purpose of protecting the fields from ''fascinatio'', magic compulsion:<ref>Augustine of Hippo, ''De civitate Dei'' 7.21; Williams, ''Roman Homosexuality'', p. 92.</ref> {{quote|Varro says that certain rites of Liber were celebrated in Italy which were of such unrestrained wickedness that the shameful parts of the male were worshipped at crossroads in his honour. … For, during the days of the festival of Liber, this obscene member, placed on a little trolley, was first exhibited with great honour at the crossroads in the countryside, and then conveyed into the city itself. … In this way, it seems, the god Liber was to be propitiated, in order to secure the growth of seeds and to repel enchantment ''(fascinatio)'' from the fields.<ref>English translation by R.W. Dyson, ''Augustine: The City of God against the Pagans'' (Cambridge University Press, 1998, 2002), p. 292 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ReU2M8cLtGcC&dq=%2221+Of+the+wickedness+of+the+rites+celebrated+in+honour+of+Liber%22&pg=PA292 online.]</ref>}} As a divinized phallus, Fascinus shared attributes with Mutunus Tutunus, whose shrine was supposed to date from the founding of the city, and the imported Greek god Priapus.<ref>Arnobius, ''Adversus nationes'' 4.7, explicitly connects Tutunus to the ''fascinus''; see Robert E.A. Palmer, "Mutinus Titinus: A Study in Etrusco-Roman Religion and Topography," in ''Roman Religion and Roman Empire: Five Essays'' (University of Pennsylvania Press, 1974), pp. 187–206.</ref>
==As a magic symbol== Phallic charms, often winged, were ubiquitous in Roman culture, appearing as objects of jewellery such as pendants and finger rings, relief carvings, lamps, and wind chimes (''tintinnabula'').<ref name='CAW'>{{cite book |author1=Williams, C. A. |date=1999 |title=Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity |publisher=City University of New York |page=92}}</ref><ref name='SorS'>{{cite book |author1=Johns, C. |author-link=Catherine Johns |date=1982 |title=Sex or Symbol? Erotic Images of Greece and Rome |publisher=British Museum Press |place=London}}</ref><ref name='TRAC'>{{Cite book |author1=Parker, A. |date=2018 |chapter=The Bells! The Bells! Approaching ''tintinnabula'' in Roman Britain and Beyond |editor1=Parker, A. |editor2=Mckie, S. |title=Material Approaches to Roman Magic: Occult Objects and Supernatural Substances |series=TRAC Themes in Roman Archaeology 2 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxbow |pages=57–68}}</ref> ''Fascinus'' was thought particularly to ward off evil from children, mainly boys, and from conquering generals (see n. 6). The protective function of the phallus is usually related to the virile and regenerative powers of an erect phallus, though in most cases the emotion, shame, or laughter created by obscenity is the power that diverts the evil eye.<ref name='Dasen'>{{cite book |author1=Dasen, V. |date=2015 |chapter=Pobaskania: Amulets and Magic in Antiquity |editor1=Boschung, D. |editor2=Bremmer, J. N. |title=The Materiality of Magic |series=Morphomata 20 |pages= 177–204}}</ref>
There are very few Roman images of people wearing a phallic charm.<ref name='Dasen' /> Varro notes the custom of hanging a phallic charm on a baby's neck,{{efn|Varro, ''On the Latin language'', VII.97}} and examples have been found of phallus-bearing rings too small to be worn except by children.<ref name='Henig'>Martin Henig, ''Religion in Roman Britain'' (London: BT Batsford LTD, 1984), pp. 185–186 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZOhxSp8nlPsC&dq=%22A+child%27s+gold+ring+with+phallus%22&pg=PA186 online], with image of example.</ref> A 2017 experimental archaeology project suggested that some types of phallic pendant were designed to remain pointing outwards, in the direction of travel of the wearer, in order to face towards any potential danger or bad luck and nullify it before it could affect the wearer.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Whitmore, A. |date=2017 |chapter=Fascinating ''fascina'': apotropaic magic and how to wear a penis |editor1=Cifarelli, M. |editor2=Gawlinkski, L. |title=What shall I say of clothes? Theoretical and Methodological Approaches to the Study of Dress in Antiquity |place=Boston, MA |publisher=American Institute of Archaeology |pages=47–65}}</ref> Other symbols may have been interchangeable with the phallus, such as the club of Hercules.<ref name='Dasen' />
The victory of the phallus over the power of the evil eye may be represented by the phallus ejaculating towards a disembodied eye. This motif is shown in several examples of Roman art.<ref>Daniel Ogden, ''Magic, Witchcraft, and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman Worlds: A Sourcebook'' (Oxford University Press, 2002), p. 225 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ox3QRxWQQtcC&dq=fascinus&pg=PA225 online.]</ref> For example, the motif is known from multiple relief sculptures from Leptis Magna in present-day Libya,<ref name='SorS' /> as well as several instances on Hadrian's Wall.<ref name='BAR'>{{cite book |author1=Parker, A. |date=2017 |chapter=Protecting the Troops? Phallic Carvings in the North of Roman Britain |editor1=Parker, A |title=''Ad Vallum'': Papers on the Roman Army and Frontiers in celebration of Dr Brian Dobson |series=BAR British Series 631 |place=Oxford |publisher=British Archaeological Report |pages=117–130}}</ref> A 1st-century BC terracotta figurine shows "two little phallus-men sawing an eyeball in half".<ref name='CAW' /><ref name='SorS' />
The "fist and phallus" amulet was prevalent amongst soldiers. These are phallic pendants with a representation of a (usually) clenched fist at the bottom of the shaft, facing away from the glans. Several examples show the fist making the ''manus fica'' or "fig sign", a symbol of good luck.<ref name='Henig' /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://finds.org.uk/database/search/results/q/LIN-2BE126 |publisher=Portable Antiquities Scheme |title=PAS Record: LIN-2BE126 |access-date=13 July 2018 }}{{Dead link|date=July 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The largest known collection comes from Camulodunum.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Crummy, N. |title=Colchester Archaeological Report 2: The Roman Small finds from excavations in Colchester 1971-9 |place=Colchester |publisher=Colchester Archaeological Trust |date=1983}}</ref> Some examples of the fist-and-phallus amulets incorporate vulvar imagery as well as an extra apotropaic device.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Parker, A. |date=2015 |title=The Fist-and-Phallus Pendants from Roman Catterick |journal=Britannia |volume=46 |pages=135–149 |doi=10.1017/S0068113X15000161|s2cid=163628404 }}</ref>
<gallery widths="200px" heights="200px"> File:Tintinnabulum-Fund in Herculaneum.jpg|A ''tintinnabulum'' from Herculaneum (Italy), with the phallus as a beast which the human male engages in combat. File:Bas-relief of fascinus.jpg|Bas-relief of a legged phallus ejaculating into an evil eye on which a scorpion sits, from Leptis Magna (Libya). File:Yorkshire Museum, York (Eboracum) (7685630354).jpg|A simple phallic relief from ''Eboracum'' (York, UK). File:KENT-E3D152 (FindID 392891).jpg|A phallic pendant from Kent (UK). File:Roman_phallic_pendant_(FindID_156232).jpg|A simple phallic pendant from Suffolk (UK). </gallery>
==See also== * Lingam * Venus figurine
==Notes== {{notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{commons category|Fascinum}} *[https://archive.org/stream/dictionaryofgree00smituoft#page/520/mode/2up Open Library: Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities: Fascinum]
{{Amulets and Talismans}}
Category:Amulets Category:Roman gods Category:Childhood gods Category:Fertility gods Category:Phallic symbols Category:Ancient Roman erotic art Category:Ancient Roman metalwork