Читать книгу Love Potions Through the Ages: A Study of Amatory Devices and Mores онлайн

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Again, the practice was prevalent at Naucratis, in Egypt.

The phallic cult, that was originally consecrated to the propagation of all things, in as much as the fascinum itself symbolized the sacred regeneration of all Nature, in time degenerated so that only the phallus as such became the symbol of lust and passion and debauchery. It became the emblem of excesses in erotic encounters, the sign of the prostitute. Priapus actually became an object of some contempt, a humble scarecrow of the fields, chthonic guardian of the orchards, a subject of coarse ribaldry, as is testified in the Latin corpus of poems known under the name of Priapeia.

The lascivious mores of the Egyptians under the guise of veneration of the priapic bull Apis, and their obscene dances, rituals, and similar performances are described and commented on in great detail by Herodotus in his History of the Persian Wars.

The genitalia and all references to the phallic image were in very ancient times held in such sacred esteem and reverence that in Biblical literature the inviolable sanctity of an oath was ratified by touching the area of the genitalia, or the thigh, to use the Biblical euphemism. The Hebrews especially held the generative organs in the greatest respect, socially, ethnically, and religiously: and nudity as a consequence was a matter of shameful stigma and opprobrium.