Priapus

• Citations for source (s) of myth

Priapus (Greek Πρίαπος, Latinized Priapus ), son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, in Greek mythology, was a god of fertility. He appeared as a protector of livestock ( sheep and goats ), bees, fish, and fruits.

Myth

According to Greek mythology, Aphrodite had a love affair with Adonis. In the coastal region of Abarnis at Lampsacus she bare him Priapus. Due to the magic powers Heras he was misshapen. Therefore Aphrodite disowned her son and put him out.

An initially at Lampsacus and the Dardanelles limited, local cult then spread to the Greek, sometimes over the Roman world: You sacrificed him the first fruits of the field and garden. Priapus ' statues, equipped with a huge phallus, usually made of wood and painted red, should ensure a rich harvest in orchards and vineyards as a lucky charm. You should act like a scarecrow and scare away thieves.

Poems about God called Priapeen. In the Latin literature known was the satire I, 8 of Horace. Two Priapusfragmente be falsely attributed to Catullus; the two Priapeen of Tibullus not from his hand.

The Roman counterpart to Priapus is Mutunus Tutunus.

Suffers a man under a permanent, not abschwillenden erection of his penis, this disease is now called medical priapism, named after Priapus.