Egyptian Phalloi

[porphyry]

In case someone misses it, here is the link to the vase painting with the circumcised flopping Egyptian phalloi; notice the contrast to the petite, fully wraped dainty on Herakles which was the Greek preference.


http://www.cirp.org/library/history/hodges2/hodges29.jpg

here is the article it comes from:

http://www.cirp.org/library/history/hodges2/

It seems to concern the surgical operation used by Hellenized jews in antiquity so they could 'pass' in the locker rooms of the palaestra.

SUMMARY: This study examines the evolution of Greek and Roman medical conceptualizations of preputial aesthetics, utilizing evidence found in classical medical texts as well as clues from literature, legal sources, and art. A conclusive picture emerges that the Greeks valued the longer prepuce and pathologized the penis characterized by a deficient prepuce—especially one that had been surgically ablated—under the disease concept of lipodermos. The medical conceptualization of lipodermos is also placed in the historical context of the legal efforts to abolish ritual circumcision throughout the Seleucid and Roman empires.

Comments

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

Fascinating article; thanks for the link. I knew the Greeks thought the prepuce very attractive, but didn't know that men tried to stretch theirs to look 'better,' or that a retracted glans was humiliating and something associated with the silenoi.

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

I meant, "an exposed glans." Sheesh.