Antiquities by Category
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Gorgeous Ancient Roman Erotica - Phallic Amulet 100 AD
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Roman:
Sculpture:
Pre AD 1000 item# 754458 (stock# z23)
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ARCHEOLOGY
185
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Superb Rare Ancient Roman Erotic Phallus Amulet c100 AD. This is a very well preserved example of this amulet Type. The phallus (or symbolic male genitals) represented masculinity and virility in Ancient Rome. These amulets where worn to ward off evil, increase a soldiers strength in battle and perhaps to titilate a prospective sexual conquest. Many hundreds of different shapes and sizes have been discovered over the last three hundred years. 25mm x 19mm Superb Condition, beautiful deep green patina.
The Phallic ammulet was worn in Ancient Rome to pay homage to a number of different Gods depending upon the wearers desires and background:
Mutinus Mutunus (Greek - Priapus); the Roman God of fertility. Eros; the primordial god of lust, love, and intercourse. Cupid (Latin cupido); the god of erotic love and beauty.
Roman women seeking to bear children invoked these Gods, as well as Roman Men who sought to increase virlity, sexual performance or attraction.
Also in some parts of ancient Rome, people believed that phallic charms and ornaments offered protection against the evil eye.
A phallic charm was called fascinum in Latin, from the verb fascinare (the origin of the English word "to fascinate"), "to cast a spell", such as that of the evil eye.
Belief in the evil eye during antiquity is based on the evidence in ancient sources like Aristophanes, Athenaeus, Plutarch and Heliodorus.
There are also speculations that claim Socrates possessed the evil eye and that his disciples and admirers were fascinated by Socrates' insistently glaring eyes.
His followers were called Blepedaimones, which translates into demon look, not because they were possessors and transmitters of the evil eye, but because they were suspected of being under the hypnotic and dangerous spell of Socrates.
In the Greco-Roman period a scientific explanation of the evil eye was common.
Plutarch explained this scientific explanation explaining that the eyes were the chief, if not sole, source of the deadly rays that were supposed to spring up like poisoned darts from the inner recesses of a person possessing the evil eye.
Plutarch treated the phenomenon of the evil eye as something seemingly inexplicable that is a source of wonder and cause of incredulity.
The belief in the evil eye during antiquity varied from different regions and periods. There were places in which people felt more conscious of the danger of the evil eye.
In the Roman days not only were individual considered to posses the power of the evil eye but whole tribes, especially those of Pontus and Scythia, were believed to be transmitters of the evil eye.
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Ancient Hellenistic (Greek Era) Bronze Oil Lamp 332 BC
Catalogue:
Antiques:
Regional Art:
Ancient World:
Greek:
Bronze:
Pre AD 1000 item# 315917 (stock# 7041116)
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ARCHEOLOGY
$685
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BRONZE OIL LAMP, HELLENISTIC PERIOD 332 – 63 BC. Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalms 119:105). A lamp such as this might have lit homes during the flower of the Classical age. A metaphor of joy and prosperity, for hope, for life itself, lamps have illuminated the path of civilization for centuries. They have guided great thoughts through the night, stood vigil with lonely passions. In the presence of this simple object, we are in touch directly with a vanished world, with the people once warmed by its glow. Today it remains as an enduring symbol of man’s desire to conquer the darkness
Found: In Judea - The Holy Land.
Condition: Choice and very rare, as found - unrestored, lid missing. Dimensions: Length 105 mm, Width 45 mm, Height 25 mm
Reference: Qedem 8 Monographs of the Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem {Ancient Lamps in the Schloessinger Collection }
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