T h e w h o le group o f interconnected sym bols - phallus (or cylinder, m ush room and conical cap); ithyphallic anim al-m askcd m an, goat~ m an and the bull-m an - represents a male stim ulating principle in nature w ith ou t w hose influence nothing vvould g ro w and thrive. T his fam ily o fsy m b o ls goes back in its origin to the eariy agricultural era, to the same period when the Goddess o f Vegetation was born and w h en go at- and cow -h erdš existed. C h argin g bulls, buli heads or horns alone, bo vin e heads w ith hum an eyes and ithyphallic men are already knovvn to the Proto-Sesklo and Starčevo cultural com - plexes, i.e. no later than the seventh m illennium 0 e. Shrines o f Gatal H u y u k inciude large buli figures in vvall frescoes and sculptured buli heads and horns. A ro u n d the M editerranean the buli and he-goat played a prom inent part in religion from the seventh m illennium onvvards. So did the phallus, recognizable as a high cylindrical neck o f an d rogynou s figurines, as a štand, or the stem o f a cup.
T h e phallus and bison are k n ow n from the A urignacian and M agdalenian era o f the U p p er Palaeolithic. Isolated representations o f phalli vvere found in the cave o f Laussel, D ord ogn e. A bison-m an p layin g upon a m usical instrum ent in the en graving from La Pasiega, Santander, and another hybridized bison-m an in the same cave (G iedion 19 6 2 : 193) illustrate that the im age o f a half-anim al, half- hum an creature and the connection o f man vvith the vvild buli occurred early. T h e sym b olic context, h o w cvcr, vvas different; the bison-m an o f the U p p e r Palaeolithic vvas not a ycar-g od o f an agri cultural society. Phallic figurines from the N atufian and Pre-Pottery sites in Palestine dem onstrate the persistent im portance o f phallic sym b olism in pre-agricultural and agricultural socicties.
Th e p h a l l u s
Representations o f phalli are found in ali phases and cultural groups o f O ld Europe vvith a vvider varicty in N eolithic Greece and Y u g o - 2 16
slsviHi partisalariv
AsFiaiis sssgBSžFd- Tnsv wsf$ ftsiiisnsd in
ali sisi?* It&fB tiis? ffliniiiHifg i@ che T h eir dijgaFaiien and
shaps FfiHge from n au ifalu iie to fsm astie: som e have a ’eap' of a
eircufncision and an opening on to p ; others are gcom ecricaIly deeorated by painting or incision; still others spiral upw ards like snakes. T h e clay phallus from Tsangli, a large Sesklo site in Thessaly, is painted crcam , its naturalism enhaneed bv reddish-brovvn bands and has a broad incision at the top. From iater N eolithic Sesklo comes an enorm ous m arble phallus painted vvith red meanders top and bottom (N ational M useum , Athens 5936; Z ervos, 19 6 3: 398). The Vinča and Lengyel elay or bone phalli vvere decorated vvith bands o f horizontal incisions and vvhite enerusted patterns o f dots sym b olizing snakes. T h e East Balkan and Cucuteni phalli are usunlly undecorated.
D anilo, B u tm ir and Vinča scttlements yielded hundreds o f ‘vvine cups’ w ith phallus-shaped stems. M an y o f them have plain, pointed stems, but others are ch arm ingly decorated and m asterfully shaped sculptures. M ost interesting are those phalli im itating snakes, indicatcd by incision or in relief. In som e instances tvvo heads o f snakes or o f frogs appear on the top; others have human facial features, such as a protruding nose, vvhile others again are geom etric- ally decorated vvith striated zigzag bands or triangles. C ylin drical cups m odelled as human heads also occur, and dishes and bovvls ofth e Late Vinča com plex have a phallus standing in the m iddle (Pločnik site: A rchaeol. M useum Niš, Inv. 490).
A noth er category o f phallic representations is made up o f stands vvith hum an, animal or am orphous facial characteristics. Sim ple clay cylinders vvith a flattened base are frequent in the Starčevo and Early Vinča com plexes o f the central Balkans. Som e have human facial features and female breasts; others have male genitals. W e have already discussed the phallic aspect o f the long cylindrical necks o f the B ird Goddess and Great Goddess o f the seventh and sixth
millennia b c. T h e com bining o f fem ale and male characteristics in
one figurine did not com pletely dic out after the sixth m illcnnium b c.
i 66 Phallic stems o f 'ivine cups'. Sm ilčićat Zadar, Dalmatia. c. late sixlh millennium n e
1 2 3
1---1---lem 1 67 Aiiiliropoiiiorphic ' figurin e ili a shape o fa
phallus U'itli a flat base. C rnokalaika Bara, )onlrni Vugoslavia. c. early six{/i niilleniiiiim u c
2 i 9 C!n>f phallus fro m T sa n g li, T h essaly . Painted in reddish-£>rown on cream . C e n tra l B alk an N e o lith ic . c. 6000 BC
2 2 1 Tw <| c la y phalli fro m a Late C u cu te n i site at F rum u sica, n orthern M o ld a v ia . Fou rth
m illenn ium BC
22n lio n e ph.slliis fr o m H n itu t la v iie . .) l eti Mte 111 M n r a v i.i l ’h e •»pir.»I \\.is e.N eem ed b y J n l l i n ^ p itted lme>
S te m 0 11 e u p \vith M u k c - h k e \p ir .ilv S m ili u .«[ Z . ul.tr. l>ahn .ttM . P .i m l o eu lc u ri
223-225 M u sh ro o m -sh a p e d objeets o f ligh t green stone fro m the VinĆa site
22 6 Phallus-shaped vase d ecorated vvith ru n n in g spirals in re lie f from B u t m ir near S a ra je vo . M id -fifth m illenn ium b<;
1 2 CK
j.---1
p Terracotta fig urin e ’h anthropomorphic tures and a canal dou/n
middle. Tru^ejti sile, them M oldavia. 226 2 27 228 229, 230 2 3 1 233-235
M an y o f the East B alkan fem ale figurines have a canal through the w h o le length o f the b o d y. Since the canals are about 2 m m . in diam eter it seems that they vvere not m ade for a practical reason but vvere sim ply im itations o f the phallic canal.
D vvelling areas at Vinča yielded a num ber o f m ushroom s carved out o f light green rock crystal vvhich m ay have stood on domestic altars or possibly been used as studs for hip belts. M ushroom s are universally knovvn as aphrodisiacs, and the svvelling and grovving o f a m u sh room must have been noticed by the O ld Europeans causing it to be com pared to the phallus. T he fact that m ushroom s vvere carved out o f the best available stone alone speaks for the prom inent role o f the m ushroom in m agic and cult. T h e Indo-Europeans in the days o f the R ig v e d a m ade their m iraculous Som a drink from fly- agaric (W asson 19 7 1), and it is possible that the Vinča m ushroom s vvere connected vvith intoxicating drin ks; at ali events they are im itations o f phalli (cf. the m ushroom cap in Pl. 225, right). The shape o f a m ushroom or phallus occurs frequently in sculptural art as a hum an cap on figurines, and a phallic form can be inferred in the beautiful B u tm ir vases vvhich are decorated in running spirals and štand on cylindrical legs vvhich support a globular bovvl. M agical povver vvas ob vio u sly attributed to phallic objeets and conferred an appropriate benefit.
Th e i t h y p h a l l i c m a s k e d g o d
T h e ecstatic dancer, goat- or bull-m asked, as seen in the Vinča sculptural repertory, can be interpreted as a representation o f either an archetypal D ionysus or an excited vvorshipper o f the Great Goddess. A m ost rem arkable exam ple is the sculpture from Fafos, in vvhich he appears in hum an shape, p robably to perform at a festival. His anth ropom orph ic portrayals shovv him also in a standing position vvith both hands holding his genitals, or vvith the right arm held across his breast and a red painted phallus in the left hand. M ore often he is seated on a throne, naked and ithyphallic. This posture recurs in ali phases o f O ld European history, depieted rather clum sily in the P ro to -S esk lo (tvvo enthroned ithyphallic figurines vvere uncarthed at Elateia and are housed in the C haeronea m useum , central G reece: W ein berg 1962) and Starčevo com plexes, but m ore articulately in those o f V inča, Sesklo and D im in i. T h e head, vvlien preserved, usually vvears the mask o f a horned anim ai vvith large human eycs.
220
2 2 7 lth yp h a llic m asked m ale fig u re fro m Fafos II, a V in fa site at K o so v sk a M itro v ic a , Y u g o sla v ia . P ro b ab Iy second H alf o f fifth m illen n iu m BC
2 ’ X Stan d in g m ale figu re h o ld in g genitals. S esk lo, T hcssaly
22y, 2 30 M asked (and o rig in a lly horned) m an h o ld in g rcd -pain ted penis vvith the left hand.
C rn o k a la č k a B ara, C lassical Vinćaj settlem ent near N iš, southeastern Y u g o s la v ia
233 ith y p h allic fig u rin e w e a rin g a goat mask w ith exagg craccd horns and cyes. Fafos I near K o so v sk a M itro v ic a , Southern Y u g o sla v ia . c. 5 30 0 -50 0 0 b c
234 A n in ial-h c ad ed (m asked) m ale figurine ho ld in g gen itals w ith the left hand. From
V in č a. M id -fifth m illcn n iu m b c
235 H ead o f a fig u r in e w ea rin g goat m ask. C rn o k a la ć k a B a ra , So u th ern Y u g o sla v ia .
T h e b u l i. w i t h a h u m a n m a s k 2 39 , 24 0, 1 7 0 24O-242 239 , n o 236 17 0 Black-on-red painted :ult vase, probably a lamp,
n the fo rm o f a stylized buli. T h e cylindrical Container on 'op is broken. From the ■nound o f Sitagroi near Drama, northeastern Greece. East Balkan civilization. :. 4300 b c
The m ale g o d ’s principa! epiphany was in the form o f a buli. The enthroned m ale figurines o f Late Vinca, vvearing an enorm ous mask, have vigorou s shoulders vvhich are shaped like a bull’s rum p or h o rn s; quite frequ en d y, too, the entire body is that o fa buli. T h e god m ay also be represented as a vessel in the shape o f a buli, but vvith the an im al’s head shovving hum an characteristics: large w ise eyes or ears w ith perforations fo r ear-rings or other decorations. T h e bu ll’s strength is shovvn to be concentrated in his ru m p ; both buttocks are enorm ous and snakes are incised upon them. Standing firm ly on short legs, he con veys the impression o f m onum entality., This peculiar am algam o f anim ai and man, typical o f Balkan C h alcolithic art, expressed the Mysterium Fascinans, som ething that cannot be described in terms o f norm al experience. It vvas a m ajor factor in the inspiration and creation o f these extraord inary sculptures. A human head grafted onto a bu ll’s body reaches a culm ination o f povver through sym biosis: the vvisdom and passions o f man m erged vvith the physical strength and potency o f the buli. Such hybrid creatures m ust have been regarded as possessing a greater potential than either a m an o r a buli alone.
R epresentations o f a buli, he-goat or ram often appear on small ritual vessels. These horned heads em bo d yin g virile forces could have played their part in festivals, or in the vvorship o f both the male and the fem ale d ivin ity. Vessels vvith horned anim al-head protom es vvere
enerusted or painted in vvhite, red and black. 2 36 M an in a seated position vvearing a large
m ask. Late V in ča site at V alač near K o so v sk a M itro v ic a , Southern Y u g o s la v ia
2 3 7 H u m an -h ead ed (m asked) buli fro m Fafos II at K o so v sk a M itro v ic a . Southern Y u g o sIa v ia . M id -V in č a , 5000 - 4500 BC
238 H u m an -h ead ed (m a sk ed ) buli fr o m V alač. So u th e rn Y u g o sla v ia . Late V inča. 4S00 - 4000 Hf;
3u ll-lc g g e d terracotta trip o d w ith a h o le in en tral cy lin d e r. F ro m M e d v e d n ja k , classical a site at Sm ed erev sk a P alan ka southeast o f rade
2ro u c h in g buli w e a rin g h um an m ask. V ase the m ou n d o f G u m eln ifa . East B alk an zation. c. 4500 bc
Terracotta head (m ask) o f a buli vvith Jn -lik e eyes. S ita g ro i, M aced o n ia. Enst in civilization . c. 4500 bc
Terracotta head o f a buli, vvith h o rn s bro ken ■itagroi, M a ce d o n ia . East B alk an civ iliza tio n .
Al l u s i o n s t o Di o n v s u s
i
pionysus is a prc-Indo-European god o f great antiquity in spite o fhis com positc name (dio-nysos, ‘god o f N ysa or N y s a i’ ; the latter
p r o b a b l y is a pre-Indo-European place nam e). His cult in G reece is
e v i d e n c e d by temples, sculptures o f phalli and descriptions o f p ro- cessions carryin g huge phalli as late as the second century b c , and the persisting tradition o f D ionysiac festivals even into later times is attested by a group o f m ythical im ages h aving strong roots in the local (southeast European-vvestern Anatolian) soil. Discussions about the origin o f the Greek D io n y s u s - vvhcther he čame to G reece from Thrace, C rete or vvestern Asia M in o r - are pointless, since ali these lands o rigin ally belonged to the same M oth er C ulture. D ionysus vvas a bull-god , god o f annual renevval, im bued vvith ali the urgency o f nature. B rim m in g vvith virility, he vvas the god m ost favou red by vvomen.
The abundance o f phalli in D ionysiac festivals, in sculptures near the temples, on herms used as signposts on the roads and before the doors o f houses suggests that the ancient Greeks vvere no less obsessed by phallic m agic than vvere the O ld Europeans. The b ull-god vvas also alive in m any areas o f Greece and particularly in M acedonia in the tim e o f Euripides vvhose Bacchac abounds in buli epiphanies:
A H o rn ed G o d w as fo tm d A n d a G o d u/ith serpents crou/ned
(E u rip id e s, Baccliae, 9 9 ; citc d b y H a rriso n [ 19 0 3 0 ] 1 9 6 1 : 4 3 2 ).
In the O rp hic m ystcry, the vvorshipper ate the raw flesh o f the buli before he becam e ‘ B acch os’ . T h e ritual o f D ionysus in T h race ineluded ‘ bull-voiced m im es’ w h o bellovved to the god. T h e scholiast on L yco p h ro n ’s Alcxandra says that the vvomen vvho w o r- shipped D ionysus Laphystios vvore horns themselves, in im itation o f the god, for he vvas im agined to be bull-headed and is so represented in art (ref. in Harrison i b i d 433). Plutarch givcs m ore particulars: ‘M any o f the G reeks represent D ionysus’ im age in the form o f a buli. The vvomen o f Elis in their prayers invoke the god to com e to them vvith his b ull-foot. A nd am ong the A rgives there is a Đ ionysus vvith the title B u ll-b o rn . T h ey sum m on him by their trumpets out o f the vvater, casting lambs into the depths to the D o or-k cep er’ (Plutarch de J s . et Os. X X X V , cited by H arrison ibid. : 433). Dionystts also manifested h im self as the buli Zagreus, in vvhich guise he vvas torn to pieccs by the Titans.
T h e key to a m ore com plete understanding o f the m ale god and the B ul! G o d o f Old Europe lies in the D ionysiac festivals - A nthes- teria, Lenaia and the Greater Dionysia. In these festivals, vvhich have assimilated elements o f deep antiquity, D ionysus appears as a year-
god. T h e idea o f renevval is predom inam throughout the festivals of w in ter and sprm g. Each re-enaccs an orgiastic agricultural scenario * w ith phalli, phallus-shaped cups, ladles and cult dishes and the buli- man (Dionysus) m arryin g the queen (goddess).
The Lenaia festival held in Ja n u a ry v/as preceded by a Rural Dionysia in w hich phalli w ere carried in procession amid general m errym ak in g to p rom ote the fertility o f the autumn-sovvn seed and o f the soil during the vvinter recess. O fferings vvere made before the im age o f D ionysus (including pouring porridge vvith a ladle), and priapic and goat songs vvere sung. T h e purpose o f the Lenaia festival vvas to aro u šeth eslu m b erin g vegetation (Deubner 19 56 ; Jam es 19 6 1: 14 2 -4 3 ). T h e C ity Dionysia festival in M arch vvas also designed to ensure fertility. T o this festival the cities o f the Athenian em pire sent the grossest kind o f fertility em blem , the phallus, as part o f their tribute (W ebster 19 5 9 : 59)- Anthesteria was a Festival o f Flovvers in h on ou r o f D ionysus as the god o f spring, and included drinking and rejo icin g. T h e second day o f the festival vvas called Choes, the Day o f the Cups. T h e vvine vvas taken from the jars and brought to the sanctuary o f D ionysus in the marshes, vvhere it vvas silently distributed in sm all ju g s am o n g ali citizens o ver the age o f four. A fter everyone had drunk, the vvife o f the magistrate vvas m arried to D ionysus in the Bukoleion or O x-stall, attended by vvomen vvho had taken vovvs o f chastity in the service o f Dionysus. Thither the im age o f Dionysus, possibly in bovine form , or an actor vvearing horns and a hide, vvas b ro u gh t on a boat-like strueture on vvheels to com plete the nuptial rites (James 1 9 6 1: 140).
A sanctuary o f D ionysus, vvhich can be traced back to the fifteenth
cen tury b c, has been diseovered on the island o fK e o s (Caskey 1964:
326). It yielded m ore than tw enty terracotta figurines portraying vvomen in a dancing posture, dressed in festive attire, vvith exposed breasts, ‘snake collars and belts’. T h e y m ay represent maenads, the devotees and ecstatic dancers in the D ionysiac festivals. T h e sanctuary vvas used fo r m ore than one thousand years, up to the Hellenistic period.
Since m any elem ents o f the ye ar-g o d ’s festivals are represented in the sculptural art o f O ld Europe, it seems not unreasonable to assume that festivals took place in N eolithic and C h alcolithic Europe. Possibly the central idea o f ritual dram a, the ‘ Sacred M arriag e’ , the ritual coition o f the m ale god and a fem ale goddess, is refleeted in the
243 little sculpture from Cascioarele. The statuette belongs to the East
Balkan C halcolithic Gum elni(a com plex and is the on ly one o f its kind, but this does not necessarily mcan that there vvere no portrayals o f the ‘ Sacred M a rriag e ’ in other areas and periods o f O ld Europe. T h e presence o f the masked ithyphallic god also im plies a festival at vvhich a vvedding cerem ony is enactcd, the m ale god m arryin g the 228
G reat Goddess. From the Cascioarele figurine it is seen that she isnot a pregnant goddess, but a vouthful virgin. She is portrayed in the nude and has a large pubic triangle.
W h e n vvas the d ra m a o f h ie r o g a m v in trodu ce d into Europe? W n s i t a t the v e r y b e g in n in g o f t h e N e o lit h ic p eriod, o r o n the
advent
ot a d v an ce d a gr icu ltu r e ? It seems unlik elv to h ave been later thanc. 6500 b c, vvhen the ‘ phallic obsession’ b ecam e m anifest through representations o f phallic stands, cups and it h y p haliic gods.
T
hi; ‘soRRovtTUL c;on'
W e h a ve con sidered until novv the vo u t h fu l, strong, C r e a t iv e aspect o f the p r im e v a l D io n y su s . Is there a n y th in g in the sculptural art o f O ld E u r o p e to indic ate his other aspect - the pcaccful ancient? There 244. 245 are fi gures o f a squ attin g o r seated man on a stool or th ro n e ; his arms 248-252 either rest p e a c e fu lly on his lap, or they are p ro p p e d 011 his knees to p r o v id e a sitpport fo r his head. H e shovvs n o signs o f e m o t io n and is not a n im a l- m a s k e d ; his a.ttitude and the f.icial expression o f the mask he vvears i m p l y c o n t e m p la t io n and w o r r y . W e n i a y c a ll him , there- fo re. the ‘ sorrow fi.il g o d ’ . T h e r e are not e n o u g h data to reveal his fu netions, but vve m a y suppose that he is either a g o d o f vegetation,
an old v e a r - g o d w h o m u s t die in ord e r to be re b orn the fo llo w in g sp ring, o r a g o d o f death, con sort o f t h e G r e a t G o d d e s s in her aspect o f D eath . T h e vvide te m p o ra l and g e o g r a p h ic a l distrib ution o f this tvp e o f g o d speaks for his established position in the p antheon o f O ld E u r o p e . His im p o r t a n c e is stressed b y the fact that the sculptures o f a ‘ sorrovvfu l g o d ’ are fr e q u e n tly p ro d u c e d vvith e x t r e m e care, some ra n k in g as m asterpic ces o f N e o lith ic art. A m o n g these are the V u lk a n e sh ti and H a m a n g i a (C e r n a v o d a ) men in a leaning position seated on a small stool. B o th are nude and in the m vve find the best p o r tr a v a ls o f t h e m ale b o d v dating fr o m the fifth m ille n n iu m b c .
T h e back o f t h e V u lk a n e sh ti figure, is pe rfe ctlv re n d e re d ; o n e feels 011 it the totich o f t h e g o d - m a k e r 's fm gers. U n fo r t u n a t e i v it is badly d a m a g e d and ali that rem ains intact is its b a c k ; legs, a r m s a n d half o f its head are missing. In G e r a s i m o v ’s reconstru ctio n . t h is m an has his 24C) elbovvs 011 th e knees. O n e o f t h e most celebrated sculptures o f the B a lk a n N e o lit h ic is the H a m a n g i a ‘T h i n k e r ’ (so n am e d after K o d i n ’s ‘T h i n k e r ’). a m an sitting 011 a stool. leaning forvvard. h o ld in g his head 011 c o lu m n a r a rm s vvith elbovvs 011 the knees. His legs are m assive and as stable as those o f a th rone. T h e facial features are o n ly 24^-250 r o u g h l v in dicated and no atte m p t has been m ade to m o d e l his hands.
T h e head is d e fin itely m a s k e d : it is flat and has p e rforation s in the u p p e r corners. T h e back is neatlv c u rv e d and vvell p ro p o rt io n e d . T h e H .im an g ian ‘ s orrovv fu l g o d ' vvas pl.iced in .1 g r a v e vvith a female
2 4 7 fi gurin e, p r o b a b lv re p re se n tin g the G r e a t G odde ss. S h e is also of
244, 245 E n th ro n ed m ale g o d fro m P yraso s, T h essaly . Sesk lo cuiture. S ix th m ille n n iu m BC