Abstract | The paper contains the publication (mainly for the first time) of 12 objects from terracotta, being the so-called ‘erotic’ or ‘phallic’ depictions. These are phallic satiric figurines of a cult attendant, and of a pygmy attacking by a cockerel, fragments of Greek vessels with erotic scenes, the statuettes of phalli, and two unique plaques with the depiction of symplegma. Thematically and functionally close to these items are pottery oil lamps in the shape of men with enormous phallus. Moreover, as a precursor to the Greco-Roman terracotta there is a complex of faience and limestone ‘phallic’ figurines from the Late and Graeco-Roman period (including Naukratic figures). The origins of such phallic statuettes, as shown in the paper, can be traced back to the Late Egyptian tradition and even earlier. The ‘erotic’ depictions have been widely spread in different region of Egypt. This paper is the first step in academic research of a previously ‘obscene’ or ‘prohibited’/’restricted’ theme of Ancient Egyptian erotic depictions from the collection of Pushkin Museum. For understanding of these objects as a specific phenomenon of Egyptian culture, one is looking for the provenance, which, as usual, is lacking. We can only make suppositions concerning the initial context of such items, being in greater part the ‘ex-votos’ or apotropaic things kept in houses and served as amulets for men’s potency and women’s fertility. |
Keywords | Graeco-Roman Egypt, Egyptian terracottas, ‘erotic’ figurines, ‘Naukratic figures’, the god Bes, ancient Egyptian religion, V.S. Golenischev’ collection, Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (Moscow) |