Egyptian & Graeco-Egyptian fertility figures
Meaning
Egyptian phallus amulets, the ithyphallic fertility god Min, ithyphallic Bes and Harpocrates, and the Graeco-Egyptian Baubo (a woman exposing herself, from the myth in which Baubo makes the grieving Demeter laugh) all celebrate generative power.
Intent
They were used for fertility, virility, easy childbirth and luck, and to drive away evil with laughter and shock. Baubo figures were offered to Isis and Demeter by women.
Significance
They show the frank link between sex, fertility and the sacred in Egyptian and Hellenistic religion, which later cultures often hid. Baubo is a rare female image of sacred obscenity.
History
Phallic amulets and Min figures go back to Predynastic Egypt. Ithyphallic Bes and Harpocrates figures and Baubo terracottas flourished in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods (3rd century BCE–3rd century CE), especially in the Fayum and Alexandria.
Making yours
1–8 cm faience, terracotta or bronze. Baubo figures are mould-made terracotta, 5–10 cm.Sexual & Erotic Charms: the tradition
Sexual imagery is one of the oldest and most universal forms of protection. Fertility is life itself, and the exposed phallus or vulva was believed to shock, amuse or distract malevolent forces, especially the evil eye. Egypt had its ithyphallic gods, Rome its fascinum on every child, doorway and chariot, medieval Europe its obscene badges and sheela-na-gigs, Thailand and Japan their phallic shrines and charms, China its 'spring palace' coins for newlyweds. Victorian collectors hid much of this material in 'secret museums' such as the Gabinetto Segreto in Naples and the British Museum's Secretum, and only in the late 20th century was it studied openly as religion and social history.
Erotic amulet332–30 B.C. Period: Ptolemaic Period Dynasty: Dynasty 26–30
Amulet of Baubo (10450338394)More from Sexual & Erotic Charms: Fascinum & phallic charms · Tintinnabula (charm wind-chimes) · Priapus & Roman erotica · Sheela-na-gigs & exhibitionist figures · Palad khik (phallic charms) · Chinese “spring” coin charms · Love charms & aphrodisiac talismans · Other & unsorted Sexual
Every type in the gallery
Anything in the gallery can be made, by hand, in the prescribed metal or yours and, where the tradition names an hour, at that hour or with a plain note that it was not. Numbered. Price on commission, quoted first. I reply within one business day.