It was a noticeable representation of a penis, large and arching upwards.
Importance, but was meant as a phallic exhibition, a demonstration of power, a danger signal of the same nature as
the helmets hammered into the shape of lion masks which appeared concurrently. The man in armour with his
223
Journal of Sport History, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Winter, 1985)
Olympia 1971 fig. 3. (Courtesy of Mike Roberts Colour Generation).
Cod piece and the baboon demonstrating his erect manhood as an aggressive signal to other baboons to keep off intention at the
same effect" (p. 165). The writer also notes that inclinations towards genital action of an aggressive nature are
repressed in our current civilization and that today's guys are not aware of potentials like those openly
expressed in the Near East and--at least verbally--among the ancient Norsemen. This means, based on the
Writer, that rational comprehension of the competitive aspects of phallic symbolism is lost too; and this in turn
indicates that appreciation of the signal function of a phallic symbolism in dominance-entry routines has
vanished from the consciousness--notwithstanding that these patterns still remain unchanged and watchful of activity
224
Origin of Nudity in Greek Sports
A Proto-Attic Vase. (Courtesy
of the Society for the Promotion of Helenic Studies).
surprised to find in the province of Maabar, India that guys went to fight nude
with only a spear and a shield.
the rainy season tanks and rivers threaten to blow up their banks, guys stand
naked on the embankments; and if too much rain falls, nude guys point
firebrands at the heavens, as in the case of rain-magic. This nudity is assumed to
"shock" the forces that sent the rain and cause its cessation. To a crude
Fighter the phallus was an emblem of power having prophylactic virtue against
the attacks of the enemy. Roman soldiers marching into battle taken phallic
symbols on their standards. The distinct state of the sexual organ of a fighter
engaged in deadly combat is a matter well comprehended in the Polynesian
superstition.24
24. H. Yule, Marco Polo (London, 1929), 2: 274,275,278. I. Wise, Notes on the Races, Castes and Trades
p. 369; W. Crooke, "Nudity in India in Custom and Rite," Journal of the
Royal Anthropological Institute 49 (1919): 248; George Ryley Scott, Phallic Worship (Awesome Delhi, 1975). p, 109,
Gza Rohelm, Animism, Magic and the Divine King (London. 1972). p. 21.
One of the Kiwi Papuans of
British New Guinea the member of a slain foe is cut off and dried. Before a fight a little piece of it blended with banana
is given to the young warriors to make them more powerful. [ https://s3.amazonaws.com/x-naturist/beach-bum.html , The Kiwai Papuons of British New
Guinea (London, 1927), p. 1281. Additionally see Rohelm, Animism. p. 20.
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Journal of Sport History, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Winter, 1985)
The apotropaic use of the phallus is clearly exposed in the Greek herms which
consisted of a square stone column surmounted by a man's bearded head and
bearing an erect phallus. They stood in front of houses as house-guards,25 in the
market places, at intersection26 and at the frontiers, consistently facing away from
the protected premises. https://s3.amazonaws.com/x-naturist/femdom-beach.html of sculpture is found in some present
cultures, including on Borneo and Nias, Bali and the Nikobar Islands as things of
superstition against the spirits of the Dead.27
W. Burkert wrote on the meaning of the display of phallus:
I cannot find any real explanation before ethology discovered that there are species
of monkeys, living in groups, of whom the males act as guards: They sit up at the
outposts, facing outside and presenting their erect genital organ. This is an
"Critter rite" in the sense noted above: the fundamental function of sexual activity is
suspended for the sake of communication; every individual approaching from the
outside will find that this group will not consist of helpless wives and kids,
but appreciates the full protection of masculinity.28
Scientists also detected that within a group of squirrel monkeys, one animal
25. The ongoing belief in the apotropaic power of phallus seems to account for its appearance on the
doorways of fresh buildings in major cities of India. The defender figures regularly protecting either side of the entry
[See Clarence Maloney, The Evil Eye (Fresh York,
1976). pp. 114, 1251. For exactly https://s3.amazonaws.com/x-naturist/young-nudists-pics.html of human phalli are arch upon the exterior timbers of
Legba or