Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Importance, but was meant as a phallic exhibit, a demonstration of power, a threat signal of exactly the same nature as

the helmets beaten into the shape of lion masks which appeared simultaneously. The guy in armour with his



223



Journal of Sport History, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Winter, 1985)



A Geometric bronze statue from Olympia. Nick Stournaras and Nick Corbetis, eds.,

Olympia 1971 fig. 3. (Courtesy of Mike Roberts Colour Production).



Codpiece and the baboon demonstrating his erect p***s as an aggressive signal to other baboons to keep off aim at the

same effect& (p. 165). The author also notes that tendencies towards genital action of an aggressive nature are

repressed in our present culture and that today's guys aren't aware of potentials like those openly

expressed in the Near East and--at least verbally--among the ancient Norsemen. This means, based on the

author, that logical comprehension of the competitive aspects of phallic symbolism is lost also; and this in turn

Signifies 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 alert of activity

below the threshold (p. 191).



224



Origin of Nudity in Greek Athletics



A Proto-Attic Vase. Cecil Smith, &A Proto-Attic Vase,& JHS 22 (1902) PI.11 a. (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. In the Trichinopoly District of Bengal, when in

the rainy season tanks and rivers threaten to blow up their banks, men stand

naked on the embankments; and if too much rain falls, nude guys point

firebrands at the sky, as in the instance 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. http://videonudism.com/girls marching into conflict carried phallic

symbols on their standards. The distinct state of the sexual organ of a warrior

engaged in deadly battle is a matter well recognized 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

of Eastern Bengal (London, 1883). 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 (New Delhi, 1975). p, 109,

Gza Rohelm, Animism, Magic and the Divine King (London. 1972). p. 21. Also see W. G. Gudgeon, &Phallic

Symbol from Atiu Island,& Journal of the Polynesian Society 13 (1904-1905): 193. 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 combined with banana

is given to the young warriors to make them more powerful. [See Gunnar Landman, The Kiwai Papuons of British New

Guinea (London, 1927), p. 1281. Additionally see Rohelm, Animism. Magic and the Divine Kiq. p. 20.



225



Journal of Sport History, Vol. 12, No. 3 (Winter, 1985)



The apotropaic use of the phallus is certainly exposed in the Greek herms which

consisted of a square stone pillar surmounted by a guy'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, constantly facing away from

the guarded premises. The exact same sort of sculpture are found in some present

cultures, for example on Borneo and Nias, Bali and the Nikobar Islands as items of

superstition against the spirits of the Dead.27

W. Burkert wrote on the significance of the display of phallus:

I cannot find any actual explanation before ethology detected that there are species

of monkeys, living in groups, of whom the males act as guards: They sit up at the

outposts, confronting outside and presenting their erect genital organ. This is nudist sex photo in the sense noted above: the fundamental function of sexual activity is




<img src="http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/0c/be/28/beach.jpg" />



suspended for the sake of communication; every person approaching from the

outside will discover that this group does not consist of weak wives and kids,

but enjoys the full protection of masculinity.28



Scientists also observed that within a group of squirrel monkeys, one animal

25. The ongoing belief in the apotropaic power of phallus seems to account for its look on the

doorways of fresh buildings in major cities of India. The defender figures frequently shielding either side of the entrance

to a Saivite temple in India, have noticeable erect sexual organs. [See Clarence Maloney, The Evil Eye (New York,

1976). pp. 114, 1251. For the same purpose representations of human phalli are arch upon the exterior timbers of

dwelling places in Central Borneo [See Frederic T. Elworthy, The Evil Eye (London, 1957), p. 1071. Legba or