God of fertility among the Greeks

Priapus is the god of fertility among the Greeks. There are several versions explaining who exactly were his parents. Most often they are inclined to the variant that Dionysus was the father, and Aphrodite was the mother. Hera did not like Aphrodite and to punish her for illegibility, she touched her abdomen, which led to an increase in the genitals of the fetus. After birth, having discovered a defect in the child, Aphrodite abandoned him and left her in the forest. As the son of Dionysus, Priapus was considered a symbol of male potency and the unity of death and life.

What is known about the fertility god in ancient Greece?

A large number of myths about Priapus are associated with the ass, which eventually became his sacred animal and a symbol of lust. For example, once the god of fertility decided to compete with this animal, which of them has a longer genital organ. This myth has two versions, depending on who won the contest. In the variant described where Priap lost in battle, he eventually killed the donkey, which became a sacred animal and one of the constellations in the sky. There is another legend in which the ancient Greek god of fertility decided to rape the sleeping West at the feast of the gods, but at the most crucial moment the donkey cried and was caught. From that time Priap hated these animals and they were sacrificed to him.

Initially, Priap was considered an Asia Minor deity and only in the classical era did he become famous in Greece. Together with the cult of Aphrodite, the worship of Priapus passed to Italy, where he was identified with the fertility god Mutin. In general, he was considered his inferior deity and mostly treated him with a certain disrespect. Most often in Greece, the fertility god was portrayed as a scarecrow with a red head and a large erect phallus. After a certain time, Priapas began to be considered the patron of vineyards, orchards, animal plants and insects, so his figures were placed near them. The Greeks believed that he could scare off thieves. Did the figures mostly from wood or baked clay. In the territory of Asia Minor there were a large number of stele in the form of a phallus.

In painting, the ancient fertility god Priap was portrayed as a naked man. The folds of clothing drape the erect phallus. Nearby often a screaming donkey was portrayed. In Greece, a unique kind of priapic poetry appeared. Small collections of such poems were called "Priapes". The cult of the god of fertility persisted in Greece for a long time, even after the adoption of Christianity, despite the fact that the church in all possible ways tried to suppress it.