Priapeia  

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Roman erotica, Priapées et sujets divers

The Priapeia is a collection of poems (ninety five in number) in various meters on the subject of Priapus. It was compiled from literary works and inscriptions on images of the god by an unknown editor, who composed the introductory epigram. From their style and versification it is evident that the poems belong to the best period of Latin literature.

These poems were posted upon statues of Priapus that stood in the midst of gardens as the protector of the fruits that grew therein. These statues were often crude carvings made from tree trunks. They roughly resembled the form of a man and were equipped with a huge, erect phallus that doubled as a club that the gardener could use against would-be robbers. The statues also promoted the gardens’ fertility.

The verses are attributed variously to Virgil, Ovid, and Domitius Marsus. However, most authorities on the matter regard them to have been the work of a group of poets who met at Maecenas’ house, amusing themselves by writing tongue-in-cheek tributes to the garden Priapus. (Maecenas was Horace’s patron.) Others, including Martial and Petronius, were thought to have added more verses in imitation of the originals.

The Priapeia was translated into English by Leonard C. Smithers and Sir Richard Burton (the latter of whom also translated The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night), who provided numerous glosses concerning the sexual practices and proclivities that are referenced in the poems. These explanatory notes address such diverse topics as irrumation, cunnilingus, masturbation, bestiality, sexual positions, eunuchism, phalli, religious prostitution, aphrodisiacs, pornography, and sexual terminology.

The poems include monologues by Priapus in which the god congratulates and praises himself for the size and virility of his sexual parts and issues fearful warnings to those who would trespass upon his garden or attempt to steal its fruits, threatening such miscreants with various punishments of a sexual nature, such as irrumation and sodomy.

In the “Introduction” to the Priapeia, the translators point out that “The worship of Priapus amongst the Romans was derived from the Egyptians, who, under the form of Apis, the Sacred Bull, adored the generative Power of Nature,” adding that “the Phallus was the ancient emblem of creation, and representative of the gods Bacchus, Priapus, Hercules, Siva, Osiris, Baal and Asher, who were all Phallic deities.”

The Priapeia presents the verses first in their original Latin, followed by their English translations, followed by a summary of their plots, followed by notes on the text. For those who are unfamiliar with Latin poetry, it may be helpful to read the summaries before reading the poems’ translations. The notes concerning the text are keyed by numbers in brackets that correspond to the same numbers in the summaries of the verses.