Category:Priapus

English: Priapus was the rustic god of the bounty of the vegetable garden. He was also honoured as the protector of sheep, goats, bees, the vine and of all garden produce. Priapus was depicted as a dwarfish man with a huge penis, which symbolized garden fertility. His head was crowned with a peaked Phrygian cap, belying his origin as a god native to the Mysian city of Lampsakos on the Hellespont. His cult was introduced into Greece and Italy, where his mythology were reinterpreted in Greek terms. Primitive statues of the god were traditionally set-up in vegetable plots to promote fertility with the added benefit of functioning as a type of "scarecrow" scaring away birds. The Greeks naturally described the god as the son of one of the phallic gods — either Hermes or Dionysus. His mother was usually Aphrodite.