2nd century AD. A huge marble phallus in an erect state, with defined gland and detailed corpus cavernosum, the column of tissue of the corpus spongiosum represented running along the front and ending at the gland; mounted on a custom-made rotating display stand. See Grant, M. & Mulas, A., Eros in Pompeii: The Erotic Art Collection of the Museum of Naples, New York, 1997.53.6 kg total, 84cm including stand (33"). From the property of an Amsterdam antiquarian; acquired at Breda antiques fair in 1982; accompanied by an expertise written by Dr. Raffaele D’Amato and a scholarly note TL5354 by Dr Ronald Bonewitz; this lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate number no.10412-171559. Many so-called household items, like those recovered from the Pompeii excavations, had clear sexual themes; the intrinsic ubiquity of such images and objects indicates that the customs and habits of ancient Roman culture were much more liberal than most cultures of our day, although it must be emphasised that much of what might seem to us exclusively erotic imagery - for example, were likely symbols recalling the fertility of nature in a broad sense, as well as acting as lucky and auspicious talismans. Depictions of the phallus could be used in gardens for example to encourage the production of fertile plants. Herodotus, the ancient Greek historian, documented women wearing large phallic-shaped ornaments the size of a human body in the villages of ancient Dionysia. Phallic reliefs on buildings at such sites are also believed to have been apotropaic devices to ward off evil. In Delos it is still possible to see the truncated remains of monumental phalli, similar to our specimen, dedicated to the god Dionysus, decorated with a phallus/cockerel hybrid. [A video of this lot is available to view on TimeLine Auctions website.]