An Account of the remains of the worship of Priapus : lately existing at Isernia, in the kingdom of Naples; in two letters : one from Sir William Hamilton ... to Sir Joseph Banks ... : and the other from a person residing at Isernia : to which is added, A discourse on the worship of Priapus : and its connexion with the mystic theology of the ancients / By R.P. Knight.

Date:
1786
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An Account of the remains of the worship of Priapus : lately existing at Isernia, in the kingdom of Naples; in two letters : one from Sir William Hamilton ... to Sir Joseph Banks ... : and the other from a person residing at Isernia : to which is added, A discourse on the worship of Priapus : and its connexion with the mystic theology of the ancients / By R.P. Knight. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    [ 5- ] very fame purpofe, as likewife for their fuppofed invigorating influence ;, and all of which have evi- dently a relation to the Cult of Priapus. Struck ¥ with this conformity in- modern and ancient fuper- ftition, I made a.collecflion of. both the ancient and modern Amulets of this forty and placed them together in the British Museum,-where they remain.- The. modern Amulet moft in vogue, reprefents a hand clinched, with the point of the thumb thruft betwixt the index and middle ^finger ;. the next is a fhell 5, and the third is a half^moon. Thefe Amu-^ lets (except the fhell, which is ufually worn in its natural ftate) are moft commonly made of filver, but fometimes of ivory, coral, amber, cryftal, or fome- curious gem, or pebble. We have.a proof of the hand above, deferibed having a connexion with- Priapus, in a moft elegant fmall idol of bronze of that Divinity, now in the Royal Museum of Por- Ticr, and which was found in the ruins of Hercu-* laneum : it has an enormous Phallus, and, with an arch look, and gefture, ftretches out its right hand ‘ * -