A ROMAN BRONZE DOUBLE ENDED PHALLUS AMULET, CIRCA 2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D.

拍品描述

A ROMAN BRONZE DOUBLE-ENDED PHALLUS AMULET, CIRCA 2ND-3RD CENTURY A.D. Cast in the round, of compact and symmetrical form, the amulet takes the shape of a horizontal shaft terminating at either end in a phallus, with a pair of pendant testicles suspended below the centre and a vertical suspension loop rising from the upper side. The surface carries a dense green and turquoise patina with russet cuprite eruptions and earthen encrustation, obscuring finer modelling but preserving the essential contours of the form. The two phallic terminals are treated with slight asymmetry, one broader and more rounded at the glans, the other tapering to a narrower tip. The double phallus, or fascinum, belongs to a well-established class of Roman apotropaic amulets. Worn suspended from the neck or attached to harness, belt, or doorway, such objects were understood to deflect the malevolent gaze, the fascinatio, that Roman thought held responsible for misfortune, sickness in children, and the failure of livestock or crops. The suspension loop indicates that this example was intended to be worn or hung, and the horizontal double-ended type is among the more potent variants of the form, doubling the protective charge of the single phallus. Bronze was the standard medium for amulets of this class, cast in quantity across the western and central provinces of the Empire and traded along military and commercial routes. The material carried no particular symbolic weight in itself, but its durability and the ease of casting small forms in open or piece moulds made it the natural choice for personal protective objects intended for daily wear. Comparable examples have been recovered from domestic, military, and funerary contexts across Italy, Gaul, Britain, and the Rhine and Danube frontiers, indicating the wide currency of the type throughout the imperial period. The fascinum occupied an unusual position in Roman religious life, at once obscene by later standards and entirely unremarkable in its own time. It was worn by children, by soldiers, and by triumphing generals alike, and small bronze examples of this kind represent the ordinary devotional and protective equipment of the Roman household. Their survival in quantity reflects both the scale of production and the seriousness with which the danger of the evil eye was treated. This amulet exemplifies the compact, doubled apotropaic type produced in bronze across the Roman provinces in the second and third centuries, in which the protective symbol is intensified by repetition and reduced to a form suitable for suspension against the body. Its worn surface and heavy patina are characteristic of long burial, and the survival of both terminals and the suspension loop intact places it among the more complete examples of its class. Dimensions: Length: 4.4 cm

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