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The Apotropaic Phallus

Discussion Points:

-Catherine Johns discussed two main points as to why female genitalia is not frequently portrayed during the Greek and Roman periods. One of these points is the difficulty in rendering the vulva and the other deals with the idea of the vulva being threatening to men. What do you, as a class think, the reason is for not showing more female genitalia?

-The idea of a phallus being apotropaic was a concept I had not thought of when I viewed images from the Greco-Roman Era. After learning about the Evil Eye, do more images from this time period seem less erotic and more meaningful?