Phallos: A Symbol and Its History in the Male World by Thorkil Vanggaard; International Universities Press
Throughout human history, the phallos has been a symbol that stood for much more than sex. The classic book "Phallos: A Symbol and Its History in the Male World" (1972) documents some of the more striking uses of the phallos as symbol, as a tool in symbolic communication, and in the ordering of society.
For all of us, the phallos as an image carries powerful meanings that have little to do with sex. In "Phallos," Vanggaard explains the nature and significance of the phallic symbol by reference to our knowledge about life in Ancient Greece and within the ancient Norse culture, compared with modern clinical experience. This he supplements with some observations on the behavior of the higher mammals - the primates - made in the last few decades. He also takes into consideration some aspects of life in the Near East. After describing a clash between Judeo-Christianity and the rest of the Hellenistic world, the author tries to follow phallic symbolism in some of its forms down through European culture into our present European-American civilization. In this context the role of sexual symbols as signals of dominance and submission is exhaustively discussed and related to personal relationships and social systems ancient and modern.
For the Dorians in Greece during the 7th century BC, the phallos symbolized all of a man's finest qualities, which he communicated to a boy through anal intercourse. Doing so was a duty to the society, publicly celebrated by all the people. The Dorians left public monuments celebrating their coitus with pre-adolescent sons of distinguished men. This was "a sacred act, steeped in solemnity and honor."
These Greeks from 750-300 BC were conscious of both homosexual and heterosexual inclinations; without any social conflict they could love both women and boys. In fact, if the young son of a nobleman was not chosen as the lover of a distinguished man, his family was shamed. Being chosen was celebrated. Through coitus, the ancient Greeks believed, the man conveyed to the boy his strength, courage, eloquence, loyalty - all his virtues. A "kidnapping" of the boy was arranged with his family beforehand. If a family rejected a would-be lover, the man was deeply shamed and insulted.
When a boy began to have a beard, he was sent back to his family and eventually married a woman, sometimes with the help of his former male lover, who had assumed father-like responsibility towards him. The boy returned home bearing rich gifts - it bestowed a particular honor on him to be captured in this way. He was thereafter called klenos, or "famous," a title he retained in adulthood. Such boys were better dressed than the others, and were given the best seats at dances and races.
Most of us know that Oedipus unknowingly killed his father and married his mother, then blinded himself upon discovering he had done so. But how many know that "the tragedy was originally caused by a curse on King Laius, father of Oedipus, for Laius' abduction of a boy without the consent of the boy's father?"
Pederasty was cultivated by ordinarily normally heterosexual men in Ancient Greece. "It was a natural part of the lifestyle of the best of men, reflected in the stories of the gods and heroes of the people. It is common practice among the gods and heroes of the Hellenes - Zeus abducts Ganymede, whom he loves, and makes the boy cupbearer to the gods."
Most men in our part of the world go through their adult lives in ignorance of their own homosexuality. There are men who have a certain recognition of a well-managed and undisturbing homosexual potential within them. It may be a sign of a particular psychic strength in their personalities.
Our understanding of the aggressive meaning and roles of sex-symbolism in life is correspondingly poor. In this book these topics are discussed at length. The homosexual radical is a basic element that is usually barred from our field of consciousness. Its nature, what it meant in different cultures, and the fate it has met with in our own is an important theme in this work.
One of the most interesting parts of the book is in the conclusion, where Vanggaard points out the relationship of what he's been talking about to the replacement of ancient submission/dominance systems of Western society by democracy, where everyone is equal, but where the temptation to revert to the symbols of rank, especially under a dictator, lies just below the surface. This classic book broadens your ideas and knowledge about male sexuality, about aggression and organization. Highly recommended.