Herma

This guy gets special attention too, because I don't believe I've ever seen one before.

 

 

 

 

 

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A Herma (Ancient Greek: ἑρμῆς, pl. ἑρμαῖ hermai),^[1] commonly in English herm, is a sculpture with a head, and perhaps a torso, above a plain, usually squared lower section, on which male genitals may also be carved at the appropriate height. The form originated in Ancient Greece, and was adopted by the Romans, and revived at the Renaissance in the form of term figures and Atlantes.

 

 

Origin

 

In the earliest times Greek divinities were worshipped in the form of a heap of stones or a shapeless column of stone or wood. In many parts of Greece there were piles of stones by the sides of roads, especially at their crossings, and on the boundaries of lands. The religious respect paid to such heaps of stones, especially at the meeting of roads, is shown by the custom of each passer-by throwing a stone on to the heap or anointing it with oil.^[2] Later there was the addition of a head and phallus to the column, which became quadrangular (the number 4 was sacred to Hermes).^[3]



 

 

 

[From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herma]