Lilith
12-16-2004, 07:28 AM
(submitted by gekkogecko)
By Gideon Long
LONDON (Reuters) - At first glance, the Massa
Marittima mural looks fairly similar to dozens of
other medieval frescoes dotted across Tuscany.
But look closely at the spidery tree that dominates
the center of the painting and you notice something
peculiar. Its branches are covered in penises.
There are 25 of them in all, of different shapes and
sizes, complete with testicles. They hang from the
limbs of the tree like leaves fluttering in the
breeze.
The mural dates from the 13th century and is still
visible on a wall in the Italian town of Massa
Marittima where it was discovered during renovation
work four years ago.
Until now, it was assumed the phallus tree was a
fertility symbol because it stands by a fountain --
the town's main source of water in medieval times.
But, according to a British-based expert, it is
actually a unique piece of political propaganda,
commissioned by one Tuscan faction to sully the
reputation of another.
"It's a very clear political poster," said George
Ferzoco, director of the Center for Tuscan Studies at
the University of Leicester in central England as he
unveiled his theory about the picture for the first
time.
"It's a message from the Guelphs, telling people that
if the Ghibellines are allowed power they will bring
with them heresy, sexual perversion, civic strife and
witchcraft."
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were two factions who
fought for power in Tuscany and northern Italy for
decades during the Middle Ages.
Perhaps the most famous victim of their feuds was the
poet Dante, a Guelph expelled from his native Florence
in 1302 after a rival Guelph group took power.
CLEAN LIVING AND UPSTANDING
At the time the mural was painted, the Guelphs
controlled Massa Marittima, a small town in
northwestern Tuscany.
"They presented themselves as the clean living
upstanding party in Tuscan politics and it was
traditional for them, in launching their attacks on
the Ghibellines, to label them as heretics," Ferzoco
told Reuters.
"Heretics, according to people in the Middle Ages,
practiced sodomy. Hence the phallus tree."
It may seem a cryptic message to the modern mind but
Ferzoco says it would have been obvious to the average
medieval Tuscan.
"They would have got the message instantly," he said.
"They considered things we consider obscene to be
perfectly normal, and using a phallus as part of a
political message would not have been an issue."
Ferzoco says the robed women standing under the
phallus tree are witches -- another curse the Guelphs
claimed the Ghibellines would bring to the town.
One of the women appears to be reaching up and placing
something in the lower branches of the tree with a
stick.
"There was a well-known story in Tuscan folklore about
witches removing men's' penises and placing them in
bird nests in trees, where they would then multiply
and take on a life of their own," Ferzoco said.
He says the picture draws on that story and is one of
the earliest known depictions of witches in Western art.
By Gideon Long
LONDON (Reuters) - At first glance, the Massa
Marittima mural looks fairly similar to dozens of
other medieval frescoes dotted across Tuscany.
But look closely at the spidery tree that dominates
the center of the painting and you notice something
peculiar. Its branches are covered in penises.
There are 25 of them in all, of different shapes and
sizes, complete with testicles. They hang from the
limbs of the tree like leaves fluttering in the
breeze.
The mural dates from the 13th century and is still
visible on a wall in the Italian town of Massa
Marittima where it was discovered during renovation
work four years ago.
Until now, it was assumed the phallus tree was a
fertility symbol because it stands by a fountain --
the town's main source of water in medieval times.
But, according to a British-based expert, it is
actually a unique piece of political propaganda,
commissioned by one Tuscan faction to sully the
reputation of another.
"It's a very clear political poster," said George
Ferzoco, director of the Center for Tuscan Studies at
the University of Leicester in central England as he
unveiled his theory about the picture for the first
time.
"It's a message from the Guelphs, telling people that
if the Ghibellines are allowed power they will bring
with them heresy, sexual perversion, civic strife and
witchcraft."
The Guelphs and Ghibellines were two factions who
fought for power in Tuscany and northern Italy for
decades during the Middle Ages.
Perhaps the most famous victim of their feuds was the
poet Dante, a Guelph expelled from his native Florence
in 1302 after a rival Guelph group took power.
CLEAN LIVING AND UPSTANDING
At the time the mural was painted, the Guelphs
controlled Massa Marittima, a small town in
northwestern Tuscany.
"They presented themselves as the clean living
upstanding party in Tuscan politics and it was
traditional for them, in launching their attacks on
the Ghibellines, to label them as heretics," Ferzoco
told Reuters.
"Heretics, according to people in the Middle Ages,
practiced sodomy. Hence the phallus tree."
It may seem a cryptic message to the modern mind but
Ferzoco says it would have been obvious to the average
medieval Tuscan.
"They would have got the message instantly," he said.
"They considered things we consider obscene to be
perfectly normal, and using a phallus as part of a
political message would not have been an issue."
Ferzoco says the robed women standing under the
phallus tree are witches -- another curse the Guelphs
claimed the Ghibellines would bring to the town.
One of the women appears to be reaching up and placing
something in the lower branches of the tree with a
stick.
"There was a well-known story in Tuscan folklore about
witches removing men's' penises and placing them in
bird nests in trees, where they would then multiply
and take on a life of their own," Ferzoco said.
He says the picture draws on that story and is one of
the earliest known depictions of witches in Western art.