×
GreekEnglish

×
  • Politics
  • Diaspora
  • World
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Cooking
Thursday
25
Dec 2025
weather symbol
Athens 11°C
  • Home
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • World
  • Diaspora
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Culture
  • Sports
  • Mediterranean Cooking
  • Weather
Contact follow Protothema:
Powered by Cloudevo
> World

Roman soldiers drew penises all over Hadrian’s Wall more than 1.800 years ago

The hidden artist inside them...

Newsroom February 3 04:14

Drawing penises in the sky or on the inside of a bomber cockpit may earn you a stiff punishment in the U.S. military, but phallic graffiti is apparently a tradition as old as warfare.

A cadre of cocksure Roman soldiers deployed in 207 A.D. to repair parts of Hadrian’s Wall—the 73-mile-long stone fortification erected to keep Celtic Britons at bay in the Roman empire’s most northern border — apparently took time to scrawl some, uh, explicit graffiti at a nearby quarry.

Here are the turgid details, per Smithsonian:

Two shallow relief busts spotted on the rock ledge could represent self-portraits left by the soldiers, or perhaps a mocking caricature of the men’s commanding officer.

A third marking is less open to interpretation.

>Related articles

Shocking: No prosecution of the Bob Vylan band for the anti-Israel slogans at the Glastonbury Festival

Netanyahu: Israel will spend $110 billion on an independent arms industry over the next decade

The 20 dramatic minutes before the Falcon crash in Ankara: The pilot’s communication with the control tower

But the unabashedly phallic symbol isn’t simply a reminder of mankind’s enduring juvenile tendencies: Michael Collins, Historic England’s inspector of ancient monuments for Hadrian’s Wall, tells Cahal Milmo of I News that the Romans generally viewed the phallus as a good luck charm.

Indeed, the Rock of Gelt phallus is just one of many associated with the Roman Empire’s sprawling 73-mile northern border. In an interview with CNN‘s Emily Dixon, Newcastle archaeologist Rob Collins says he has identified 57 other etchings of male genitalia scattered across the length of Hadrian’s Wall.

Read more: task and purpose

Ask me anything

Explore related questions

#archaeology#Hadrian's Wall#penis#roman#rome#soldiers#world
> More World

Follow en.protothema.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news

See all the latest News from Greece and the World, the moment they happen, at en.protothema.gr

> Latest Stories

Shocking: No prosecution of the Bob Vylan band for the anti-Israel slogans at the Glastonbury Festival

December 24, 2025

Hadjivassiliou: The Trilateral proved that the cooperation between Greece, Israel and Cyprus has strategic depth

December 24, 2025

Netanyahu: Israel will spend $110 billion on an independent arms industry over the next decade

December 24, 2025

Dendias from Xanthi: We are creating the second drone production unit in Greece

December 24, 2025

BP sells 65% of Castrol for $6 billion and shifts its strategy

December 24, 2025

The 20 dramatic minutes before the Falcon crash in Ankara: The pilot’s communication with the control tower

December 24, 2025

435 kg of cocaine seized in Italy, worth around €70 million

December 24, 2025

Kefalogiannis: We are creating 13 risk management centers, aiming to prevent and manage risks

December 24, 2025
All News

> Sports

End of the game – Panathinaikos 93-82 Hapoel (updated)

Panathinaikos and Hapoel Tel Aviv are locked in a thrilling contest at the OAKA, with the Israeli side holding a narrow 46–45 lead at halftime in a fiercely contested EuroLeague clash

December 18, 2025

Valencia shocks Olympiacos in Piraeus with late surge to claim EuroLeague victory

December 16, 2025

After Antetokounmpo, Jokic also targeted by Sengun: “You can’t touch him, he gets a foul every time

December 16, 2025

Panathinaikos vs Fenerbahce 81-77 victory at the final buzzer (updated)

December 16, 2025

Erling Haaland dressed as Santa Claus and distributed gifts in Manchester – Watch the video

December 16, 2025
Homepage
PERSONAL DATA PROTECTION POLICY COOKIES POLICY TERM OF USE
Powered by Cloudevo
Copyright © 2025 Πρώτο Θέμα