One of the most complex representations of the phallic image in the Roman world is its inclusion in tintinnabulae; metal wind-chimes which contain a central figure surrounded by long chains terminating in bells. Now, there is ample evidence to suggest that the phallic image performed some sort of apotropaic function in the Roman world both from sources both ancient (Varro, De Lingua Latina 7.97; Aristophanes, Archanians 241; Pliny the Elder, Natural History 28.7) and modern (Turnbull 1978; Johns 1982; Dumas 2012) and this certainly relates to aspect of the archaeology of Roman Britain (Greep 1983; Plouviez 2005; Parker 2015). My favourite and, oft quoted, reference to the functionality of the phallic image in the Roman world is by Ralph Merrifield who called it a “kind of lightning conductor for bad luck” (Merrifield 1969, 170).
To my knowledge there are no cohesive catalogues of tintinnabulae in the Roman world, the nearest thing I have come across is a 1985 article by Blazquez, J. M. “Tintinnabula de Merida y de Sasamon (Burgos)” Zephyrus 38, 331-335. Certainly in Anglophone publications there is very little which actually account for some of the possible material and spatial concerns which might help a better understanding of these curious and often humorous objects.
There are two eponymous images of the phallo-form wind chimes. One is a zoomorphic phallic beast depicted as a macrophallic and curving ithyphallic phallus with a pair of feline hind legs with a snaking tail terminating in a phallus and a secondary and smaller phallus extending from between its legs. It is winged and has a pair of ears flanking the glans. Simple linked chains extend from the tips of each wing and from beneath the glans, the secondary phallus and one foot, and all of these terminate in a domed bell.
Its famous compatriot is a more stylised version from Herculaneum in which a dwarven gladiator is fighting a tiger which happens to also be his penis; the base of the animal extends from his groin in a long shaft. He also has five bells strung beneath him (ibid.). Generally speaking, the exact nature of the figure and number and arrangements of the bells of tintinnabulae is variable – a macrophallus features prominently, but not exclusively, in the known examples; a conical (phallo-form?) bell with human face is known from Merida, Spain (Blazquez 1985, figs. 1-2).
FIGURE 1: (Left) A Zoomorphic, Macro- and Poly-phallic tintinnabulum. Image © TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM [CC BY-NC-SA 4.0]
(Right) A stylised dwarven gladiator fighting his own zoomorphic phallus tintinnabulum. Both now in the British Museum. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The obvious thing to note from these two examples is the aspect of multiplication of objects – of both bells and phalli. Polyphallism in this case, may be an attempt at increasing the efficacy of a single phallus. The use of multiple bells in a single example may also represent an attempt of multiplication or enhancing. No studies are available which account for the pitch or tone of a set of such bells, but a simple visual inspection reveals differing sizes of the bells– thus producing different notes when rung. The sound produced by a Roman wind chime, assuming at least two and possibly up to five individual notes, is a complex, randomised and constantly changing tune. The pleasantness of the notes ringing is combined with the organic chaos of their order and the potential for continuous play.
There is a complex literary relationship between ritual/magico-religious acts and noise-making in the classical sources based on the verb tintino ‘to ring’ (Ammianus Marcellinus, Rerum Gestarum 17.11; Juvenal, Satire 6.440; Plautus Pseudolus 1.3 and Truculentus 4.3). In a mundane, functional sense the wearing of bells is also primarily associated with livestock (Petronius, Satyricon 47; Apuleius, Metamorphoses 10.18). The attribution of bells as apotropaic is piecemeal – associations with elements of ritual performance for religious functions is a strong part of this argument but the nature and use of such bells in these contexts is unclear. A tenuous association with animals in the literature is at least developed by the frequently zoomorphic nature of the tintinnabulae figures.
The core association of wind chimes as apotropaic comes from the overt and frequent use of phallic imagery in such contexts – the discovery of bells as single finds is problematic in this light. Bells are, of course, used as individual objects and may not have been associated with a group of bells but the extent to which they may have served an apotropaic function is entirely open for debate. As individual finds there are a range of associated functions which must also be considered as part of their specific function – as an indicator of movement, as a toy, or as part of a larger musical assemblage.
The largest collection of tintinnabulae encountered so far by the author is in the British Museum. The catalogue includes at least seventeen complete or partial tintinnabulae but none of these have a British provenance attached. At the time of writing the Portable Antiquities Scheme lists 162 copper alloy bells considered to be Roman but none of the figural aspects of the wind chimes. It should be pointed out that I have, so far, utterly failed to find a single example of a tintinnabulum from a secure Romano-British provenance.
The European Artefacts database lists at least fifteen individual types of Roman clochette (bell) with tentative dating evidence supplied from several continental European contexts (see CLT-4001 to CLT-4022) In all cases the bells are copper alloy, but the form changes slightly – in general terms the bells are either hemispherical, trapezoidal, conical, squat and straight-sided or, for want of a better phrase, ‘bell-shaped’ (rounded at the top, narrowing slightly at the waist and flaring outwards at the foot). It is likely to have an integral suspension loop, the majority of which are lozenge-shaped (or hexagonal) with a large circular perforation, but examples without these are recorded in the typology. The earliest type listed is from the first half of the first century AD (CLT-4001) and the latest from AD 350-425 (CLT-4008).
There is a problem in directly associating the bells with tintinnabulae proper and the overt imagery they may have depicted. Comparable copper alloy bells, disassociated from any chain and thus any larger ‘wind chime’ assemblage have been discovered in several funerary contexts in Roman Britain (Cool 2004, 159; Crummy 2010, 83) primarily associated with children – an observation paralleled in at least three child inhumations in the vicinity of Arras, northern France (Jelski 1984, 277); in all cases these are also associated with phallic pendants as part of the grave assemblage.
As well as the secondary use of bells in a funerary context, we must consider the primary use of a wind chime in a spatial sense – it requires access to moving air to function on its own and thus must be hung in a location with access to the open air, or otherwise physically accessible if being struck by hand, or both. In reality we do not know exactly where tintinnabulae were used but windows, doors, courtyards, and gardens all present themselves as natural candidates to fulfil these spatial criteria. If this is the case, such boundary locations may be interpreted as the same liminal locations in the physical world which required protection by phallic carvings. The difference is that wind chimes are portable and can be moved occasionally, seasonally or daily to a new location if need be so establishing a functional locale may prove impossible..
References
Cool, H. E. M. 2004. The Roman Cemetery of Brougham, Cumbria: Excavations 1966-67 (Britannia Monograph Series no. 21). London, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies.
Crummy, N. 2010. “Bears and Coins: The Iconography of Protection in Late Roman Infant Burials”, Britannia 41. 37-93.
Dumas, C. 2012. “L’art érotique de la mythologie au spiritual”, Sexe á Rome: Au-del á des idées Reçues (Dossier d’Archéologie 22). 14-19.
Greep, S. 1983. “Note on Bone Fist and Phallus Pendants”, in Crummy, N. 1983. Colchester Archaeological Report 2: The Small Finds from Excavations in Colchester1971-9. Colchester, Colchester Archaeological Trust. [Available here]
Jelski, G. 1984. “Pendentifs phallique, clochettes et peltae dans les tombs d’enfants de Gaule Belgique: Une découverte à Arras”, Revue du Nord 66. 260-279.
Johns, C. 1982. Sex and Symbol? Erotic Images of Greece and Rome. London, British Museum Press.
Merrifield, R. 1969. Roman London. London, Cassell.
Parker, A. 2015. “The Fist-and-Phallus Pendants from Roman Catterick”, Britannia 46. 135-149.
Plouviez, J. 2005 “Whose Good Luck? Roman Phallic Ornaments from Suffolk”, in Crummy, N. (ed) Image, Craft and the Classical World. Essasys in Honour of Donald Bailey and Catherine Johns (Monographies Instrumentum 29). Montagnac, Mergoil. 154-164.
Turnbull, P. 1978. “The Phallus in the Art of Roman Britain”, Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology, University of London 15. 199-206.
Adam Parker 