남근지배

Phallocracy: Aesthetics of Self-Destruction in the Ancient Athens

Classical Athens has been adored as one of the most idealistic and creative societies in literature, democracy, arts and philosophy. However, it is also one of the most oppressive patriarchal and most imperialistic societies, which fell straight downwards in self-destruction. A pronounced phallicism prevailed in Classical Athens until the great failure of the military expedition to Sicily. Phallocracy does not mean male dominance just within a private sphere of sexual activity, but also successful claim by a male elite to general power. The objective of this paper is to analyse phallocracy in the Classical Athens. First, I will deal with Attic mythological history intertwining of phallic motifs of slaughter and rape with patriotic themes represented in the frieze of the Parthenon in which the founding fathers of the Athens such as Achilles, Heracles and Theseus, confronted and killed a queen of the Amazon. Secondly, the vase paintings are analysed as examples of “the display of the phallus” in daily Athens life. Athenian men liked to display their genitals, and statues of gods with erect phalluses spread out all over the city. Thirdly, I think that the suppression of women and the military expansionism sprang from the aggressiveness in phallocracy. The more aggressively the assembly in Athens invaded and oppressed other cities, the harsher the women were oppressed into rape, enslavement, and forced silence. Finally, I conclude that it was the Mutilation of the Herms, whose front phalluses were castrated with something sharp, that caused the phallocracy and the militaristic expansionism to wither away.