Roman boys wore the bulla, an amulet that contained a phallic charm, until they formally came of age. Statues of Priapus similarly guarded gardens. The ruins of Pompeii produced bronze wind chimes ( tintinnabula) that featured the phallus, often in multiples, to ward off the evil eye and other malevolent influences. The phallus was ubiquitous in ancient Roman culture, particularly in the form of the fascinum, a phallic charm. The city of Tyrnavos in Greece holds an annual Phallus festival, a traditional event celebrating the phallus on the first days of Lent. His name is the origin of the medical term priapism. The son of Aphrodite and Dionysus, according to Homer and most accounts, he is the protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens, and male genitalia. Priapus is a Greek god of fertility whose symbol was an exaggerated phallus. Pan, son of Hermes, was often depicted as having an exaggerated erect phallus. There is no scholarly consensus on this depiction and it would be speculation to consider Hermes a type of fertility god. In traditional Greek mythology, Hermes, god of boundaries and exchange (popularly the messenger god) is considered to be a phallic deity by association with representations of him on herms (pillars) featuring a phallus.
