The discovery of a Roman necklace in the shape of a penis
The artifact is thought to have been created between 43 and 410 AD, at the time when Roman legions conquered Britain.
The British Museum has termed it a “important national treasure,” and it is thought to be only the second silver penis pendant discovered in England.
A total of 450 phallic devices made of various materials have previously been discovered in the United Kingdom.
It was not possible to narrowly date the pendant but a report by the British Museum that was read out at the inquest where the object was ruled as treasure said that the Empire was known for its ‘large corpus of phallic imagery’.
in a Kent field has been declared as a piece of treasure.
The phallic shape, which is 1.2inches long and less than half an inch wide, was found by retired estate agent Wendy Thompson while she was scouring farmland in Higham near Gravesend with a metal detector.
Ms Thompson, 73, told KentOnline: ‘The rarity of it is that it’s a silver example of a penis pendant.
‘I’ve got other bronze ones that I have found in the past but they’re nowhere near as significant, they hadn’t ever found a silver one before in England.
‘But it isn’t really the worth of the thing to my mind, it’s the interest. Some coins, for example, are just wonderful to look at.
‘The last person to hold that was back in that era. It’s a long, long time that it’s been lying in the ground waiting for me to come along and find it.’
Ms Thompson found the object on New Year’s Eve in 2020.
The other silver penis pendant in Britain was found.
is a dual-sided pendant from the Caerleon bath-house in Wales.
Unlike the latest find, that one features testicles.
An inquest took place at County Hall in Maidstone, Kent on May 26 to determine whether or not the jewellery should be classed as treasure.
Coroner Roger Hatch described the item before reading a short report from the British Museum.
The report said: ‘It is not possible to narrowly date this pendant, as no direct parallel with secure dating evidence can be found.
‘The large corpus of phallic imagery across the Roman Empire however, strongly points to a exclusively ‘Roman’ tradition, and thus, in the case of phallic objects found in Roman Britain, a date of 43-410 AD can be confidently assigned.’
Experts at the British Museum described the artefact as having a reverse triangular top section with ‘ribbed decoration, presumably public hair, narrowing to a tapering shaft and terminating in a raised band foreskin.’
The object weighs just 0.3 ounces (9.7grams).
Phallic jewellery was worn by both people and animals during the Roman period as protective amulets against the effects of the ‘evil eye’ – a personification of bad luck.
The vast majority were made from copper-alloy and were designed to be gaudy and noticeable.
Similar archaeological discoveries, along with phallic wall carvings at locations such as Hadrian’s wall, suggest the symbol of the penis had a close association with military sites.
This is supported by written evidence from Pliny, a Roman author and philosopher, who attributed the phallus to the embodiment of Fascinus – the guardian of infants and generals.
The association of the phallus with children is also mentioned by another prolific Roman author, Varro, who noted ‘a certain indecent object that is hung on the neck of boys to prevent harm coming to them.’
The report added: ‘It is clear that this object likely dates to before 1721 and, as the object is made of more than 10 per cent precious metals, it constitutes potential Treasure under the stipulations of The Treasure Act 1996.
Mr Hatch agreed with the British Museum and declared the silver penis pendant a piece of treasure.
Ms Thompson, from Lydd, Kent, said that she ‘hates’ the fact that the law requires metal detectorists to report finds within 14 days because ‘you know you are going to lose sight of that object for years.’
She is still waiting for the pendant to be valued and once it is sold the money will be split between her and the landowner, as is common practice.
However the money is not what drives her enthusiasm for digging up ancient objects.
She said: ‘I’m not after the money but it is nice to see it sold for its value.
‘I don’t find things because they are valuable, it’s because of the history and you know that somebody once had that object. It’s magical really.’
‘It is the first silver example of its class purported to be discovered, and thus a significant national find.’