ABSTRACT

The choice of the fig-leaf for the concealment of the pudenda is to be explained by the symbolic identification of the genitals with the fruit of the fig. See the following couplet of Archilochus: ‘Generous fig on the rock, food for many crows; Pasiliphe opening her lap to strangers.’ (Quoted from Richard Nordhausen’s Ars Amandi, p. 30.)