ABSTRACT
Phallic imagery is pervasive across the Roman Empire, but it is often viewed as individual pieces or more generally in art historical terms. Hadrian’s Wall, however, provides a substantial assemblage of 60 individual carvings of a phallus, many of which also have an associated archaeological context. The Wall phalli provide an opportunity to examine these carvings as an assemblage, assessing each phallus relative to its form, chronology, and archaeological context. Thus, a new typology for stone-carved phalli is employed to enhance interpretation, enabling a more nuanced reading of phallic symbolism to be identified beyond the general apotropaic understanding.
