The Cerne Abbas Giant is a naked chalk figure carved into the side of a hill in Dorchester, England. He occupies a treasured place in British culture. He's widely believed to be an ancient fertility god, possessing the power to make childless women pregnant. And as the historian Glyn Daniel notes, postcards of him are the only images of a naked man cheerfully accepted by the British post office. But in recent years controversy has swirled around him. A growing number of historians have begun to suggest that he's not as ancient as most people assume. Instead, they argue, he may be nothing more than an enormous seventeenth-century hoax.
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THE FIGURE IS PROBABLY A LATER RESTORATION OF A CELTIC-ROMAN DEPICTION OF HERCULES. THE EVIDENCE FOR THIS IS THE THOROUGHLY UNCHRISTIAN, UNABASHED TOTAL NUDITY OF THE FIGURE WITH ITS VERY OBVIOUS SEXUAL CONOTATIONS WHICH INCLUDE THE THICK, UPRAISED, STUDDED CLUB. THE BEARDLESS SIMPLICITY OF THE ROUND, BALD HEAD IS NOT COMMON TO EITHER ETHNIC ART STYLE AND SO IS PROBABLY A LATER RESTORATION OF A PART THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN SEVERELY DAMAGED BY CHRISTIANS IN DESECRATION. A FURTHER CLUE TO THE AUTHENTICITY OF THE SITE AS A RITUAL PLACE IS THE EARTHEN COMPOUND ABOVE THE FIGURE'S RIGHT SHOULDER WHICH MIGHT HAVE BEEN USED FOR CEREMONIAL GATHERINGS AND WAS USED FOR MAYPOLE DANCES UP UNTIL THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. A PRIME EXAMPLE OF A MODERN CARRY-OVER OF ANCIENT, PRE-CHRISTIAN CULTURE.
Posted by RICHARD DEMUTH on Fri Jul 30, 2004 at 11:00 PM
The Cerne Abbas Giant is in Cerne Abbas, a village in Dorset, its near the town of Dorchester but not in it.
Posted by Alix in Dorchester, Dorset on Fri Sep 09, 2005 at 03:53 AM
"..VERY OBVIOUS SEXUAL CONOTATIONS WHICH INCLUDE THE THICK, UPRAISED, STUDDED CLUB.." Would the rather large and erect penis not be a more obvious sexual connotation?
Posted by Keith in Cardiff, Wales on Tue Mar 21, 2006 at 02:16 AM
For no good reason than a hunch I think it's a hoax.
Posted by Amy on Thu Mar 23, 2006 at 02:50 PM
maybe he was a medieval gimp
did i mention i loooove gimpsPosted by gimp_luvva3444 in I-Owa on Thu Jul 13, 2006 at 06:16 AM
not a hoax, but related and funny. some people painted a picture of homer simpson next to the giant to advertise the simpsons movie... story with pictures can be found at this url http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/6901543.stm
Posted by james in tacoma, wa on Sun Sep 16, 2007 at 09:43 PM
There is a theory that the Cerne Abbas giant is a Roman artefact, as Hercules was the emblem of a legion known to have been garrisonned in the area. The lionskin over the arm has only recently been discovered (by aerial photography and digging)and restored. This strengthens the idea of a Roman origin and weakens the 17th-century hoax theory as the supposed hoaxers would not have known the precise details of a Roman legion's emblem, whereas the lionskin is an important symbol to a Roman.
Posted by Dick in UK on Mon Oct 13, 2008 at 03:22 AM
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