DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1041#0141
iix History of the Society of Dilettanti
tion and groundless hypotheses.' At this date there
was nothing approaching to an exact or scientific
appreciation of the symbolic rites observed in the
worship of their deities by pagan or Oriental races.
D'Hancarville, in spite of the gross absurdities which
abound in his work, must be regarded as one of the
earliest writers to attempt any such solution of
these difficult questions, which in the course of the
next hundred years have furnished matter of research
and speculation to so many more competent minds.
Among the subjects treated by D'Hancarville was that
of phallicism in ancient religious rites. His theories
and arguments completely fascinated the minds of
Townley and Payne Knight, and this infection was
communicated by them to the Society of Dilettanti.
The Society therefore, as recorded above, decided
to print and illustrate Hamilton's letter on the
curious rites which he had witnessed at Isernia.
The The work was entrusted to Payne Knight, who
'Priafeia' added an essay of his own composition. The work
was ready for publication in 1786, and bore the
title of An Account of the Worship of Priapus, lately
existing at Isernia in the Kingdom of Naples: in Two
Letters; One from Sir William Hamilton, KJ3., His
Majesty's Minister at the Court of Naples, to Sir Joseph
Banks, Bart., President of the T^pyal Society j and the other
from a Person residing at Isernia: To which is added,
A discourse on the Worship of Priapus, and its Connexion
with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients by 7^. P. JQiight,
Esq. (London. Printed by T. Spilbury, Snowhill,
1785.) It was known shortly as the Priapeia. On
March 3, 1787, it is recorded in the minutes that
' Mr. Windham on the part of the Committee of publication
reported that the Priapeia ordered by the Society to be printed is
Finishd & ready for delivery.
tion and groundless hypotheses.' At this date there
was nothing approaching to an exact or scientific
appreciation of the symbolic rites observed in the
worship of their deities by pagan or Oriental races.
D'Hancarville, in spite of the gross absurdities which
abound in his work, must be regarded as one of the
earliest writers to attempt any such solution of
these difficult questions, which in the course of the
next hundred years have furnished matter of research
and speculation to so many more competent minds.
Among the subjects treated by D'Hancarville was that
of phallicism in ancient religious rites. His theories
and arguments completely fascinated the minds of
Townley and Payne Knight, and this infection was
communicated by them to the Society of Dilettanti.
The Society therefore, as recorded above, decided
to print and illustrate Hamilton's letter on the
curious rites which he had witnessed at Isernia.
The The work was entrusted to Payne Knight, who
'Priafeia' added an essay of his own composition. The work
was ready for publication in 1786, and bore the
title of An Account of the Worship of Priapus, lately
existing at Isernia in the Kingdom of Naples: in Two
Letters; One from Sir William Hamilton, KJ3., His
Majesty's Minister at the Court of Naples, to Sir Joseph
Banks, Bart., President of the T^pyal Society j and the other
from a Person residing at Isernia: To which is added,
A discourse on the Worship of Priapus, and its Connexion
with the Mystic Theology of the Ancients by 7^. P. JQiight,
Esq. (London. Printed by T. Spilbury, Snowhill,
1785.) It was known shortly as the Priapeia. On
March 3, 1787, it is recorded in the minutes that
' Mr. Windham on the part of the Committee of publication
reported that the Priapeia ordered by the Society to be printed is
Finishd & ready for delivery.