Symbols: The Thyrsus

The Honourable John Maler Collier
The Priestess of Bacchus
oil on canvas
58 X 44¼ in.

Common to many Classicist paintings of the late 19th century is the thyrsus, a staff, often of giant fennel, topped with a pine cone.  With its phallic shape, the thyrsus has been considered to be specifically a masculine fertility symbol, with the fennel shaft representing the penis, and the pine cone at its apex representing the seeds issuing forth.  In Pagan religious rites, it is carried by the followers of Dionysis (Bacchus), and is most often associated with the Maenads and Satyrs.  Victorian viewers spotting the thyrsus in a painting would have immediately understood the reference to Bacchanalia, a festival of drunkenness and ecstatic dance antithetical to the strict mores of their own society.

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
The Women of Amphissa
oil on canvas
48 X 72 in.

Amphissa was the capitol of the annual festival honoring Bacchus.  Here, the female citizens of Amphissa
are greeting the Bacchantes who are waking after a long night of revelry.  Fearing for the safety of
Bacchantes, the women of the city protected the stuporous celebrants from harm as they slept through
the night.

Oddly, the pine cone finial, which, in the thyrsus, was a male symbol, was also considered a female symbol to the Greeks.  As the emblem of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, it represented feminine purity, while for Aphrodite it was likely a symbol of female fertility.  Even in many of the Bacchanalian rites, participation was limited only to women.  Perhaps this dual nature of the pine cone was the impetus behind the change of visual representation of Bacchus in art;  early images show a mature, bearded male, while later images show a beardless, naked or half-naked, sensuous youth with a nearly feminine beauty.

For Christians who likely co-opted the symbol from the Pagans, the pine cone represents fertility, and as the fruit of the evergreen, also represents immortality.  Not only does it form the crown of the Tree of Life, but is very common in all Christian art, especially in that of the Catholic faith.  In fact, the largest pine cone representation in the world stands in the Court of the Pine Cone in Vatican Square.

The Court of the Pine Cone, Vatican City

William Adolphe Bouguereau
La Jeunesse de Bacchus
oil on canvas
331 X 610 cm

William Adolphe Bouguereau
Faun and Bacchante
oil on canvas
21 X 26 in.

John William Godward
At the Gate of the Temple
oil on canvas
63⁵⁄₈ X 28 in.

William Adolphe Bouguereau
Malice

Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema
The Vintage Festival
oil on panel
51 X 119 cm