Disease, Bodily Malfunction, and Laughter in the Priapea

The Priapea is an elegant poetry book about Priapus and his colorful adventures as protector of gardens. Priapus renowned for his disproportionately oversized phallus is a god of ugliness, often surrounded by people with bodily shortcomings. His laughter of derision is directed against others but also against himself. This paper explores the ways in which laughter operates in the collection, especially in relation to bodily malfunction and/or disease. My discussion focuses on Priapus’s self-subversive remarks on his own bodily malfunction, his attacks on the deficiencies of others, and his scornful treatment of doctors.