Why Were Ancient Dicks So Small?

Betwixt The Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society

History Hit

Society, Sex, Scandal, Education, History

4.8 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 July 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Have you ever been puzzled by proportions when looking at Ancient Greek statues? It can't just be us.

From quarrying the stone to chipping away the final touches on your masterpiece - sculpting is a drawn out process. So why, after possibly years of work, did Ancient Greek artists make penises so small?

Kate is joined by Professor Caroline Vout to find out what these sculptors meant by their statues' modest members, and what this tells us about the Ancient world.

This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Sophie Gee. The senior producer was Charlotte Long.

Find the History Hit film 'Dicking About' here: https://access.historyhit.com/videos/dicking-about

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All music from Epidemic Sounds.

Betwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone, it's me your host, Kate Lister. I'm just jumping in before the episode to ask you for a little favour.
0:07.6	If you are enjoying betwixt, and I hope that you are, we'd love it if you could vote for us for the
0:12.5	Listeners Choice Awards at the British Podcast Awards. If you follow the link in the show notes,
0:17.9	it should take you to the place you need to go and it would mean the world to us. We were shortlisted last year and the one before that, and the one before that.
0:27.8	We were so close. And it just made us want it even more. I think we can do it this year.
0:34.1	Right. On with the show.
0:38.1	20 years ago, on July 7th, 2005, the 7-7 bombings rocked London. It changed the way
0:45.3	Londoners looked at their city. I actually encountered three of the perpetrators of 7-7 in
0:51.3	late 2002. I'm Thomas Small, the co-host of Conflicted.
0:55.4	In this special documentary series, we'll tell you the story of 7-7 as you've never heard it before from the inside.
1:03.0	Search 7-7 the inside story wherever you get your podcasts.
1:09.8	Hello, my lovely bet twixters.
1:11.9	It's me, Kate Lister.
1:13.4	You've come back.
1:14.6	Oh, I'm so pleased that you have.
1:17.3	You came back despite being warned that the show is going to contain rude content,
1:21.6	you absolute trooper.
1:23.1	Well, I have to tell you again, I'm afraid.
1:25.0	This is an adult podcast, welcome about adults to other adults,
1:27.1	about adulty things, and an adulty wake up and arranged adult subjects, and you again, I'm afraid. This is an adult podcast, spoken about adults, other adults about adulty things,
1:27.8	and an adulty wake up and arranged adult subjects,
1:29.3	and you should be an adult too.
	...

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