331 The art of circumcision: From cave paintings to the Guggenheim

Eur Urol Suppl 2014;13;e331 Print!

Whitburn J.

Oxford Universities NHS Trust, Dept. of Urology, Oxford, United Kingdom

INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: Circumcision has been practised since prehistoric times. Much of the evidence for this comes from art

depicting the operation or the bared glans. Here we examine the representation of circumcision in art from prehistoric times to the present.

MATERIAL & METHODS: A literature search was performed using PubMed and Google search engine.

RESULTS: Depictions of bare glans can been seen in Australian Aboriginal cave art, and from European cave art from the Upper

Palaeolithic period (38,000 – 11,000 BC), however whether this is evidence of circumcision or merely of retracted foreskin is unclear. The

earliest depictions of the act of circumcision come from ancient Egypt. Most famously in tomb artwork found in ‘The Physician’s Tomb’ built

for Ankhmabor in the sixth Dynasty (2345-2181 BC) at Saqqara showing a carved scene of circumcision. The associated inscription reads:

‘The ointment is to make it acceptable’, and ‘Hold him so that he does not fall’. In parts of Africa circumcision has been practised for

hundreds of years. The Dogon people of Mali have extensive murals adorning their ceremonial circumcision cave, with the oldest parts of

the mural being roughly 500 years old. The circumcision of Christ was a common subject in Christian art from the 10th century until the

Renaissance. Jesus Christ was born as a Jew, and according to the bible ‘when the eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of

the child, his name was called Jesus’ (Luke 2:21). One of the oldest artistic representations of the circumcision of Christ is in a Byzantine

manuscript, the Menologion of Basil II, in the Vatican library (976-986). In Belgium alone there are at least 54 listed depictions of Christ’s

circumcision in churches, museums and public buildings. During the Renaissance depictions of Christ being circumcised went out of

fashion, possibly in keeping with the decline in the practice of circumcision across Europe. Modern artists have been more willing to depict

their male figures as circumcised, perhaps reflecting the increased popularity of this procedure in the 20th century, particularly in the United

State of America. Examples include ‘Boy with Frog’ by American sculptor Charles Ray that stands at the entrance to the Grand Canal in

Venice, and ‘The Olympic Gateway’ a sculpture by Robert Graham that stands at the entrance to the site of the 1984 Los Angles Olympics.

Jackson Pollock painted ‘The Circumcision’ in 1946, an abstract depiction that is now part of the Guggenheim collection.

CONCLUSIONS: Circumcision is an ancient practise whose origins date back thousands of years, and much of our evidence for this comes

from artwork. It continues to be depicted in art, as the operation is still commonly performed for religious, cultural and medical reasons

across the world today.