The image measures 55 meters high by 51 meters wide. It represents a completely naked man holding a huge staff with his right hand. His head is strangely small compared to his body measurements and his phallus is erect.
The figure was carved centuries ago on the side of a hill near the quiet village of Cerne Abbas, near Dorset, England. For years it was believed that it was a work carried out in the 17th century (there is no mention of the giant in historical documents prior to 1649), but the reality seems to be different.
Researchers from the University of Oxford assure that the enormous man is a representation of Hercules, the hero of Greek mythology who stood out for his enormous strength and his love for humanity, contrasted with the meanness of the gods of Olympus.
In an article published in the journal Speculum, academics Helen Gittos and Tom Morcom explain that this chalk figure was carved to mark the point where the armies of King Alfred the Great of West Saxony (849-899 AD) were to gather at one time. when Dorset was being attacked by Vikings.
Their archaeological work has "made clear that the Cerne Giant is only the most visible of a whole set of early medieval features in the landscape," says Helen Gittos, associate professor of Early Medieval History at the University of Oxford.
Hercules was a well-known figure in the Middle Ages, a flawed hero at once revered and reviled, and there was a particular peak of interest in him during the 9th century. At least in the 10th century, the town of Cerne was held by the ealdormen (high-ranking royal officials) of the Western Provinces. These were the chief thegns (Saxon nobles who owned land in exchange for military service) of the kings in the south-west.
Research by Martin Papworth for the National Trust had already shown that the giant was carved in the Anglo-Saxon period and not, as most people thought, more recently (or even in prehistory), but the reason it was fact was still a mystery.
Gittos and Morcom argue that the topographical location of the figure, on a spur jutting out from a ridge, with stunning views and close to major roads, is characteristic of a special type of Anglo-Saxon meeting place. Viking attacks, access to plenty of fresh water and supplies from the local farm, make this an ideal place to rally soldiers.
In the 11th century, monks living in the monastery at the foot of Giant's Hill reinterpreted it as an image of their saint, the hermit Eadwold, implicitly referring to the image in the lessons they read on his feast day, the 29th. of August.
"The identity of the Giant was already open to reinterpretation. The monks of Cerne would never have portrayed their patron saint naked if they had carved him from scratch. But they were happy to adopt him as an image of Eadwold for their own purposes. The figure has been loved and cared for for a long time and these reinterpretations continue to this day," concludes Tom Morcom.
