Cerne Abbas Giant

The Cerne Abbas Giant is a hill figure near the village of Cerne Abbas in Dorset, England. 55 metres high, it depicts a standing nude male figure with a prominent erection and wielding a large club in its right hand. Like many other hill figures it is outlined by shallow trenches cut in the turf and backfilled with chalk rubble. The figure is listed as a scheduled monument of England and the site is owned by the National Trust. The origin and age of the figure are unclear. It is often thought of as an ancient construction, though the earliest mention of it dates to the late 17th century. Early antiquarians associated it, on little evidence, with a Saxon deity, while other scholars sought to identify it with a Romano-British figure of Hercules or some syncretisation of the two. There is archaeological evidence that parts of the drawing have been lost over time.

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