Gannat (Allier) : Eglise Sainte-Croix

A mutilated male exhibitionist squats while grasping horns which sprout from his head.
He seems to be a tongue-poker as well.
Sheep are common and still economically-important in Auvergne,
where there were ram-cults in Celtic and Roman times.

(See the ram-porters at Brioude (Haute-Loire).

The figures on either side seem to be penitent and/or suffering.

photo by Martin M. Miles
see also another, contrasting capital - of Chastity - in the same church

Compare with the sculptured cross at Kells in Ireland,
where the horned figure, between 'whispering beasts', has a beard and a tail;

a horned mermaid at Parma;

a figure with ram's horns at Vienne, in another sheep-raising area;

At Bourbon-l'Archambault (Allier) two hornblowers mounted on (hornless) rams
direct their blasts towards a devilish, horned ?female figure with raised skirts.

See the page on Horn-blowers.

A dolio-player is wearing horned cap at Givrezac (Charente-Maritime);

and a jongleur-figure with horned cap at Targon also in the Charente-Maritime
(close to a female vulva-puller).

See also the page on Horn-blowers.

 

By contrast, Chastity is represented on another capital.
Note the dainty breasts.
The venerable and decorative symbol of the pine-cone can represent spirituality, moral enlightenment, The Third Eye...
On this capital it probably does not represent fecundity.

photo by Martin M. Miles