Orthanes
In ancient Greek religion and mythology, Orthanes or Orthannes is a minor fertility and phallic god worshipped in Athens and the island of Imbros in the Aegean Sea. Little is known about Orthanes, his mythology and cult. Orthanes was seen as an ithyphallic god in the likes of Priapus, the fertility god with the enlarged genitalia. His imagery was used on coins from Imbros.
Mythology
Very little information survives on Orthanes' role in ancient Greek legends and mythology. Patriarch Photius I of Constantinople writes that Orthanes was the son of Hermes and a nymph. The Hellenistic poet Lycophron likens the lovestruck Paris to Orthanes, and Byzantine scholar John Tzetzes in his commentary on Lycophron describes Orthanes as a "Priapus-like daemon around Aphrodite." Along with Conisalus and Tychaon, he was one of the lesser phallic gods who were absorbed into Priapus, although older than him.Cult
Attica
Although Orthanes is attested in Attic authors, his worship seems to have been insignificant. Strabo wrote that Orthanes was an Athenian god like Conisalus and Tychaon, and that he resembled the phallic Priapus. He was probably honoured only in unofficial thiasoi. In the fragmentary old comedy Phaon by comic playwright Plato, the titular character says that three pecks of bulbs are to be sacrificed to Orthanes. The poet Eubulus also wrote a lost play Orthanes, of which one of the few surviving fragments apparently describes the preparations of a celebration and feast in honour of Orthanes.Imbros
By contrast Orthanes seems to have been a lot more important in Imbros, an island in the northeastern Aegean Sea. In Imbros he had a public cult with processions, sacrifices, and a priest as late as the second century BC. An ancient Greek honorary decree of the second century BC from Imbros mentions a procession and sacrifice to Orthanes with expenses covered by the city, and a priest by the name Calliades, who also provided funds.Even though Imbros was a colony of Athens and earlier scholars suggested Orthanes was a local Athenian god brought to Imbros, it is unlikely that of all Athenian gods it was a marginal one that the settlers introduced to the Imbriots and achieved great importance in a clerurchy. It is more probable that an important god of the new colony was taken back to Athens, but failed to gain much recognition outside of his homeland and could only take a minor position. There is abdundant evidence of the Athenian empire adopting cults from their allies and subjects.