Priapus or Priapos was a minor rustic fertility god, protector of livestock, fruit plants, gardens and male genitalia. Priapus is marked by his absurdly oversized permanent erection, which gave rise to the medical term priapism. He became a popular figure in Roman erotic art and Latin literature, and is the subject of the often humorously obscene collection of verse called the Priapeia. In Rome, where he had a temple, he was also called Mutinus Titinus and was especially worshiped by young married women. Statues of Priapus were sometimes placed on boundaries and hung with signs which threatened sexual assault on trespassers.