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Mēn (Greek:Μήν "month; Moon", presumably influenced byAvestanmåŋha) was alunar god worshipped in the western interior parts ofAnatolia. He is attested in various localized variants, such asMēn Askaenos inAntioch in Pisidia, orMēn Pharnakou atAmeria in Pontus.
Mēn was probably a Phrygian deity, associated with the local descendant of the Hitto-Luwian moon godArma, and is often found in association with Persianate elements, especially with the goddessAnahita.[1]Lunar symbolism dominates his iconography. The god is usually shown with the horns of acrescent emerging from behind his shoulders, and he is described as the god presiding over the(lunar) months.[2]Strabo describes Mēn as a local god of thePhrygians.Mēn may also be influenced by theZoroastrian lunar divinityMah.[3]
In theKingdom of Pontus, there was a temple estate dedicated to Mēn Pharnakou andSelene at Ameria, nearCabira (Strabo 12.3.31). The temple was probably established byPharnakes I in the 2nd century BC, apparently in an attempt to counterbalance the influence of the Moon goddessMa ofComana.The cult ofMēn Pharnakou in Pontus has been traced to the appearance of thestar and crescent motif on Pontic coins at the time.[4]
A similar temple estate dedicated to Mēn Askaenos existed inPisidia, first centered around Anabura and then shifted to the nearby city ofPisidian Antioch after its founding by theSeleucids around 280 BC. The temple estate/sacred sanctuary (ἱερόs) was a theocratic monarchy ruled by the "Priest of Priests," a hereditary title. According toStrabo, this "temple state" that the cult of Mên Askaenos controlled nearPisidian Antioch, persisted until the city was refounded by the Romans in 25 BC, becoming Colonia Caesarea Augusta.[5][6] The colony was primarily settled by veterans fromLegio V Alaudae andLegio VII Gemina.[7]
Taşlıalan (1988) in a study ofAntioch in Pisidia has remarked that the people who settled on the acropolis in the Greek colonial era carried theMēn Askaenos cult down to the plain asPatrios Theos and in the place where theAugusteum was built, there are some signs of this former cult asbucrania on the rock-cut walls.[8]
Autochthonous Mēn as attested in Anatolia is to be distinguished from his reception as a "Phrygian god" in Rome during the imperial period. Here, Mēn is depicted with aPhrygian cap and a belted tunic. He may be accompanied bybulls andlions in religious artwork. The Roman iconography of Mēn partly recalls that ofMithras, who also wears a Phrygian cap and is commonly depicted with a bull and symbols of the Sun and Moon.
TheAugustan History has the Roman emperorCaracalla (r. 198–217) venerateLunus atCarrhae; this, i.e. a masculine variant ofLuna, "Moon", has been taken as aLatinized name for Mēn. The same source records the local opinion that anyone who believes the deity of the Moon to be feminine shall always be subject to women, whereas a man who believes that he is masculine will dominate his wife.David Magie suggests that Caracalla had actually visited the temple ofSin, the Mesopotamian Moon god.[9]
In later times, Mēn may also have been identified with bothAttis of Phrygia andSabazius ofThrace.[citation needed]
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