| Min | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The dark-skinned fertility god Min-Amun, with anerect penis and a"flail" | ||||
| Name inhieroglyphs |
| |||
| Major cult center | Qift,Akhmim | |||
| Symbol | thelettuce, thephallus, thebull, thebelemnite | |||
| Parents | Isis | |||
| Consort | Iabet Repyt Isis | |||
| Offspring | Kolanthes | |||
| Equivalents | ||||
| Greek | Pan,Priapus | |||
Min (Ancient Egyptian:mnw),[1] also calledMenas,[a] is anancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in thepredynastic period (4th millennium BCE).[2] He was represented in many different forms, but was most often represented in male human form, shown with anerect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding aflail.
Min'scult began and was centered aroundCoptos (Koptos, modern dayQift) andAkhmim (Panopolis) ofUpper Egypt,[4] where in his honour great festivals were held celebrating his "coming forth" with a public procession and presentation of offerings.[2] His other associations include the eastern desert and links to the godHorus.Flinders Petrie excavated two large statues of Min atQift which are now in theAshmolean Museum and it is thought by some that they are pre-dynastic. Although not mentioned by name, a reference to "he whose arm is raised in the East" in thePyramid Texts is thought to refer to Min.[5]
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His importance grew in the Middle Kingdom when he became even more closely linked with Horus as the deityMin-Horus. By the New Kingdom he was also fused withAmun in the form ofMin-Amun, who was also the serpentIrta, akamutef (the "bull of his mother" - a god who fathers himself with his own mother.[6] The kamutf name is also used in reference to Horus-Min[7]). Min as an independent deity was also akamutef of Isis. One of Isis's many places of cult throughout the valley was at Min's temple in Koptos as his divine wife.[8] Min'sshrine was crowned with a pair of bull horns.[5]
As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites, Min became identified by the Greeks with the godPan. One feature of Min worship was the wild prickly lettuceLactuca serriola – the domestic version of which isLactuca sativa (lettuce) – which has aphrodisiac and opiate qualities and produceslatex when cut, possibly identified withsemen. He also had connections with Nubia. However, his main centers of worship remained atCoptos andAkhmim (Khemmis).[9]
Male deities as vehicles for fertility and potency rose to prevalence at the emergence of widespread agriculture. Male Egyptians would work in agriculture, making bountiful harvests a male-centered occasion. Thus, male gods of virility such asOsiris and Min were more developed during this time. Fertility was not associated with solely women, but with men as well, even increasing the role of the male in childbirth.[10] As a god of male sexual potency, he was honoured during thecoronation rites of theNew Kingdom, when thePharaoh was expected to sow his seed—generally thought to have been plant seeds. At the beginning of the harvest season, his image was taken out of the temple and brought to the fields in thefestival of the departure of Min, theMin Festival, when they blessed the harvest, and played games naked in his honour, the most important of these being the climbing of a huge (tent) pole. This four day festival is evident from the great festivals list at the temple ofRamses III atMedinet Habu.[8][11]
Cult and worship in the predynastic period surrounding a fertility god was based upon the fetish of fossilizedbelemnite.[10] Later symbols widely used were the white bull, a barbed arrow, and a bed oflettuce, that theEgyptians believed to be anaphrodisiac. Egyptian lettuce was tall, straight, and released a milk-like sap when rubbed, characteristics superficially similar to thepenis. Lettuce was sacrificially offered to the god, then eaten by men in an effort to achieve potency.[10] Laterpharaohs would offer the first fruits of harvest to the god to ensure plentiful harvest, with records of offerings of the first stems ofsprouts of wheat being offered during the Ptolemaic period.[10]
Civilians who were not able to formally practice the cult of Min paid homage to the god as sterility was an unfavorable condition looked upon with sorrow. Concubine figurines,ithyphallic statuettes, and ex-voto phalluses were placed at entrances to the houses ofDeir el-Medina to honor the god in hopes of curing the disability.[10] Egyptian women would touch the penises of statues of Min in hopes of pregnancy, a practice still continued today.[10]
InEgyptian art, Min is depicted as ananthropomorphic male deity with a masculine body, covered in shrouds, wearing a crown withfeathers, and often holding hiserect penis in his left hand and a"flail" that is possibly a stylised form offlail (referring to his authority, or rather that of the Pharaohs) in his upward facing right hand. Around his forehead, Min wears a red ribbon that trails to the ground, claimed by some to represent sexual energy. The legs are bandaged because of his chthonic force, in the same manner as Ptah and Osiris.[8] His skin was usually painted black, which symbolized the fertile soil of the Nile.[12][13][14]
InHymn to Min it is said:
Min, Lord of the Processions, God of the High Plumes, Son ofOsiris andIsis, Venerated in Ipu...
... Min, Lord of the Processions,God of the High Plumes,Son of Osiris and Isis,venerated in Ipu,Gebtu's Horus of the Strong Arm.
-- Hymn to Min
Min's wives wereIabet andRepyt (Repit).
Isis is the mother of Min as well as his wife.[15]
There have been controversial suggestions, by authors such as British journalist Jonathan Margolis, that the pharaoh was expected to demonstrate, as part of a Min festival, that he couldejaculate—and thus ensure the annual flooding of theNile.[16] No hard evidence of this exists, according to Egyptologists Kara Cooney, professor of ancient Egyptian art and architecture at UCLA, and her colleague Jonathan Winnerman. This myth may have originated from a misinterpretation of a different festival.[17]
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