Min (god)

Min
God of fertility

The dark-skinned fertility god Min, with an erect penis and a flail
Name in hieroglyphs

Major cult center Qift, Akhmim
Symbol the lettuce, the phallus
Consort Iabet
Repit
Parents Isis and Osiris
Siblings Horus, Anubis (in some accounts)

Min (Egyptian mnw[1]) is an ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in predynastic times (4th millennium BCE).[2] He was represented in many different forms, but was often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail. As Khem or Min, he was the god of reproduction; as Khnum, he was the creator of all things, "the maker of gods and men".[3]

Myths and function

His cult was strongest in Coptos and Akhmim (Panopolis), 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 god Horus. Flinders Petrie excavated two large statues of Min at Qift which are now in the Ashmolean 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 the Pyramid Texts is thought to refer to Min.[4]

His importance grew in the Middle Kingdom when he became even more closely linked with Horus as the deity Min-Horus. By the New Kingdom he was also fused with Amun in the deity Min-Amun-kamutef (Min-Amun - bull of his mother). Min's shrine was crowned with a pair of bull horns.[4]

As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites Min became identified by the Greeks with the god Pan. One feature of Min worship was the wild prickly lettuce Lactuca virosa and Lactuca serriola of which is the domestic version Lactuca sativa (lettuce) which has aphrodisiac and opiate qualities and produce latex when cut, possibly identified with semen. He also had connections with Nubia. However, his main centres of worship were Qift (Coptos) and Akhmim (Khemmis).

As a god of male sexual potency, he was honoured during the coronation rites of the New Kingdom, when the Pharaoh was expected to sow his seed — generally thought to have been plant seeds, although there have been controversial suggestions that the Pharaoh was expected to demonstrate that he could ejaculate — and thus ensure the annual flooding of the Nile. At the beginning of the harvest season, his image was taken out of the temple and brought to the fields in the festival of the departure of Min, 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.

In Egyptian art, Min was depicted as being covered in shrouds, wearing a crown with feathers, and often holding his penis erect in his left hand and a flail (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 symbols of Min were the white bull, a barbed arrow, and a bed of lettuce, that the Egyptians believed to be an aphrodisiac, as Egyptian lettuce was tall, straight, and released a milk-like substance when rubbed, characteristics superficially similar to the penis.

Even some war goddesses were depicted with the body of Min (including the phallus), and this also led to depictions, ostensibly of Min, with the head of a lioness. Because Min usually was depicted in an ithyphallic (with an erect phallus) style, Christians routinely defaced his monuments in temples they co-opted and Victorian Egyptologists would take only waist-up photographs of him, or otherwise find ways to cover his protruding penis. However, to the ancient Egyptians, Min was not a matter of scandal - they had very relaxed standards of nudity: in their warm climate, farmers, servants, and entertainers often worked partially or completely naked, and children did not wear any clothes until they came of age.

In the 19th century, there was an alleged erroneous transcription of the Egyptian for Min as ḫm ("khem"). Since Khem was worshipped most significantly in Akhmim, the separate identity of Khem was reinforced, Akhmim being understood as simply a corruption of Khem. However, Akhmim is an alleged corruption of ḫm-mnw, meaning Shrine of Min, via the demotic form šmn.

Family

In Hymn to Min it is said:

"Min, Lord of the Processions, God of the High Plumes, Son of Osiris and Isis, Venerated in Ipu..."

Min's wives were Iabet and Repyt (Repit).

References

  1. ↑ Allen, James (2014). Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 493. ISBN 9781107663282.
  2. 1 2 "Min". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  3. ↑ Bechtel, F. (1907). "Ammon". The Catholic Encyclopedia I. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved 2008-03-27.
  4. 1 2 Frankfort, Henry (1978). Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature. University of Chicago Press. pp. 187–189.

Further reading

External links

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