Ancient Egyptian Gods: Min – Supreme Symbol of Sexual Pro-creativity and Fertility
Looking at Min it is very easy to see why he is the supreme symbol and deity of sexual procreativity. Not only was he the god of sexual procreativity he also the protector-deity of the mining regions in the desert east of the Nile. Those travelling through harsh landscape in search of wealth, perfumes, and incense in the lands leading to Arabia sought his protection, and he was particularly cherished by miners working in the Eastern Desert mines.
He was sometimes regarded to as Isis’ son, even though he was also identified as her companion, while Horus was their son. By the New Kingdom, he had amalgamated with the Theban god Amun (c.1550-c.1069 BC) (Oakes and Gahlin, 2006). The god is also described as being married to were Iabet and Repyt.
A number of academics have stated that Min could have been a god of foreign soldiers who had been circumcised. (Goedicke, 2002)
However, There are various elements in Min’s iconography that indicate that he more of a fertility god related to farming than anything else. This includes the fact that his face is coloured black, similar to the soil deposited by the Nile after the annual flood. (Melkebeek, 2020).
Min is seen standing with his legs close together and his arm raised over his elbow crook. In two-dimensional renditions of the god, the arm appears to be stretching out behind the torso: this is the Egyptian artist’s means of avoiding any concealing of the god’s body, and statuary obviously demonstrates that the god’s arm is elevated on his right side.
The royal flagellum or whip appears semi-folded a little above the deity’s upright fingertips on the raised arm, visually hinting sexual penetration, notwithstanding inscriptions (e.g. at Edfu temple) referring to the arm poised to slay the god’s adversaries. A ribbon hangs from a low crown with two high plumes. His skin was usually painted black, which symbolized the fertile soil of the Nile.
It is also argued that the flagellum he holds in his right hand is also related to a farming implement used in threshing grain. The flail was also connected to the king’s authority and continuous association with a successful agricultural society. (Melkebeek, 2020)
Min’s emblem consists of two horizontal tapering serrated cones emerging from a central disc. It featured on pre-dynastic antiquities such as banners on boats painted on Naqada II pottery before his anthropomorphic iconography was used. No one has an adequate reason for it, just as no one has a satisfactory explanation for the god’s Egyptian name, Menu.
The symbols have been interpreted as being a bolt of lightning, a circumcision instrument (as Egyptian men were circumcised and his main symbol is an erect penis), and a fossil belemnite. According to this emblem on a standard on a macehead from Hierakonpolis, Min was one among King Scorpion’s allies, just prior to the permanent unification of Upper and Lower Egypt c.3000 BC.
In commemorating the construction of a statue of Min in Dynasty 1, the Palermo Stone represents the god as anthropomorphic and having an erection, suggesting that this was his form from the dawn of Egypt’s dynastic history. If three colossal limestone statues of Min excavated at Qift and today exhibited in the Ashmolean Museum date to this period, they could bolster the case. The cylindrical torso and thick beard of these statues indicate a ‘primitive’ Min.
Min is considered to reside at two sacred locations, although appearing as a universal deity in various temple reliefs around Egypt, Qift (Gebtu in egyptian and Koptos in GreeK) and Akhmim (Khemmis in Egyptian and Panopolis in Greek)
Qift: This settlement is at the western end of the Wadi Hammamat, south of present day Qena and north of Luxor, and was the launching point for gold and stone mining excursions into the eastern desert. Notwithstanding the finding of Middle Kingdom sculptured engravings and New Kingdom temple foundation deposits, none of the extant temple ruins predate the Graeco-Roman period.
Akhmim This site, located north of Qena, includes a rock-cut chapel embellished by the High Priest of Min, Nakht-Min (whose name means “Min is Mighty”) for the pharaoh Ay (Dynasty XVIII) and Queen Teye. The Graeco-Roman temple remains to the west of town originate from this time period. The latter name of the place, ‘Panopolis,’ derived from the Greek affiliation of Min with the god Pan.
Flowers were dedicated to Min with the purpose of encouraging fertility in the Nile Valley. For instance, the pharaoh Sety I (Dynasty XIX) offered flowers to a deity called , Min-Amun-Kamutef, which is a fusion of Min and the ithyphallic (having and erect penis) form of Amun.
However one plant, the long lettuce, becomes Min’s unique emblem, appearing on stands or chests besides him, or carried by priests in his festivities (lactuca sativa). The symbolism comes from the lettuce’s milk-sap, which could symbolize the god’s semen, instead of its roughly phallic appearance. This plant was believed to help the god—the ‘great of love,’ as he is described in an Edfu temple text—perform the sexual act without ceasing. As such the plant was considered to be an aphrodisiac by the Egyptians (Oakes and Gahlin, 2006).
Cypresses were also considered to be sacred to Min and was often worshiped under the trees. (Oakes and Gahlin, 2006).
Min is shown with lettuce in tax-immunity decrees from Qift as early as Dynasty VI. In the temple of Kalabsha, the Roman Emperor Augustus is pictured offering lettuces to the god over 2,000 years later.
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