Editing Min (god)

{{short description|Ancient Egyptian deity}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Egyptian
| name = Min
| image = Min.svg
| alt = 
| caption = The dark-skinned fertility god Min-Amun, with an [[erect penis]] and a [[Crook_and_flail|"flail"]]
| hiero = <hiero>R22:R12-C8</hiero>
| cult_center = [[Coptos|Qift]], [[Akhmim]]
| symbol = the [[lettuce]], the [[phallus]], the [[bull]], the [[belemnitida|belemnite]]
| parents = [[Isis]]
| siblings = 
| consort = [[Iabet]] <br/>[[Repyt]] <br/>Isis
| offspring = [[Kolanthes]]
| greek_equivalent = [[Pan (god)|Pan]], [[Priapus]]
}}

'''Min''' ({{langx|egy|mnw}}),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=James|title=Middle Egyptian: An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Hieroglyphs|date=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1-107-66328-2|page=493|edition=3rd}}</ref> also called '''Menas''',{{efn|{{langx|grc|Μηνᾶς|translit=Mēnâs}}, {{IPA|grc|mɛː.nâːs}}}} is an [[ancient Egyptian deities|ancient Egyptian god]] whose cult originated in the [[predynastic Egypt|predynastic]] period (4th millennium BCE).<ref name="Min">{{cite encyclopedia | title = Min | encyclopedia = Encyclopædia Britannica | publisher = Encyclopædia Britannica Online | year = 2020 | url = https://www.britannica.com/topic/Min-Egyptian-god | access-date = 2024-09-01 }}</ref> He was represented in many different forms, but was most 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 [[Crook and flail|flail]].

== Myths and function ==
{{Ancient Egyptian religion}}
[[File:Min, Egyptian fertility deity.jpg|thumb|left|Min-Amun in a relief from the reign of [[Thutmose III]] from [[Deir el-Bahari]]<ref>[[Richard H. Wilkinson|Wilkinson, Richard H]]. (2003). ''The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. p. 116</ref>]]

Min's [[cult]] began and was centered around [[Coptos]] (Koptos, modern day [[Qift]]) and [[Akhmim]] (Panopolis) of [[Upper Egypt]],<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient Egypt's myths and beliefs|last=Alan.|first=Lothian|date=2012|publisher=Rosen Pub|isbn=978-1-4488-5994-8|oclc=748941784|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptsmyt0000flem}}</ref> where in his honour great festivals were held celebrating his "coming forth" with a public procession and presentation of offerings.<ref name="Min" /> 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.<ref name="Frankfort 1978 187–189">{{cite book | last = Frankfort | first = Henry | title = Kingship and the Gods: A Study of Ancient Near Eastern Religion as the Integration of Society and Nature | publisher = University of Chicago Press | year = 1978 | pages = 187–189 | url =https://books.google.com/books?id=W-qFZcuGoqUC&q=%22shrine+of+min%22&pg=PA189 | isbn = 978-0-226-26011-2 }}</ref>

[[File:Head of the god Min-Amun wearing the double plume. Possibly reign of Tutankhamun, 14th century BCE. From Koptos (Qift), Egypt. Petrie Museum.jpg|thumb|left|Head of the god Min-Amun wearing the double plume. Possibly reign of Tutankhamun, 14th century BCE. From Koptos (Qift), Egypt. Petrie Museum]]

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 form of '''Min-Amun''', who was also the serpent '''Irta''', a ''[[kamutef]]'' (the "bull of his mother" - a god who fathers himself with his own mother.<ref name="Wilkinson kamutef">{{cite book |last1=Wilkinson |first1=Richard H. |title=The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt |date=2003 |publisher=Thames & Hudson |location=London |page=93 |url=https://archive.org/details/the-complete-gods-and-goddesses-of-ancient-egypt/page/93/mode/2up |access-date=9 October 2022}}</ref> The kamutf name is also used in reference to Horus-Min<ref>The Conflict of Horus and Set, J G Griffiths, 1960 page 49</ref>). Min as an independent deity was also a ''kamutef'' of Isis. One of Isis's many places of cult throughout the valley was at Min's temple in Koptos as his divine wife.<ref name=":1" /> Min's [[Egyptian temple|shrine]] was crowned with a pair of bull horns.<ref name="Frankfort 1978 187–189" />

As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites, Min became identified by the Greeks with the god [[Pan (mythology)|Pan]]. One feature of Min worship was the wild prickly lettuce ''[[Lactuca serriola]]'' – the domestic version of which is ''Lactuca sativa'' ([[lettuce]]) – which has aphrodisiac and opiate qualities and produces [[latex]] when cut, possibly identified with [[semen]]. He also had connections with Nubia. However, his main centers of worship remained at [[Coptos]] and [[Akhmim]] ([[Khemmis]]).<ref>{{Cite book|title=Ancient Egypt: Its Culture and History|last=Manchip |first=White, J. E.|date=2013|publisher=Dover Publications|isbn=978-0-486-22548-7|oclc=868271431|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientegyptitsc00whit}}</ref>

[[File:Min at Karnak Temple.jpg|thumb|upright|Belemnite shown on left of Min-Amun]]
[[File:Censoredmin.jpg|thumb|Here, a board has been placed over Min-Amun's penis.]]

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 as [[Osiris]] 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.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Egypt, trunk of the tree: a modern survey of an ancient land|url=https://archive.org/details/egypttrunkoftree0001najo|url-access=registration|last=Najovits |first=Simson R.|date=2004 |publisher=Algora Pub |isbn=978-0-87586-222-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/egypttrunkoftree0001najo/page/68 68], 93|oclc=51647593}}</ref> As a god of male sexual potency, he was honoured during the [[coronation]] rites of the [[New Kingdom of Egypt|New Kingdom]], when the [[Pharaoh]] 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 the ''festival of the departure of Min'', the [[Min festival|Min 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 of [[Ramesses III|Ramses III]] at [[Medinet Habu (temple)|Medinet Habu]].<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums-static/digitalegypt/ideology/festivaldates.html|title=Festivals in the ancient Egyptian calendar |publisher=University College London |access-date=2017-05-15}}</ref>

Cult and worship in the predynastic period surrounding a fertility god was based upon the fetish of fossilized [[Belemnitida|belemnite]].<ref name=":0" /> Later symbols widely used were the white bull, a barbed arrow, and a bed of [[lettuce]], that the [[Egyptians]] believed to be an [[aphrodisiac]]. Egyptian lettuce was tall, straight, and released a milk-like sap when rubbed, characteristics superficially similar to the [[penis]]. Lettuce was sacrificially offered to the god, then eaten by men in an effort to achieve potency.<ref name=":0" /> Later [[pharaohs]] would offer the first fruits of harvest to the god to ensure plentiful harvest, with records of offerings of the first stems of [[Shoot (botany)|sprouts]] of wheat being offered during the Ptolemaic period.<ref name=":0" />

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, [[phallus|ithyphallic]] statuettes, and ex-voto phalluses were placed at entrances to the houses of [[Deir el-Medina]] to honor the god in hopes of curing the disability.<ref name=":0" /> Egyptian women would touch the penises of statues of Min in hopes of pregnancy, a practice still continued today.<ref name=":0" />

== Appearance ==
In [[Art of Ancient Egypt|Egyptian art]], Min is depicted as an [[Anthropomorphism|anthropomorphic]] male deity with a masculine body, covered in shrouds, wearing a crown with [[feather]]s, and often holding his [[erect penis]] in his left hand and a [[Crook_and_flail|"flail"]] that is possibly a stylised form of [[flail (agriculture)|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 legs are bandaged because of his chthonic force, in the same manner as Ptah and Osiris.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Gods and men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE|last=Christiane|first=Zivie-Coche|publisher=Cornell Univ. Press|year=2004|isbn=978-0-8014-4165-3|location=Ithaca, NY |pages=17–18|oclc=845667204}}</ref> His skin was usually painted black, which symbolized the fertile soil of the Nile.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Orlin|first=Eric|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dXH4CgAAQBAJ&q=%22his+skin+was+always+painted+black%2C+which+may+have+symbolized%22&pg=PA596|title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Ancient Mediterranean Religions|date=2015-11-19|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-62552-9|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Power|first=Mick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2plLZoQrvgIC&q=%22He+was+typically+represented+as+black+%28the+colour+of+the+fertile+mud+of+the+Nile%29%22&pg=PT19|title=Adieu to God: Why Psychology Leads to Atheism|date=2012-01-06|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-1-119-97995-1|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Sabbahy|first=Lisa K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rhKSDwAAQBAJ&q=%22When+painted%2C+he+was+usually+depicted+in+black%22&pg=PA223|title=All Things Ancient Egypt: An Encyclopedia of the Ancient Egyptian World [2 volumes]|date=2019-04-24|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-4408-5513-9|language=en}}</ref>

== Family ==
In ''Hymn to Min'' it is said:

<blockquote>Min, Lord of the Processions, God of the High Plumes, Son of [[Osiris]] and [[Isis]], Venerated in Ipu...</blockquote>

... 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 were [[Iabet]] and [[Repyt]] (Repit).

[[Isis]] is the mother of Min as well as his wife.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bagnall|first=Director of the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World Roger S.|title=Egypt from Alexander to the Early Christians: An Archaeological and Historical Guide|date=2004|publisher=Getty Publications|isbn=978-0-89236-796-2|language=en}}</ref>

==Ejaculation legend==
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 could [[ejaculation|ejaculate]]—and thus ensure the annual flooding of the [[Nile]].<ref>[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780802117861/mode/1up?q=Nile O : the intimate history of the orgasm (2004) by Margolis, Jonathan, p. 134]. He seems to be based on an earlier collection of unusual sex practices.</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://getmegiddy.com/egyptian-pharaohs-masturbate-into-nile|title=Egyptian pharaohs didn't masturbate into Nile}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of Egyptian deities]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

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==References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* McFarlane, Ann. (1995). ''The God Min to the End of the Old Kingdom''. Australian Center for Egyptology. {{ISBN|9780856686788}}.

== External links ==
{{Commons category|Min (god)}}
* [http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/min.html Site on Min, with some pictures] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150120054910/http://www.thekeep.org/~kunoichi/kunoichi/themestream/min.html |date=2015-01-20 }}

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[[Category:Agricultural deities]]
[[Category:Egyptian gods]]
[[Category:Epithets of Amun-Ra]]
[[Category:Fertility gods]]
[[Category:Love and lust gods]]
[[Category:Priapists]]
[[Category:Pan (god)]]