Min, god of fertility and male sexual potency

Min is an ancient Egyptian god whose cult originated in the Predynastic period (4th millennium BC). He was represented in many different forms, but most often in male human form, shown with an erect penis that he holds in his left hand and an upraised right arm holding a flail.

Min's cult began in and was centred around Coptos (Koptos) and Akhmim (Panopolis) in Upper Egypt, where great festivals were held in his honour to celebrate his "rising" with a public procession and presentation of offerings. His other associations include the eastern desert and links with the god Horus. Flinders Petrie excavated two large statues of Min at Qift which are now in the Ashmolean Museum and are believed by some to be predynastic. Although he is not mentioned by name, a reference to "he whose arm is raised in the East" in the Pyramid Texts is thought to be a reference to Min.

His importance grew in the Middle Kingdom (the period of ancient Egyptian history following a period of political division known as the First Intermediate Period) 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" - also known as the father of his own mother and also of her son). Min as an independent deity was also a kamutef of Isis. One of the many places of worship of Isis throughout the valley was the temple of Min at Koptos as his divine wife. Min's shrine was crowned with a pair of bull's horns.

As the central deity of fertility and possibly orgiastic rites, Min was identified by the Greeks with the god Pan. A feature of Min's worship was the wild prickly lettuce Lactuca serriola (of which the domesticated version is Lactuca sativa (lettuce)), which has aphrodisiac and opiate qualities and produces latex when cut, possibly identified with semen. He also had links with Nubia. However, his main cult centers remained at Coptos and Akhmim (Khemmis).

Male deities as vehicles for fertility and potency increased in prevalence with the rise 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 at this time. Fertility was not only associated with women, but also with men, even increasing the role of men in childbirth. As a god of male sexual potency, he was honored during the coronation rites of the New Kingdom, when the Pharaoh was expected to sow his seed—usually assumed to be a plant seed, although there have been controversial suggestions that the Pharaoh was required 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 from the temple and taken to the fields at the festival of Min's departure, the Min Festival, when they blessed the harvest and played naked games in his honor, the most important of which was the climbing of a huge (tent) pole. This four-day festival is evident in the list of major festivals at the temple of Ramses III at Medinet Habu.

The cult and worship of a fertility god in the Predynastic period was based on the fetish of the fossilized belemnite. Later symbols widely used were the white bull, a barbed arrow, and a bed of lettuce, which the Egyptians believed to be an aphrodisiac. The Egyptian lettuce was tall, straight, and released a milky sap when rubbed, characteristics superficially similar to those of the penis. The lettuce was offered sacrificially to the god, then eaten by men in an effort to achieve potency. Later, pharaohs would offer the first fruits of the harvest to the god to ensure a bountiful harvest, with records of offerings of the first shoots of wheat being offered during the Ptolemaic period.

Civilians who were unable to formally worship Min paid homage to the god, as sterility was an unfavorable condition viewed with sadness. Statuettes of concubines and phallic figurines were placed at the entrances of houses in Deir el-Medina to honor the god in the hope of curing the deficiency. Egyptian women would touch the penises of Min statues in the hope of becoming pregnant, a practice that continues to this day.

Co-author: Eric Borges