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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2023

Mutilating Min: Where did the phallus go – and why?

Résumé

Any visitor to the temples of Egypt will have remarked that the member of the ithyphallic god Min is often missing in his depictions, having been erased or carved out at some point during history. It has been shown by Y. Volokhine that some of these damage, especially in Luxor, have been caused as late as the 20th Century as a result of mass turism. But one may wonder if some of it stems from older practices and beliefs implying not destruction but reuse of a “powerful” part of the god’s anatomy. Indeed, an excerpt of Maqrīzi’s writings in the 15th C. AD concerning the god of Akhmīm reads as follows: “he (=the god) had a very prominent phallus, sticking to the wall, and it was said that anyone dexterous enough to carve the wall around it and take it out without breaking it would have only to attach it to his side to become constantly erect for as long as he would wear it; that he could thus unite with his beloved without fatigue as long as the stone phallus would hang at this belt. One of the valī of Akhmīm having removed it experienced some of these extraordinary properties.” Having read this text, one may wonder whether traces of such behaviour, conveyed throughout medieval Egypt by the reading of Maqrīzi’s books as well as by rumor, can be found among the many depictions of Min in Egyptian temples. Unfortunately, the temple of Akhmīm itself, as well as the one in Coptos also dedicated to Min, are nowadays almost completely destroyed, preventing an analysis of their remains in this respect. Yet, other temples also harbour depictions of the ithyphallic god. Among them, the temples of Athribis, Dendara and Edfu, especially the “chamber of Min” in the latter, may be a good starting point for such an enquiry. The questions that will be adressed in this paper are the following: where are the depictions of Min mutilated and where are they intact, and why? Can the mutilations be dated to the pre-modern period (descriptions, drawings, photographs, history of rediscovery of the temple)? What is their shape and what does it mean about their purpose? Is the practice described by Maqrīzi indeed attested, and at which scale? What does it mean about the reception and reinterpretation of ancient Egypt during Medieval times?
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Dates et versions

hal-04372098 , version 1 (04-01-2024)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-04372098 , version 1

Citer

Marion Claude. Mutilating Min: Where did the phallus go – and why?. Reading Reuse. Image recycling in Egypt and beyond, Axelle Brémont; Simon Connor; Vera Allen, Oct 2023, Le Caire, Egypt. ⟨hal-04372098⟩

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