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7/20/2025, 1:25:01 AM
>>40758882
>Min was one of the most ancient Egyptian gods, a deity of fertility whose origins are lost in the mists of time but whose sacred object (see page 183) is often found on predynastic painted vases. The statues of Min discovered at Koptos by Petrie during his excavations of AD l893 are probably predynastic in date and, at over 4 metres high, are considered to be the oldest examples of large-scale sculpture in Egypt. They are headless but show Min standing in what was later to become his typical pose. The legs of the statues are not separated but carved in one piece, suggesting the great antiquity of the figures since individual delineation of these limbs in sculpture in the round was not practised until well on in the Old Kingdom.
>Min was usually depicted as a man standing upright wearing on his head a cap surmounted by two tall plumes. His legs are never seen, apparently being wrapped in mummy bandages, but more probably copying the style of his predynastic statues. One arm, bent at the elbow, is raised and outstretched, its hand open; above it floats a flail. The other arm is tucked under his robe, from which projects his penis, huge and erect. Any area of skin not covered by a garment is painted black: in dynastic times, it was one of the duties of the High Priest of Min to make up the bituminous substance with which the cult statue of the god was ritually painted, black being the colour of the fertile soil of Egypt and therefore symbolic of regeneration.
>Min was one of the most ancient Egyptian gods, a deity of fertility whose origins are lost in the mists of time but whose sacred object (see page 183) is often found on predynastic painted vases. The statues of Min discovered at Koptos by Petrie during his excavations of AD l893 are probably predynastic in date and, at over 4 metres high, are considered to be the oldest examples of large-scale sculpture in Egypt. They are headless but show Min standing in what was later to become his typical pose. The legs of the statues are not separated but carved in one piece, suggesting the great antiquity of the figures since individual delineation of these limbs in sculpture in the round was not practised until well on in the Old Kingdom.
>Min was usually depicted as a man standing upright wearing on his head a cap surmounted by two tall plumes. His legs are never seen, apparently being wrapped in mummy bandages, but more probably copying the style of his predynastic statues. One arm, bent at the elbow, is raised and outstretched, its hand open; above it floats a flail. The other arm is tucked under his robe, from which projects his penis, huge and erect. Any area of skin not covered by a garment is painted black: in dynastic times, it was one of the duties of the High Priest of Min to make up the bituminous substance with which the cult statue of the god was ritually painted, black being the colour of the fertile soil of Egypt and therefore symbolic of regeneration.
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