rich Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My preliminary research into the god min seems to
> indicate 2 different natures:
>
> 1. Bull deity, Fertility Deity, whose Consort is
> Nut. (like Geb)
> 2. Son of Osiris and Isis, called Horus, who
> avenges his fathers death (like Horus/Amset).
>
> Additionally, he seems to be called 2 different
> things: Menew, Amsu. Could there be a mistake in
> equating Amsu with Menu?

Yes, because in the latter case you are referring to a mistranslation, as noted in Gardiner 1982 (1957): 503, where he noted that R22 (and R23) are the emblems of Min (two fossil belemnites [?]), but phonetically are rendered as /xm/ which some early scholars rendered as a separate deity called Amsu, or Khem (particularly Budge, I note). Yet, no later work on Egyptian deities (Bonnet 2000 (1952), Hart (1986), Redford (2000 and 2002), Allen's and Der Manuelian's translations in the Pyramid Texts (2005), etc.) gives any credence to this emblem as any other word than the deity Min, /mnw/. In fact, with the exception of Budge, I could find no reliable reference to a deity called "Amsu."

As for the equating of the god Horus with Min, I suggest a review of Lichtheim's notes to the Hymn to Min of the Deputy-treasurer Sobk-iry translation (Lichtheim 1975: 204), as well as the separate translation of the Rock Stela of Mentuhotep IV (Lichtheim 1975: 113-115). In both cases, Lichtheim notes that Horus is identified with Min, but only during the Middle Kingdom, and in the cases known, apparently in reference to Min's position as a god of the eastern desert (Lichtheim 1975: 113).

Hart (1986: 122) noted that this MK association comes from conflating a version of Horus who was the deity of the eastern route into Palestine along with Min's association with the eastern desert. In short, the deity was known as Min-Horus, a god associated with foreign lands. In this case, however, both Horus and Min are referred to in their war modes, sometimes with Min as the primordial father of the eastern Horus, which is not a reference to Horus, avenger of his father, /Hr-nD-Hr-it.f/ (Harendotes).

So, your comment about Min equating with the avenging Horus is incorrect: Min-Horus is a localised deity of the Eastern Desert area during the Middle Kingdom only, rather than as a reference to Harsiese (Horus son of Isis and Osiris) or Harendotes, both long-term and traditional versions of a Horus carrying out actions in filial piety to his father Osiris.

Reference:

Allen, J. P. and P. Der Manuelian. 2005. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Writings from the Ancient World 23. T. J. Lewis. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

Bonnet, H. 1952. Reallexikon der Aegyptischen Religiongeschichte. Berlin: Walter deGruyter.

Gardiner, A. H. 1982 (1957). Egyptian Grammar: Being an Introduction to the Study of Hieroglyphs. Third Ed., Revised. Oxford: Griffith Institute.

Hart, G. 1986. A Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. London: Routledge/Kegan Paul.

Lichtheim, M. 1975. Ancient Egyptian Literature: The Old and Middle Kingdoms. Vol. I. Berkeley: University of California.

Redford, D. B., Ed. 2000. The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt. (3 Vols.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

______________, Ed. 2002. The Ancient Gods Speak: A Guide to Egyptian Religion. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

HTH.

Katherine Griffis-Greenberg

Doctoral Candidate
Oriental Institute
Doctoral Programme in Oriental Studies [Egyptology]
Oxford University
Oxford, United Kingdom





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/13/2007 01:30PM by Katherine Griffis-Greenberg.