Commenting on the development of the cult of Min during the reign of Amenemhet I (1991-1962 BC), James K. Hoffmeier (author of Israel in Egypt and Israel in Sinai) wrote the following:
Min was credited with the miracles, one of which was a rainstorm (a rare phenomenon in the Red Sea Desert!) that provided much needed water for the expedition force of 3,000.
Min’s original cult center was in Coptos, north of Thebes, and can be traced back to pre-dynastic times. This ithyphallic fertility god in the Middle Kingdom became closely associated with Amun. Richard Wilkinson has observed that “the Amun-Min association had direct political overtones, however, and from Middle Kingdom times the coronations and jubilee festivals of the pharaoh seem to have incorporated rituals of Min aimed at promoting the potency of the king.”
The White Chapel of Senusert I (1943-1898 B.C.), one of the oldest surviving edifices at Karnak, contains vitally important textual and iconographic data on the religious developments of the early 12th Dynasty. The iconography of Amun-Re varies considerably in this elegantly carved chapel. First he is presented in the traditional manner as man and, like the king, wearing a kilt with a bull’s tail that bangs down from the belt on his back side. Adorn In each case, two tall plumes adorn his head, but in some instances they stand on a flat-base crown that looks like the red crown (less the tall rear portion). In other instances, the feathers are secured to the head by a band or fillet. In both cases, a ribbon flows down from the back of the diadem.
A second form is that in which Amun-Re is presented with the iconographic features of Min. Min is normally portrayed as a man standing, mummy-formed (like Osiris), with erect phallus (his most characteristic attribute), and standing with feet together perched on a shoebox-sized stand. In scenes where Min is depicted, a patch of growing lettuce often stands behind him and/or a worshiper extends his arm with a head of lettuce to the deity, which further demonstrates that lettuce is associated with Min. In the White Chapel, however, the Min-like deity is always identified as Amun-Re or Amun, while min’s name does not occur, neither as Amun-Min. Indeed, the majority of depictions of Amun/Amun-Re on the White Chapel are in the ithyphallic form, and there are more than a dozen examples where lettuce is shown, either growing behind the standing deity or in the hand of the presence. Then, too, there are several instances in the white Chapel where the Min-like figures bear the name ìmn k3 mwt.f, “Amun Bull of his mother.” This epithet, wgich begins at this time, is associated with the fertility aspect of Amun, and thus would be similar to Min. Evidently, the White Chapel celebrates the fusion of Min and Amun-Re in Thebes. The conjoining of Amun and Re had apparently taken place during the reign of Amenemhet I. Unfortunately, no Theban temple of Amenemhet that might have celebrated that union exists or survived. (James K. Hoffmeier, Akhenaten and the Origins of Monotheism [Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015], 42-3, 45)
For a discussion of Min and the Book of Abraham, see Stephen Smoot’s blog post:
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