Religion in Early Dynastic Egypt. Gods

The blog post for this week is written by Judit Blair, who has a Masters in Ancient Near Eastern religions and a PhD in Hebrew and the Old Testament, both from the University of Edinburgh. Judit is a Teaching Fellow at the Centre for Open Learning (COL) Edinburgh University and a Tutor at Glasgow University where she teaches such courses as Ancient Egypt and the Bible, Aspects of Ancient Near Eastern Demonology, and Ancient Monsters. Judit is also a member of Egyptology Scotland and the EES.

 

Introduction – Origins

The origins of Egyptian religion and the “genesis” of the gods lie in the distant prehistoric times. Before the invention of writing, the available evidence is scant and difficult to interpret. However, the existence of apparent cultic objects and ritual sites, human and animal burials point to “the presence of the concept of the sacred” (R. Wilkinson 2003, 12; David 2002, 40). Although some scholars question whether this evidence is enough to substantiate the existence of a belief in a god or gods (R. Wilkinson 2003, 12), discoveries of rock art in the heart of the Eastern Desert in the early twentieth century and the late 1990s seem to provide proof. Furthermore, these petroglyphs show that many of the key elements of ancient Egyptian religious symbolism, which are known from pharaonic times, originated here (T. Wilkinson 2003, 188). For example, the concept of travelling by boat in the afterlife, an important theme in New Kingdom royal burials, is depicted in the rock art of the Eastern Desert. A boat being dragged by a group of people can be seen in scenes from the Wadi Baramiya (fig. 1), Wadi Hammamat, and Wadi Abu Wasil (T. Wilkinson 2003, plate 21 and p. 189).

Fig. 1: Boat dragged by a group of people (http://www.eastern-desert.com/wadi_baramiya.html)

A scene from Winkler’s site 26 from the Wadi Abu Wasil (fig. 2) shows five figures standing in a boat, two of which are much larger and are wearing tall twin plumes on their heads. These are very likely representations of deities. This scene provides evidence of the existence of two important motifs well attested in pharaonic times: the idea of deities travelling in a boat as well as the pairing of deities (T. Wilkinson 2003, 189–190).

Fig. 2: Boat with figures, Wadi Abu Wasil (T. Wilkinson, plate 19); “Chieftains” (http://www.eastern-desert.com/wadi_abu_wasil.html)

Some scholars believe that it was only at the beginning of the dynastic period that a few deities appeared in purely anthropomorphic representations (Hornung 1996, 103; David 2002, 52; R. Wilkinson 2003, 14–15). However, T. Wilkinson (2003, 191–192) argues that long before the First Dynasty, on a clearly dateable petroglyph to the middle of the fourth millennium BCE, we have “the oldest certain representation of a god from ancient Egypt” (fig. 3). This figure is labelled the “cattle protector” deity, and it is found at the so-called “jacuzzi” site in the Wadi Umm Salaam in the Eastern Desert (T. Wilkinson 2003, 110). Furthermore, he argues that this figure can be identified with the god Min. This is possible, as the ithyphallic representation and the twin-plumed headdress were typical iconographical markers of this deity.

Fig. 3: “Cattle protector deity” (http://www.eastern-desert.com/wadi_umm_salam.html)

Early Gods: Min

“Besides his schoolboy appeal, Min has another claim to fame. He is the earliest individually identifiable god in ancient Egypt” (T. Wilkinson 2003, 191).

 

Whether one agrees that the above-mentioned figure can be identified as the god Min or not, it is generally accepted that this deity is very ancient and long-lasting. Along with the goddess Neith and others, he was worshipped already in the Naqada Period (Hornung 1996, 103) and throughout pharaonic history.

 

Min was a fertility god, the “supreme god of male sexual procreativity” as well as the patron of the Eastern Desert (R. Wilkinson 2003, 115; T. Wilkinson 2003, 191). As proof that he was worshipped in predynastic times, scholars usually cite the appearance of his emblem/fetish on predynastic standards and the Scorpion Macehead (Hornung 1996, 103 n. 7), as well as three colossal statues of the god (fig. 4) found by Petrie at Coptos, his cult centre, in 1893 (R. Wilkinson 2003,115). These are now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and date to before the First Dynasty (T. Wilkinson 2003, 191; c. 3300 BCE, https://www.ashmolean.org/egypt-and-its-origins-gallery), although Hornung doubts their “value as evidence” and maintains that they cannot be earlier than the Third Dynasty (Hornung 1996, 108). However, T. Wilkinson (2003, 191–192) argues that even earlier representations of the god can be found in the Eastern Desert rock art.

Fig. 4: Colossal statue of Min. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Predynastic_statue_of_Min_(Ashmolean_Museum,_Oxford).jpg)

In 1908, Arthur Weigall found some petroglyphs at the Kanais rock-cut temple of Seti I. One of them shows a boat (distinctive Naqada II type) with three huts (fig. 5). On one of them a human figure is standing, wearing what could be a sort of crown and holding a staff in one hand. On top of the middle one there is a bull, possibly a deity/divine image. In front of the third hut stands a figure “who can be no other than the god Min. He is clearly ithyphallic with one arm in front of him and the other held aloft, brandishing a flail.” Wilkinson has no doubt about the identification of this figure nor about the date of the petroglyph.

 

There can be no doubt about the god shown, and no doubt about the date of the petroglyph. Here, then, we have a recognizable and identifiable god, shown in the form he was to retain throughout the long march of Egyptian civilization, but created by an artist in the middle of the fourth millennium BC, some 500 years before the First Dynasty.

 

Fig. 5: "Min Boat": (http://www.eastern-desert.com/wadi_umm_salam.html)

Indeed, the main iconographical elements of Min known from later periods are consistent with these early representations (fig. 6). He was usually depicted in fully human form, wrapped as a mummy, ithyphallic and standing straight. His legs are close together. His left hand holds his erect penis, his right arm is raised; usually a flail is in or on his raised arm. On his head he wears a cap or a crown with tall twin-plumes and with long streamers attached. His skin is black; this might be a link between his fertility aspect and the fertile black soil of Egypt (R. Wilkinson 2003, 115). At his cult centres of Gebtu (Coptos) and Khent-Min, he was worshipped as a white bull. The bull symbolized sexual virility and clearly represented the god’s fertility (R. Wilkinson 2003, 116). Min’s oldest and main cult centre was at Coptos, at the Wadi Hammamat, which is the entrance to the mining districts of the Eastern Desert; thus, it is not surprising that he was also regarded as the patron god of this region (R. Wilkinson 2003, 116; T. Wilkinson 2003, 191).

Fig. 6: Statuette of Min, Late Period. Art Institute, Chicago (https://www.artic.edu/artworks/136311/statuette-of-the-god-min)

As we have seen, Min’s origins lie in prehistoric times; he was one the oldest and possibly the earliest identifiable deities represented in human form. His popularity lasted throughout the pharaonic period: in the Middle Kingdom, Min rituals were incorporated into the coronation and the Sed-festivals of the king; during the Eighteenth Dynasty he was associated with Amun, and the latter took on many of Min’s attributes. However, the god maintained his own identity and his worship continued through the whole of Egypt.

 

References:

Bard, Kathryn A. 2000. “The Emergence of the Egyptian State (c.3200–2686 BC)”. In The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt. Edited by Ian Shaw, 61–88. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

David, Rosalie. 2002. Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt. London: Penguin Books.

Hornung, Erik. 1996. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt. The One and the Many. Translated by John Baines. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Wilkinson, Richard H. 2003. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.

Wilkinson, Toby. 2003. Genesis of the Pharaohs. Dramatic new discoveries that rewrite the origins of ancient Egypt. London: Thames & Hudson.

Websites:

https://www.ashmolean.org/egypt-and-its-origins-gallery

http://www.eastern-desert.com/