![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Ithyphallic Mut
Jul. 18th, 2010 08:10 pmLemme see if I can round up what I've got so far. Lots more references to follow up, but this will do for a start.
It looks like there are two basic versions of ithyphallic Mut:
ETA: Jorge Ogdon identifies the goddess part of the Karnak figure as Sekhmet: "It is relevant that the ithyphallic form of Min is here mixed with Sekhmet, the 'fiery eye' of Re [and] the 'terrible aspect' of Re sent by the god to destroy men, and, therefore, the Karnak relief depicts a 'terrible aspect' of sexual symbolism and of Min himself." (Ogdon believes Min's iconography is aggressive and apotropaic - both the erect phallus, and the arm raised in what he sees as a gesture of repulsion.)
The three-headed edition, aka Sekhmet-Bastet-Raet (or Sekhmet-Bast-Ra - the final t is not written) is also called "Mother of Škks" and "royal wife of Rhk".
The Lexikon also mentions an ithyphallic Sekhmet-'3t, standing and holding a snake in one hand, crowned by the solar disc. She appears on a healing statue (Turin 3031).
And now, a brief excursus on the Temple Of Amun-Re at Hibis. There seem to be a lot of ithyphallic deities at Hibis - well, there are a lot of deities at Hibis, full stop! 359 in the Sanctuary alone. It's just god-o-rama in there, a catalogue of every god in Egypt. Lots of sole examples of deities, and lots of mysteries: for example, who's the crocodile-headed goddess holding a sidelock (Plat 2, Register II, no. 13)?! And Sekhmet portrayed as a mongoose. Or a hedgehog. Scholars are divided. Basically, everyone in the Late Period was dropping acid.
(Note to self: the lion-headed mummiform ithyphallic god with flail in "Late Period Temples" is Wenep, not Mut - Cruz-Uribe p 32. The plate in Hoskins shows the same wall, but a lot of the drawings don't match. ETA: A similar deity - but who, and where?)
_
Cruz-Uribe, Eugene. Hibis temple project I: Translations, commentary, discussions and sign list. San Antonio, Texas, Van Siclen Books, 1988.
Davies, N. de Garis. The Temple of Hibis in El-Khargeh Oasis III (Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 17), the Museum, New York, 1953. [NB: not to be confused with the combined edition of volumes I and II brought out in 1973. Cruz-Uribe's book refers to plates in vol. III.)
Ogden, Jorge. Some notes on the iconography of the god Min. Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 7, 1985/6, pp 29-41.
1I found a 2005 forum comment from Dr. Cruz-Uribe in which he states this is more likely to be a male deity, possibly Min, "given its position on the wall and the context". It's cheeky for an amateur like me to dispute his opinion, but the resemblance with the Mut at Hibis is striking, as is the presence of the solar disc and uraeus, and perhaps also the figure of Khonsu standing behind her.
ETA: Another participant in the forum discussion remarks that the figure "is located in room 12 of the temple of Khonsu, west wall (PM II, p. 242, no. 109)." That matches Porter and Moss' Topographical BiblIography, vol 2, p 242: "Room XII. L.D.Text,iii, pp. 69 [bottom] - 70 [top]." "(109) [1st ed. 82; Loc. KM. 620] Ramesses IV censing and libating to lion-headed and bull-headed gods. L.D. iii 219 [b]; PRISSE, Mon. pl. xxxvi [I]; CHIC. OR. INST. photos. 3247,3439." The refs are to (Loc:) Nelson, H. Key plans showing locations of Theban temple decorations. University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications, 56, 1941 (Closed Access DS42.4 .C45 vol 56, also Fisher F 932 9); Lepsius Denkmaeler (219 [b] linked above); and Prisse, A. Monuments égyptiens, 1847. (Fisher F709.32 1).
ETA: The Symbolism of the Phallus Associated with Female Deities: Fertility or Aggression? A Study on Neith and Lion-Headed Goddesses. An abstract from the 2023 CRE conference in Basel (p 8). "Regarding Neith, we have epigraphical sources, while for Mut and Sekhmet the sources are iconographical. My initial hypothesis was that the erected phallus could be a symbol of aggressiveness, often associated with these deities, while further research also points to a possible association with fertility."
It looks like there are two basic versions of ithyphallic Mut:
- Mummiform, lioness-headed, with flail; seen at the Temple of Hibis and the Temple of Khonsu at Karnak;
- Winged, three-headed, with a man's head wearing the double crown, and a lioness head and a vulture head each wearing the double-plumed crown, described and illustrated in Chapter 164 of the Book of the Dead. ETA: Champollion included a version of this figure in his Pantheon Egyptien.
ETA: Jorge Ogdon identifies the goddess part of the Karnak figure as Sekhmet: "It is relevant that the ithyphallic form of Min is here mixed with Sekhmet, the 'fiery eye' of Re [and] the 'terrible aspect' of Re sent by the god to destroy men, and, therefore, the Karnak relief depicts a 'terrible aspect' of sexual symbolism and of Min himself." (Ogdon believes Min's iconography is aggressive and apotropaic - both the erect phallus, and the arm raised in what he sees as a gesture of repulsion.)
The three-headed edition, aka Sekhmet-Bastet-Raet (or Sekhmet-Bast-Ra - the final t is not written) is also called "Mother of Škks" and "royal wife of Rhk".
The Lexikon also mentions an ithyphallic Sekhmet-'3t, standing and holding a snake in one hand, crowned by the solar disc. She appears on a healing statue (Turin 3031).
And now, a brief excursus on the Temple Of Amun-Re at Hibis. There seem to be a lot of ithyphallic deities at Hibis - well, there are a lot of deities at Hibis, full stop! 359 in the Sanctuary alone. It's just god-o-rama in there, a catalogue of every god in Egypt. Lots of sole examples of deities, and lots of mysteries: for example, who's the crocodile-headed goddess holding a sidelock (Plat 2, Register II, no. 13)?! And Sekhmet portrayed as a mongoose. Or a hedgehog. Scholars are divided. Basically, everyone in the Late Period was dropping acid.
(Note to self: the lion-headed mummiform ithyphallic god with flail in "Late Period Temples" is Wenep, not Mut - Cruz-Uribe p 32. The plate in Hoskins shows the same wall, but a lot of the drawings don't match. ETA: A similar deity - but who, and where?)
_
Cruz-Uribe, Eugene. Hibis temple project I: Translations, commentary, discussions and sign list. San Antonio, Texas, Van Siclen Books, 1988.
Davies, N. de Garis. The Temple of Hibis in El-Khargeh Oasis III (Publications of the Metropolitan Museum of Art Egyptian Expedition 17), the Museum, New York, 1953. [NB: not to be confused with the combined edition of volumes I and II brought out in 1973. Cruz-Uribe's book refers to plates in vol. III.)
Ogden, Jorge. Some notes on the iconography of the god Min. Bulletin of the Egyptological Seminar 7, 1985/6, pp 29-41.
1I found a 2005 forum comment from Dr. Cruz-Uribe in which he states this is more likely to be a male deity, possibly Min, "given its position on the wall and the context". It's cheeky for an amateur like me to dispute his opinion, but the resemblance with the Mut at Hibis is striking, as is the presence of the solar disc and uraeus, and perhaps also the figure of Khonsu standing behind her.
ETA: Another participant in the forum discussion remarks that the figure "is located in room 12 of the temple of Khonsu, west wall (PM II, p. 242, no. 109)." That matches Porter and Moss' Topographical BiblIography, vol 2, p 242: "Room XII. L.D.Text,iii, pp. 69 [bottom] - 70 [top]." "(109) [1st ed. 82; Loc. KM. 620] Ramesses IV censing and libating to lion-headed and bull-headed gods. L.D. iii 219 [b]; PRISSE, Mon. pl. xxxvi [I]; CHIC. OR. INST. photos. 3247,3439." The refs are to (Loc:) Nelson, H. Key plans showing locations of Theban temple decorations. University of Chicago Oriental Institute Publications, 56, 1941 (Closed Access DS42.4 .C45 vol 56, also Fisher F 932 9); Lepsius Denkmaeler (219 [b] linked above); and Prisse, A. Monuments égyptiens, 1847. (Fisher F709.32 1).
ETA: The Symbolism of the Phallus Associated with Female Deities: Fertility or Aggression? A Study on Neith and Lion-Headed Goddesses. An abstract from the 2023 CRE conference in Basel (p 8). "Regarding Neith, we have epigraphical sources, while for Mut and Sekhmet the sources are iconographical. My initial hypothesis was that the erected phallus could be a symbol of aggressiveness, often associated with these deities, while further research also points to a possible association with fertility."
