Hatshepsut offering Incense to Min-Amun
This sunken relief depicts Hatshepsut offering incense to the fertility god Min-Amun, most often represented in male human form, shown with an erect penis which he holds in his left hand and an upheld right arm holding a flail.
Detail of a carving from the Red Chapel of Hatshepsut or (“Chapelle Rouge”) constructed initially as a barque shrine during the reign of Hatshepsut, the fifth pharaoh of the eighteenth dynasty of Ancient Egypt and ruled from approximately 1479 to 1458 BC, to be used during the Opet festival celebrations.
Although it had been demolished and parts were reused in antiquity, following rediscovery, the chapel has been reconstructed using its original materials. Its original location is thought to have been in the central court of the temple of Amun-Re at Karnak.
Min, Egyptian god of fertility. He was invoked for animal. vegetable and human fertility. He is represented in human form with legs placed close together like those of a mummy and an erect phallus. A flail is depicted above his raised arm with its hand extended to one side. He wears a tight scull cap on his head with two lofty plumes and two streamers hanging down the back.
