this is driving me nuts. A month or so ago I found a statue of the
Egyptian god Min that I wanted to purchase. However, I simply cannot
find the site. The statue was about 6inches tall, was wood or painted
an uneven brown, and has an exaggerated phallus. I have a picture of
it on my computer. Can you help me please?

Hello magunga

Is this him?

Min
http://threekingsofegypt.com/statues/smallmin.jpg

He seems to match your description:

"Min, a human or mummiformgod. Depicted as ithyphallic, he was
considered the protector of fertility
6" X 1.5" X 2.5"

The statue's selling for $28 at 'Three Kings of Egypt':
http://threekingsofegypt.com/statues2.htm

They also have a slightly taller Min figure. 

There's an order form to mail or fax here:
http://threekingsofegypt.com/orderform.htm

'Three Kings of Egypt' are at:

8020 Main Street
Ellicott City, MD 21042 USA 
Fax: 410-789-4912

From your description I'm fairly confident I've found your statue. If
by any chance I'm wrong, please get back to me so I can carry on
searching. Just 'request clarification' if you need further help with
this.


Regards - Leli


This is the search that led me to Min:
statue Egyptian Min product
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=statue+Egyptian+min+product+OR+sale+OR+buy&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

---

Clarification of Answer by leli-ga on 07 Dec 2002 01:03 PST

Thank-you for the nice feedback and stars. I'm glad I could help.

Exceptional work! Thank you so much.

Please be aware that while this statue is described as Min by several
sellers, this is an error.  Min is always depicted with his right arm
behind his back.  There is a good picture of an ancient statue of Min
at http://www.geocities.com/betinas_of_herui/Netjeru/Min_Isis/

The statue sold by Three Kings is of a one-armed man.  The wholesale
supplier in Egypt describes it as a statue of Ileh Tanasul.  The story
is that a one-armed man stayed behind in his tribal village, to look
after the women while the other men went to war. When they returned,
they found he had made every women pregnant. They were furious and
wanted to kill him.  He said that he had done this so as to ensure the
continuation of the tribe because the warriors had not come back when
expected.  Eventually, the tribe came to see him as a demi-god of
fortune and fertility.

I have never found verification of this story, nor have I ever seen a
statue like this in Egypt. The story, referring to a tribe, seems to
belong deeper in to Africa than to Egypt, which was not a tribal
society after the predynastic period.