This sexy tidbit of mythology may spoil your appetite for a refreshing summer salad, and for that, I apologize. Romaine lettuce turns out to have quite a history as an Egyptian aphrodisiac.
The lowly romaine lettuce, called cos lettuce by some (as in the Greek island, Kos), apparently dates back to ancient Egypt, although not as a crunchy green to eat as part of a meal among mortals. That highly sensible use for lettuce fell to the Romans to invent, along with cement and aqueducts. (Actually, I’m pretty sure other people, earlier than the Romans, ate “salad” as a course in a meal, but the Romans boasted about it in writing, so we know they did it.)
Min and Lettuce as Egyptian Aphrodisiac
Instead of a crispy culinary use, the Egyptians held romaine lettuce in reverence as a divine aphrodisiac, consumed by the fertility god Min. Egyptian texts claim lettuce gave Min his nonstop sexual endurance. The upright phallic growth-style of romaine lettuce apparently inspired this connection. Also, possibly the white juice that comes out when you break open a leaf of lettuce. I think the god Min might have needed to get a life if he got his thrills by playing with lettuce. But as an episode in the comic sexual adventures of ancient gods, this is pretty good. Carved reliefs show priests carrying a sort of portable garden of lettuces on their shoulders in a procession for the god. Or so some scholars interpret the scene. In the photo here, I believe it’s a row of lettuce shown behind Min.
For more on the topic, you might like to read “When Lettuce Was a Sacred Sex Symbol,” an article in Smithsonian Magazine. (The Min statue in the top photo is from the Walters Museum. Unusually, he’s wearing the crown of Upper Egypt rather than his plumes.)
Egyptian Mythology and this Fertility God
Of the Egyptian god Min, Geraldine Pinch’s Egyptian Mythology A Guide to the Gods, Goddesses, and Traditions of Ancient Egypt says:
“Min was an ancient god of human and agricultural fertility. The most masculine of gods, Min was shown as a cloaked figure with a large erect penis. He wears two tall plumes on his head, and his right arm is raised in a smiting gesture. Above his right hand is a flail, which may be a herdsman’s whip. These features suggest that Min could be an apotropaic deity, driving away evil with his aggressive body language.”
Page 164
Hmm… a plumed headdress, cloak, and a whip? Maybe he’s using them to drive away evil as Pinch suggests, but I’m going to ignore all the other possibilities here. The description of Min’s attributes does mention the lettuce further on:
“A tall-growing lettuce whose juice resembled semen was Min’s sacred plant.”
Page 165
And Then…
On a different note, sort of, Pinch summarizes an intriguing tale of self-generation, “Min was said to secretly unite with his mother under cover of darkness to beget himself.” Now there is a true chicken and egg quandary.
I’ll leave you with those quirky details of the qualities of lettuce as an Egyptian aphrodisiac and other misadventures of Min.
Further Egyptian Reading
If you’d like to read about Egyptian cosmetic spoons shaped like swimming girls, you can find them in this post.