Men (deity)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
Men (god)
)
Not to be confused with Mene (goddess) or Min (god).
Bust of Mēn. (Museum of Anatolian Civilizations)

Mēn (

Antioch in Pisidia, or Mēn Pharnakou at Ameria in Pontus
.

Mēn was probably a Phrygian deity, associated with the local descendant of the Hitto-Luwian moon god Arma (deity), and is often found in association with Persianate elements, especially with the goddess Anahita.[1] Lunar symbolism dominates his iconography. The god is usually shown with the horns of a

(lunar) months.[2] Strabo describes Mēn as a local god of the Phrygians
. Mēn may also be influenced by the
Zoroastrian lunar divinity Mah.[3]

Mēn Pharnakou

In the

Pharnakes I in the 2nd century BC, apparently in an attempt to counterbalance the influence of the Moon goddess Ma of Comana
. The cult of Mēn Pharnakou in Pontus has been traced to the appearance of the star and crescent motif on Pontic coins at the time.[4]

Mēn Askaenos

Mounted Mēn wearing a Phryian cap (Roman era, 3rd century AD)

A similar temple estate dedicated to Mēn Askaenos existed in

Pisidian Antioch, persisted until the city was refounded by the Romans in 25 BC, becoming Colonia Caesarea Augusta.[5] [6] The colony was primarily settled by veterans from Legio V Alaudae and Legio VII Gemina.[7]

Taşlıalan (1988) in a study of

Antioch in Pisidia has remarked that the people who settled on the acropolis in the Greek colonial era carried the Mēn Askaenos cult down to the plain as Patrios Theos and in the place where the Augusteum was built, there are some signs of this former cult as bucrania on the rock-cut walls.[8]

Roman reception

Roman relief of Mēn wearing a Phrygian cap (2nd century, British Museum)

Autochthonous Mēn as attested in Anatolia is to be distinguished from his reception as a "Phrygian god" in Rome during the imperial period. Here, Mēn is depicted with a

Mithras
, who also wears a Phrygian cap and is commonly depicted with a bull and symbols of the Sun and Moon.

The

Luna, "Moon", has been taken as a Latinized name for Mēn. The same source records the local opinion that anyone who believes the deity of the Moon to be feminine shall always be subject to women, whereas a man who believes that he is masculine will dominate his wife. David Magie suggests that Caracalla had actually visited the temple of Sin, the Mesopotamian Moon god.[9]

In later times, Mēn may also have been identified with both

Sabazius of Thrace.[citation needed
]

See also

References

  1. ^ Peter Talloen, Cult in Pisidia: Studies in Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology, p. 101
  2. ^ Strabo xii. pp. 557, 577; Proclus In Platonis Timaeum commentaria iv.251
  3. ISBN 978-90-04-28149-3
    .
  4. Encyclopedia Iranica
     (2004).
  5. ^ Strabo Geographica XII, 8.14
  6. ^ Peter Talloen, Cult in Pisidia: Studies in Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology, p. 124.
  7. ^ Michel Christol & Thomas Drew-Bear (1999), p. 43-55
  8. ^ Mehmet Taşlıalan, Pisidia Antiocheia'si Mimarlık ve Heykeltraşlık eserleri (Konya, 1988); Pisidia Antiocheia (Ankara, 1990).[page needed]
  9. Augustan History "Caracalla"
    vii and note 44.

Bibliography

  • Guy Labarre, "Les origines et la diffusion du culte de Men". In: Bru, Hadrien, François Kirbihler and Stéphane Lebreton (edd.). L’Asie mineure dans l’Antiquité: Échanges, populations et territoires. Rennes: Presses Universitaires des Rennes, 2009. pp. 389–414.

Further reading

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Men_(deity)&oldid=1215212694"