Lettuce in Ancient Egypt: a “sexy vegetable” and its usages

There’s nothing sadder than a bland bowl of lettuce; that’s why you have plenty of salads in the attempt to lose some weight. Surprisingly, this leafy vegetable had a strong sexual connotation in Ancient Egypt…

Homer (not the Greek author) sang ‘you don’t make friends with salad’;

but that lettuce had quite an imponent friend in Egypt: Min (Mnw), God of fertility and procreation. This post is going to be quite explicit, bear with me. 

Lactuca sativa: lettuce in Egyptian art and religion 

It stands tall with its pointy leaves stretching to the sky inside gardening pots or laid down on offering tables. The Romain lettuce – technically Lactuca sativa – appears in association with an explicit figure, the black-skinned, mummiform-wrapped god Min. 

It’s not the shape of the vegetable, but the way the lettuce grows fast and the off-white sap its stalks release that suggested a connection with the Egyptian ‘woman-hunting’ deity called Min [1]. We can see ‘bw (read abw), Middle Egyptian name for the Romain/Cos lettuce, in many wall depictions close to this God or brought in procession by its priests. Egyptians thought lettuce was sacred to Min and assisted the god to ‘perform’ and also well… [2]

This was such a strange view, even in the past! In fact, in the Classical world, lettuce was (a laxative and) a libido-killer either by mythological (Athenaeus on the myth of Adonis), philosophical (the Pythagoreans) or ‘scientifical’ observations (Pliny in his Naturalis Historia). [3]

If you think Egyptians were used to eating this green as an aphrodisiac, you’re totally wrong. There’s no mention in Egyptian ‘medical prescriptions’ and this type of lettuce wasn’t known for any remarkable stimulating property. Ancient Egyptians had other 100% natural viagras…

If it was eaten for that purpose, then, it was just as an offering to Min with the sheer hope to acquire sexual power exactly like him. It’s just a matter of cultural association and (really strong) faith. 

Watch out the lettuce: a bad ‘prank’-myth (explicit)

This is where the story goes more explicit. In the Contending of Seth and Horus [4], a well-known myth from the Papyrus Chester Betty I, Seth gets pregnant after eating some lettuce over which there was Horus’ semen. It sounds like a very gross prank and, indeed, it is. Planned and craftily executed by no less a person than Horus’ mom, the goddess Isis. 

It happened that, Seth and Horus were constantly fighting over Osiris’ power. For your information, Seth killed and cut into pieces Osiris, his brother. Osiris’ natural successor was going to be his son, Horus.

To prove his manliness in the eyes of the divine jury, one night Seth tries to sexually overcome his nephew (Horus). At the news of the terrible experience, Isis visits Seth’s garden to find out what’s his favourite vegetable. Seth loved lettuce, so she uses this plant as a vehicle to pursue her revenge. And indeed, Seth delivers a solar disk in front of the jury! The young Horus is declared the winner, but Seth isn’t happy and asks for a more physical contest: a speed race with stone boats!
Also in this myth, lettuce isn’t an aphrodisiac per se.

Do something with that lettuce: healthy usages in Ancient Egypt

It looks like Seth loved lettuce, did ancient Egyptians consume it as well? Yes, and in different ways, apart from the priests in the temple of Philea who weren’t allowed… [5]

On their way to ‘domesticate’ this vegetable, ancient Egyptians harvested a wild variety of lettuce (Lactuca serriola var. Sativa) with a bitter sap and prickly leaves. These two features were natural deterrents against insects and animals, but this salad wasn’t ideal as food either. Hence it was given to feed animals, while its seeds were amply used in oil production for cooking and medical applications. [Norris, P. 2015: 136-139]

As the domestication went on successfully, the plant developed with less bitter latex and smoother leaves. This is when, during the Old Kingdom (ca 2686-2160 BC), we can see lettuce depicted in temples (mortuary temple of Pepi II) and many tomb walls (some V dynasty-tombs at Saqqara) in two varieties. The plant expert Ryder argued that – starting from an original species (L. Serriola) – by natural or human selection, ancient Egyptians developed a species good for the human diet. This later spread across the Mediterranean and the Middle East: our Cos or Romaine lettuce (L. sativa var. Longifolia). [Norris, P. 2015: 141, 149]

As I mentioned previously, we can’t find ‘bw in any medical papyri. Instead, ‘ft (read afet), now identified with the Lactuca virosa, had plenty of uses. Pain, worms, purulences, eye discomforts and other tummy problems were treated with this wild lettuce.
Belly pain? Take some ‘ft, fresh beef, frankincense, juniper berries, bread and beer; strained these ingredients and drink it for four days (if you can). (E86)
Do you need a natural hair booster? A hair growth natural remedy was as simple as chopped ‘ft applied locally. (E467)

Would you ever imagine lettuce is a sexy plant and not a starter?
I don’t know you, but after this reading, I don’t fancy salad at all…

Valentina Chirico aka Valens

Notes:
[1] As called in the Coffin Text. Wilkinson R. H: 2017: 115
[2] 'untiringly' as well. Hart, G. 2005: 95
[3] Norris, P. 2015. 'The Lettuce Connection: A re-examination of the association of the Egyptian god Min with the lettuce plant from the Predynastic to the Ptolemaic Period. PhD thesis, the University of Manchester. p. 148 https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/files/59282639/FULL_TEXT.PDF (accessed in October 2020)
[4] For a detailed but condensed version of the 'Contendings': Pinch, G. 2004, Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford and New York, p.80-82.
[5] Manniche, L. 1989: 113.

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Sources:
Hart, G. 2005. The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, London and New York.
Manniche, L. 1989. An Ancient Egyptian Herbal, Austin, p. 112-114.
Norris, P. 2015. 'The Lettuce Connection: A re-examination of the association of the Egyptian god Min with the lettuce plant from the Predynastic to the Ptolemaic Period. PhD thesis, the University of Manchester.
Pinch, G. 2004. Egyptian Myth: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford and New York.
Shaw, I. and Nicholson, P. 1995. The British Museum Dictionary of Ancient Egypt, London, p.187-188.
Shaw, I. (ed). 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt, Oxford and New York.
Wilkinson, Richard H. 2017. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt, London.
Smith Annabelle K. 2013.'When Lettuce Was a Sacred Sex Symbol', Smithsonianmag.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/when-lettuce-was-a-sacred-sex-symbol-12271795 (accessed in October 2020)

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Image sources:
MET Museum (1,7) 
The Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) (2)
Semanticscholar.org (3)
Wikimedia Commons, A.Parrot (4,5)