Hi all!
I would like to focus your attention on a research made by an italian scientist...

Thanks to accurate researches an italian paleo-bothanic - Giorgio Samorini - reveals to us that lettuce was a sexual stimulator for the Egyptians. In fact, Min, the deity of fertility, always appears sexually excited in all the bas-reliefs; in front of him there are males devoted to him, and each of them have lettuce on their hands. When they offered it to Min, he felt enthusiastic. Even when people used lettuce to stimulate sex, but it was not successful, they asked for Min's help, by offering lettuce to him.
In ancient times if latex was taken in low quantity, its property was that to calm people; on the contrary, if it was taken in large quantity, it occurred as to Min.

Lettuce also plays a role as an aphrodisiac in the myth of Horus and Seth.
After Seth tries to rape Horus, I believe Isis takes revenge by putting semen in Seth's lettuce and thereby making him pregnant.

Lettuce is also shown in the tombs. The one I could find a picture of is on this site:
http://members.tripod.com/~ib205/huya.html

And the image of Akhenaten and Tiye has Beketaten following carrying lettuce. Here's the line drawing:
http://members.tripod.com/~ib205/amarna ... h_tiye.gif

So it seems that lettuce was also offered to the Aten??

Hi everybody!
I would like to thank Merytre-Hatshepsut for the links suggested. I read the first article you posted, but I didn't try to look at the image that corresponds to the secon link you suggested...

The image was meant as a shortcut. I should have said that

It's just a direct link to the image of interest on the page.

The Egyptian lettuce was sacred to Min due to not only its phallic appearance but also the fact that when squeezed it rather suggestively secretes a sticky white liquid. The Egyptian lettuce was also Seth's favourite food, according to the reliefs at Edfu, and it is over Seth's lettuce that Horus spreads his 'seed' for Seth to ingest.

I have never heard of this before and found it interesting. I did a little search on the subject and came up with the following articles (there were more but the dealt mostly on the food lettuce not anything else. I tried to copy the relevant areas but for some reason my computer doesn't want to let me so here are the sites:

www.egyptianmyths.net/min.htm
www.san.beck.org/EC4-Egypt.html
www.touregypt.net/featurestories/sexuality.htm

I have heard that rge plant shown is not lettuce. A realy good cariving shows bundles of leaves tied with thread. I believe modern Egyptians use a plant that looks like the carving but i do not know any more about it.