Menus

Menus (also Mennus ) is attested as the ancient Egyptian name of an Aegean region in association with Keftiu in the New Kingdom during the reign of Amenophis II in the tomb of Kenamun ( TT93 ) in Sheikh Abd el-Qurna . On the relief there , the ambassadors from Keftiu and Menus wear long, loose hair and a headband. Peter Haider was able to prove that the name Menus can only be proven since the conquest of Crete by Mycenaean Greeks.

In the history of Sinuhe there is evidence of a tribal leader “Menus from the two countries of the Fenchu ” in connection with the regions of Qedem and Chenet-Kasch . Seti I also mentioned Menus in a list of place names as the 27th country; the "upper and lower" Retjenu as the 25th and 26th region and Iqpetiu as the 28th entry (popular name). Ramses II had a topographical list of foreign countries put up on the ninth pylon in Karnak , in which menus and the iqebtiu appear again:

“All flat and mountainous countries , rebels, Fenchu , ignorant, leaders of the islands in the midst of the Great Green and all inaccessible foreigners who have come to bow to the power of his majesty and lie at the feet of the good God, forever and always : Tenep , Qedesch , Pebech , Cheta , Asija , Menus, Iqpet, Bereg . "

- Topographical list 9. Pylon in Karnak, List D

Menus has not yet been identified as a place name in the Linear B texts. In contrast, "me-nu-a" and "me-nu-wa", particularly evidenced from Pylos and Knossos , are interpreted as titles or personal names, which prompted some researchers to use the names "Meinyas", "Minyas" or " Minos " to accept. Presumably, the menus were an association of states on or in the region of Crete during the Late Minoic (SM II and SM III A1). Possibly Knossos represented a residence, whose political sphere of influence encompassed most of Crete and the Aegean islands.

A connection between Menus and the mythical King Minos on Knossos is likely not only because of the similarity of sound. In addition, the numerous Minoa place names reinforce the presumed equation of the mythological roots of Minos with the geographical location of Menus. According to the Parian Chronicle , Minos ruled between 1462 and 1423 BC. Over Crete and large parts of the Aegean Sea, whereby the later date would correlate with the early reign of Amenhotep II.

literature

Berit Hildebrandt: Damos and Basileus: Reflections on social structures in the dark centuries of Greece . Utz, Munich 2007, ISBN 3-8316-0737-0 .
John Strange: Caphtor, Keftiu: A new investigation . Brill, Leiden 1980, ISBN 9-0040-6256-4 .