After the Amarna period, Amun was painted with blue skin, symbolizing his association with air and primeval creation. Amun was also depicted in a wide variety of other forms.
Initially possibly one of eight deities in the Hermapolite creation myth, his worship expanded. After the rebellion of Thebes against theHyksos and with the rule ofAhmose I (16th century BC), Amun acquirednational importance, expressed in his fusion with theSun god,Ra, asAmun-Ra (alternatively spelledAmon-Ra orAmun-Re). On his own, he was also thought to be theking of the gods.[7]
Amun-Ra retained chief importance in theEgyptian pantheon throughout theNew Kingdom (with the exception of the "Atenist heresy" underAkhenaten). Amun-Ra in this period (16th–11th centuries BC) held the position oftranscendental, self-created[8]creator deity "par excellence"; he was the champion of the poor or troubled and central to personalpiety.[9] WithOsiris, Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods.[9] Ra's name simply means "sun". Like most gods in Egyptian mythologies, gods had multiple names; his additional names were Re, Amun-Re, Khepri, Ra-Horakhty, andAtum.[10]
As the chief deity of theEgyptian Empire, Amun-Ra also came to be worshiped outside Egypt, according to the testimony of ancient Greek historiographers inLibya andNubia. AsZeus Ammon andJupiter Ammon, he came to beidentified withZeus in Greece andJupiter in Rome.
Amun andAmaunet are mentioned in theOld EgyptianPyramid Texts.[13]The nameAmun (writtenimn) meant something like "the hidden one" or "invisible",[14] which is also attested by epithets found in the Pyramid Texts "O You, the great god whose name is unknown".[15]
Amun rose to the position oftutelary deity of Thebes after the end of theFirst Intermediate Period, under the11th Dynasty. As the patron of Thebes, his spouse wasMut. In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother, and the Moon godKhonsu as their son formed the divine family or the "Theban Triad".
The history of Amun as the patron god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC, with the construction of thePrecinct of Amun-Ra atKarnak underSenusret I. The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th Dynasty.
Major construction work in the Precinct of Amun-Ra took place during the18th Dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt.
Construction of theHypostyle Hall may have also begun during the 18th Dynasty, though most building was undertaken underSeti I andRamesses II.Merenptah commemorated his victories over theSea Peoples on the walls of theCachette Court, the start of the processional route to theLuxor Temple. ThisGreat Inscription (which has now lost about a third of its content) shows the king's campaigns and eventual return with items of potential value and prisoners. Next to this inscription is theVictory Stela, which is largely a copy of the more famousMerneptah Stele found in the funerary complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes.[16] Merenptah's sonSeti II added two small obelisks in front of the Second Pylon, and a triple bark-shrine to the north of the processional avenue in the same area. This was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those ofMut andKhonsu.
The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Ra's layout was the addition of the firstpylon and the massive enclosure walls that surrounded the whole Precinct, both constructed byNectanebo I.
"Amen Ra" redirects here. For the Belgian band, seeAmenra.
"Amon-Ra" redirects here. For the American football player, seeAmon-Ra St. Brown.
Amun depicted withSeti I in the temple and Chapel at Abydos
When the army of thefounder of theEighteenth Dynasty expelled theHyksos rulers from Egypt, the victor's city of origin,Thebes, became the most important city in Egypt, the capital of a new dynasty. The local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore becamenationally important. The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all of their successes to Amun, and they lavished much of their wealth and captured spoil on the construction oftemples dedicated to Amun.[17] The victory against the "foreign rulers" achieved by pharaohs who worshipped Amun caused him to be seen as a champion of theless fortunate, upholding the rights ofjustice for the poor.[9] By aiding those who traveled in his name, he became theProtector of the road. Since he upheldMa'at (truth, justice, and goodness),[9] those who prayed to Amun were required first to demonstrate that they were worthy, by confessing their sins. Votive stelae from the artisans' village atDeir el-Medina record:
[Amun] who comes at the voice of the poor in distress, who gives breath to him who is wretched ... You are Amun, the Lord of the silent, who comes at the voice of the poor; when I call to you in my distress You come and rescue me ... Though the servant was disposed to do evil, the Lord is disposed to forgive. The Lord of Thebes spends not a whole day in anger; His wrath passes in a moment; none remains. His breath comes back to us in mercy ... May yourka be kind; may you forgive; It shall not happen again.[18]
Min in a relief from the reign ofThutmose III fromDeir el-Bahari.Ka-mut-ef, "Bull of His Mother" as a ram-headed lion in the Avenue of Sphinxes at Karnak Temple
Subsequently, when Egypt conqueredKush, they identified the chief deity of the Kushites as Amun. This Kush deity was depicted as ram-headed, more specifically a woolly ram with curved horns. Amun thus became associated with the ram arising from the aged appearance of the Kush ram deity, and depictions related to Amun sometimes had small ram's horns, known as theHorns of Ammon. A solar deity in the form of a ram can be traced to the pre-literateKerma culture in Nubia, contemporary to the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The later (Meroitic period) name of Nubian Amun wasAmani, attested in numerous personal names such asTanwetamani,Arkamani, andAmanitore. Since rams were considered a symbol of virility, Amun also became thought of as a fertility deity, and so started to absorb the identity ofMin, becoming Amun-Min. This association with virility led to Amun-Min gaining theepithetKamutef, meaning "Bull of his mother",[14] in which form he was found depicted on the walls ofKarnak,ithyphallic, and with a"flail", as Min was.
As the cult of Amun grew in importance, Amun became identified with the chief deity who was worshipped in other areas during that period, namely the sun godRa. This identification led to another merger of identities, with Amun becoming Amun-Ra. In theHymn to Amun-Ra he is described as
Lord of truth, father of the gods, maker of men, creator of all animals, Lord of things that are, creator of the staff of life.[19]
Hieroglyphs on the backpillar of Amenhotep III's statue. There are two places where Akhenaten's agents erased the name Amun, later restored on a deeper surface. The British Museum, London
During the latter part of theEighteenth dynasty, the pharaohAkhenaten (also known as Amenhotep IV) advanced theworship of the Aten, a deity whose power was manifested in the sun disk, both literally and symbolically. He defaced thesymbols of many of the old deities, and based his religious practices upon the deity, theAten. He moved his capital away from Thebes, but this abrupt change was very unpopular with the priests of Amun, who now found themselves without any of their former power. The religion of Egypt was inexorably tied to the leadership of the country, the pharaoh being the leader of both. The pharaoh was the highest priest in the temple of the capital, and the next lower level of religious leaders were important advisers to the pharaoh, many being administrators of the bureaucracy that ran the country.
The introduction of Atenism under Akhenaten constructed amonolatrist worship of Aten in direct competition with that of Amun. Praises of Amun on stelae are strikingly similar in language to those later used, in particular, theHymn to the Aten:
When thou crossest the sky, all faces behold thee, but when thou departest, thou are hidden from their faces ... When thou settest in the western mountain, then they sleep in the manner of death ... The fashioner of that which the soil produces, ... a mother of profit to gods and men; a patient craftsman, greatly wearying himself as their maker ... valiant herdsman, driving his cattle, their refuge and the making of their living ... The sole Lord, who reaches the end of the lands every day, as one who sees them that tread thereon ... Every land chatters at his rising every day, in order to praise him.[20]
When Akhenaten died, Akhenaten's successor,Smenkhkare, became pharaoh and Atenism remained established during his brief 2-year reign. When Smenkhkare died, an enigmatic female pharaoh known asNeferneferuaten took the throne for a brief period but it is unclear what happened during her reign. After Neferneferuaten's death, Akhenaten's 9-year-old son Tutankhaten succeeded her. At the beginning of his reign, the young pharaoh reversed Atenism, re-establishing the old polytheistic religion and renaming himselfTutankhamun. His sister-wife, then named Ankhesenpaaten, followed him and was renamed Ankhesenamun. Worship of the Aten ceased for the most part and worship of Amun-Ra was restored.
During the reign of Horemheb, Akhenaten's name was struck from Egyptian records, all of his religious and governmental changes were undone, and the capital was returned to Thebes. The return to the previous capital and its patron deity was accomplished so swiftly that it seemed this monolatrist cult and its governmental reforms had never existed.
The god of windAmun came to be identified with the solar godRa and the god of fertility and creationMin, so that Amun-Ra had the main characteristic of asolar god,creator god andfertility god. He also adopted the aspect of the ram from the Nubian solar god, besides numerous other titles and aspects.
As Amun-Ra, he was petitioned for mercy by those who believed their suffering had come about as a result of their own or others' wrongdoing.
Amun-Ra "who hears the prayer, who comes at the cry of the poor anddistressed ... . Beware of him! Repeat him to son and daughter, to great and small; relate him to generations of generations who have not yet come into being; relate him to fishes in the deep, to birds in heaven; repeat him to him who does not know him and to him who knowshim ... . Though it may be that the servant is normal in doing wrong, yet the Lord is normal in being merciful. The Lord of Thebes does not spend an entire day angry. As for his anger – in the completion of a moment there is noremnant ... . As thyKa endures! thou wilt be merciful![21]
In the Leiden hymns, Amun,Ptah, and Re are regarded as atrinity who are distinct gods but with unity in plurality.[22]
"The three gods are one yet the Egyptian elsewhere insists on the separate identity of each of the three."[23]
This unity in plurality is expressed in one text:
All gods are three: Amun, Re, and Ptah, whom none equals. He who hides his name as Amun, he appears to the face as Re, his body is Ptah.[24]
Henri Frankfort suggested that Amun was originally a wind god and speculating pointed out that the implicit connection between the winds and mysteriousness was paralleled in a passage from theGospel of John:
"The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going."[25][26]
A Leiden hymn to Amun describes how he calms stormy seas for the troubled sailor:
The tempest moves aside for the sailor who remembers the name of Amon. The storm becomes a sweet breeze for he who invokes His name ... Amon is more effective than millions for he who places Him in his heart. Thanks to Him the single man becomes stronger than a crowd.[27]
While not regarded as a dynasty, theHigh Priests of Amun atThebes were nevertheless of such power and influence that they were effectively the rulers of Egypt from 1080 toc. 943 BC. By the time Herihor was proclaimed as the first ruling High Priest of Amun in 1080 BC—in the 19th Year ofRamesses XI—the Amun priesthood exercised an effective hold on Egypt's economy. The Amun priests owned two-thirds of all thetemple lands in Egypt and 90 percent of her ships and many other resources.[28] Consequently, the Amun priests were as powerful as the pharaoh, if not more so. One of the sons of the High Priest Pinedjem would eventually assume the throne and rule Egypt for almost half a century as pharaohPsusennes I, while the Theban High Priest Psusennes III would take the throne as kingPsusennes II—the final ruler of the 21st Dynasty.
In the 10th century BC, the overwhelming dominance of Amun over all of Egypt gradually began to decline.In Thebes, however, his worship continued unabated, especially under the NubianTwenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt, as Amun was by now seen as a national god in Nubia. TheTemple of Amun, Jebel Barkal, founded during the New Kingdom, came to be the center of the religious ideology of theKingdom of Kush.TheVictory Stele of Piye at Gebel Barkal (8th century BC) now distinguishes between an "Amun ofNapata" and an "Amun of Thebes".Tantamani (died 653 BC), the last pharaoh of the Nubian dynasty, still bore a theophoric name referring to Amun in the Nubian formAmani.
Areas outside Egypt continued to worship him intoclassical antiquity. In Nubia, where his name was pronouncedAmane orAmani (written in meroitic hieroglyphs as "𐦀𐦉𐦊𐦂" and in cursive as "𐦠𐦨𐦩𐦢"), he remained a national deity, with his priests, atMeroe andNobatia,[29] regulating the whole government of the country via anoracle, choosing the ruler, and directing military expeditions. According toDiodorus Siculus, these religious leaders were even able to compel kings to commit suicide, although this tradition stopped whenArkamane, in the 3rd century BC, slew them.[30]
InSudan, excavation of an Amun temple at Dangeil began in 2000 under the directorship of Drs Salah Mohamed Ahmed and Julie R. Anderson of the National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM), Sudan and theBritish Museum, UK, respectively. The temple was found to have been destroyed by fire, andaccelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) andC14 dating of the charred roof beams have placed the construction of the most recent incarnation of the temple in the 1st century AD. This date is further confirmed by the associated ceramics and inscriptions. Following its destruction, the temple gradually decayed and collapsed.[31]
One of the most famous temples dedicated to Amun in Nubia is atJebel Barkal, located near the bank of the Nile just above the 4th cataract. Built out of and around a large sandstone mound, an early iteration of the temple was made of mudbrick byThutmose III.[32] During the reign ofAkhenaten, talatat blocks were used to create the first part of the enduring monumental structure consisting of the outer court, pylon, and inner shrine.[32] Expansions to the courtyard and forecourt were planned and construction started underRamesses II, but ultimately were left incomplete.[33] The pinnacle of the temple is a large, solid piece of rock protruding from the sandstone mound, and is commonly thought to symbolize either aUraeus or the White Crown of Upper Egypt.[32] Egyptian occupiers of Nubia believed the mountain housed a primeval form of Amun of Karnak, calling Jebel Barkal “Nswt-TꜢwy” the “Thrones of the Two Lands.”[33]
This is in reference to the intertwined religious and political importance attributed to the temple by both the native Nubians and the Egyptian occupiers, the latter of whom went to great lengths to establish a connection between their new empire and the people they subjugated.[34] The site became known as a primal source of divine kingship, and association with the cult of Amun centered at Jebel Barkal helped to legitimize the ruler of Upper Egypt.[33] Initially utilized to support rule by Egyptian conquerors, the ideal continued after the collapse of the 25th dynasty.[34] The strategic location of Jebel Barkal coupled with the religious power associated with the cult of Amun at the temple led Kushite kings such asPiankhy to hold their seat of power at Jebel Barkal even as their empire extended through the Nile delta.[34]
InSiwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt, there remained a solitaryoracle of Amun near theLibyan Desert.[5] The worship of Ammon was introduced into Greece at an early period, probably through the medium of the Greek colony inCyrene, which must have formed a connection with the great oracle of Ammon in the Oasis soon after its establishment.Iarbas, a mythological king of Libya, was also considered a son of Hammon.
According to the 6th century AD authorCorippus, a Libyan people known as theLaguatan carried an effigy of their godGurzil, whom they believed to be the son of Ammon, into battle against theByzantine Empire in the 540s AD.[35]
Amun is mentioned in theHebrew Bible as אמון מנאAmon of No in Jeremiah 46:25 (also translatedthe horde of No andthe horde of Alexandria), and Thebes possibly is calledנא אמוןNo-Amon in Nahum 3:8 (also translatedpopulous Alexandria). These texts were presumably written in the 7th century BC.[36]
The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, said: "Behold, I am bringing punishment upon Amon of Thebes, and Pharaoh and Egypt and her gods and her kings, upon Pharaoh and those who trust in him."
Zeus-Ammon. Roman copy of a Greek original from the late 5th century BC. The Greeks of the lower Nile Delta and Cyrenaica combined features of supreme god Zeus with features of the Egyptian god Amun-Ra.
Amun, worshipped by the Greeks asAmmon ofHeliopolis, (meaning "city of the sun god")[37] had a temple and a statue, the gift ofPindar (d. 443 BC), atThebes,[38] and another atSparta, the inhabitants of which, asPausanias says,[39] consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya from early times more than the other Greeks. AtAphytis, Chalcidice, Amun was worshipped, from the time ofLysander (d. 395 BC), as zealously as in Ammonium. Pindar the poet honored the god with a hymn. AtMegalopolis the god was represented with the head of a ram (Paus. viii.32 § 1), and the Greeks of Cyrenaica dedicated at Delphi a chariot with a statue of Ammon.
WhenAlexander the Great occupied Egypt in late 332 BC, he was regarded as a liberator, thus conquering Egypt without a fight.[40] He was pronounced son of Amun by the oracle atSiwa.[41] Amun was identified as a form ofZeus[42] and Alexander often referred to Zeus-Ammon as his true father, and after his death, currency depicted him adorned with theHorns of Ammon as a symbol of his divinity.[43] The tradition of depicting Alexander the Great with the horns of Amun continued for centuries, with Alexander being referred to in theQuran as "Dhu al-Qarnayn" (The Two-Horned One), a reference to his depiction on Middle Eastern coins[44] and statuary as having horns of Ammon.[45]
Several words derive from Amun via the Greek form,Ammon, such asammonia andammonite. The Romans called theammonium chloride they collected from deposits near the Temple of Jupiter-Amun inancient Libyasal ammoniacus (salt of Amun) because of proximity to the nearby temple.[46] Ammonia, as well as being the chemical, is a genus name in theforaminifera. Both these foraminiferans (shelledProtozoa) and ammonites (extinct shelledcephalopods) bear spiral shells resembling a ram's, and Ammon's, horns. The regions of thehippocampus in thebrain are called thecornu ammonis – literally "Amun's Horns", due to the horned appearance of the dark and light bands of cellular layers.
A Greek interpretation for why Amun is sometimes depicted with the head of a ram comes fromHerodotus. He recounts a myth where Amun, urged by his son Khonsu to reveal his true form, concealed himself behind a ram's fleece while manifesting. This clever disguise allowed Amun to partially fulfill his son's request without fully exposing his true nature.[47]
^abOriginally, Amun was depicted with red-brown skin during the New Kingdom, with two plumes on his head, theankh symbol, and thewas sceptre. After the Amarna period, Amun was instead painted with blue skin.
^Varga, Dániel (2023). The Children of Montu: Harpara and Horus-Shu in Ptolemaic and Roman Thebes. Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections. Vol. 39. p.276.
^Derchain-Urtel, Maria-Theresia (1979).Synkretismus in ägyptischer Ikonographie - Die Göttin Tjenenet. Göttinger Orientforschungen Vol. IV. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. p.75.
^abcdArieh Tobin, Vincent (2003). Redford, Donald B. (ed.).The Essential Guide to Egyptian Mythology. Oxford Guides.Berkley Books. p. 20.ISBN0-425-19096-X.
^"Ra".Mythopedia.com.Archived from the original on 30 July 2024. Retrieved7 May 2024.
Erman,Handbook of Egyptian Religion (London, 1907)
Ed. Meyer, art. "Ammon" inRoscher'sLexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie
Pietschmann, arts. "Ammon", "Ammoneion" in Pauly-Wissowa,Realencyclopädie
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^Lichtheim, Miriam (1976).Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume II: The New Kingdom. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. pp. 105–106.ISBN0-520-03615-8.
^abcKendall, Timothy; El-Hassan, Ahmed Mohamed (2017). "JEBEL BARKAL IN THE NEW KINGDOM: AN EMERGING PICTURE".British Museum Publications on Egypt and Sudan.3.
^Ring, Trudy; Salkin, Robert M; Berney, KA; Schellinger, Paul E, eds. (1994).International dictionary of historic places. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 1994–1996. pp. 49, 320.ISBN978-1-884964-04-6.
^Meeks, Dimitri; Favard-Meeks, Christine (1996) [French edition 1993]. Daily Life of the Egyptian Gods. Translated by G. M. Goshgarian. Cornell University Press. p.61.
"Amon".Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved11 April 2024.
Mark, Joshua J."Amun".World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved22 April 2024.
Klotz, David (2006).Adoration of the Ram: Five Hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple. Yale Egyptological Studies. Vol. 6. New Haven: Yale Egyptological Seminar.ISBN978-1-950343-02-7.
Warburton, David (2012).Architecture, Power, and Religion: Hatshepsut, Amun and Karnak in Context. Lit.ISBN978-3-643-90235-1.
Assmann, Jan (1995).Egyptian Solar Religion in the New Kingdom: Re, Amun and the Crisis of Polytheism. Kegan Paul International.ISBN978-0710304650.
Ayad, Mariam F. (2009).God's Wife, God's Servant: The God's Wife of Amun (c. 740–525 BC). Routledge.ISBN978-0415411707.
Cruz-Uribe, Eugene (1994). "The Khonsu Cosmogony".Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt.31:169–189.doi:10.2307/40000676.JSTOR40000676.
Gabolde, Luc (2018).Karnak, Amon-Rê : La genèse d'un temple, la naissance d'un dieu (in French). Institut français d'archéologie orientale du Caire.ISBN978-2-7247-0686-4.
Guermeur, Ivan (2005).Les cultes d'Amon hors de Thèbes: Recherches de géographie religieuse (in French). Brepols.ISBN978-90-71201-10-3.
Klotz, David (2012).Caesar in the City of Amun: Egyptian Temple Construction and Theology in Roman Thebes. Association Égyptologique Reine Élisabeth.ISBN978-2-503-54515-8.
Kuhlmann, Klaus P. (1988).Das Ammoneion. Archäologie, Geschichte und Kultpraxis des Orakels von Siwa (in German). Verlag Phillip von Zabern in Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.ISBN978-3805308199.
Otto, Eberhard (1968).Egyptian art and the cults of Osiris and Amon. Abrams.
Roucheleau, Caroline Michelle (2008).Amun temples in Nubia: a typological study of New Kingdom, Napatan and Meroitic temples. Archaeopress.ISBN9781407303376.
Thiers, Christophe, ed. (2009).Documents de théologies thébaines tardives. Université Paul-Valéry.
Zandee, Jan (1948).De Hymnen aan Amon van papyrus Leiden I. 350 (in Dutch). E.J. Brill.
Zandee, Jan (1992).Der Amunhymnus des Papyrus Leiden I 344, Verso (in German). Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.ISBN978-90-71201-10-3.
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