Difference between revisions of "Amun" - New World Encyclopedia

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During this age, Amun was also assigned a female companion (aside from Amunet, who is better characterized as the god's own female aspect). Given his increasing identification with the creation of the cosmos, it was logical that he be united with [[Mut]], a popular mother goddess of the Theban region. Within the context of this new family, he was thought to have fathered a son: either Menthu, a local war-god who became subordinate to him, or Khons, a lunar deity.<ref>Wilkinson, 92; Pinch, 100.</ref>
 
During this age, Amun was also assigned a female companion (aside from Amunet, who is better characterized as the god's own female aspect). Given his increasing identification with the creation of the cosmos, it was logical that he be united with [[Mut]], a popular mother goddess of the Theban region. Within the context of this new family, he was thought to have fathered a son: either Menthu, a local war-god who became subordinate to him, or Khons, a lunar deity.<ref>Wilkinson, 92; Pinch, 100.</ref>
  
The increasing importance of Amun can be strongly tied to the political fortunes of the Theban nome during this period of the Egyptian dynastic history. Most specifically, the eleventh dynasty (ca. 2130-1990 B.C.E.) was founded by a family from the area around Thebes itself, which thereby catapulted their favored deities into national prominence. The name of ''Amun'' came to be incorporated in the monikers of many rulers from this dynasty, such as Amenemhe (founder of the twelfth dynasty (1991-1802 B.C.E.)), whose name can be literally translated as "Amun is preeminent" or "The god Amon is First." The honors accorded to the god led to an increased level of expenditure at his various cult centers, most notably at the Temple of Karnak, which became one of the most well-appointed in the kingdom.<ref>Wilkinson, 92; Budge (1969), Vol. II, 3-4. See also Brian Brown's ''The Wisdom of Egypt'', 1923 (p. 119). Accessed online at: [http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe05.htm sacred-texts.com].</ref>
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The increasing importance of Amun can be strongly tied to the political fortunes of the Theban nome during this period of the Egyptian dynastic history. Most specifically, the eleventh dynasty (ca. 2130-1990 B.C.E.) was founded by a family from the area around Thebes itself, which thereby catapulted their favored deities into national prominence. The name of ''Amun'' came to be incorporated in the monikers of many rulers from this dynasty, such as Amenemhe (founder of the twelfth dynasty (1991-1802 B.C.E.)), whose name can be literally translated as "Amun is preeminent" or "The god Amon is First." The honors accorded to the god led to an increased level of expenditure at his various cult centers, most notably at the Temple of Karnak, which became one of the most well-appointed in the kingdom.<ref>Wilkinson, 92; Budge (1969), Vol. II, 3-4. Zivie-Coche, 75-77. See also Brian Brown's ''The Wisdom of Egypt'', 1923 (p. 119). Accessed online at: [http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/woe/woe05.htm sacred-texts.com].</ref>
  
 
In this phase of the cult's development, Amun was primarily depicted in human form, seated on a throne, wearing a plain circlet from which rise two straight parallel plumes, possibly symbolic of the tail feathers of a bird, a reference to his earliest characterization as a wind god. Two main types are seen: in the one he is seated on a throne, in the other he is standing, ithyphallic, holding a scourge, precisely like Min, the god of Coptos and Chemmis (Akhmim)&mdash;a god whose association with Amun is [[#Etymology|discussed above]].
 
In this phase of the cult's development, Amun was primarily depicted in human form, seated on a throne, wearing a plain circlet from which rise two straight parallel plumes, possibly symbolic of the tail feathers of a bird, a reference to his earliest characterization as a wind god. Two main types are seen: in the one he is seated on a throne, in the other he is standing, ithyphallic, holding a scourge, precisely like Min, the god of Coptos and Chemmis (Akhmim)&mdash;a god whose association with Amun is [[#Etymology|discussed above]].
  
===King===
+
===Rise to National Prominence===
 
[[Image:Chem.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Amun-Min]]
 
[[Image:Chem.jpg|right|thumb|150px|Amun-Min]]
 +
When the Theban royal family of the seventeenth dynasty drove out the [[Hyksos]], Amun, as the god of the royal city, was again prominent. Given the oppression of the [[Egyptians]] under their Hyksos rulers, their victory (which was attributed to the supreme god Amun) was seen as the god's championing of the less fortunate. Consequently, Amun came to be seen as a benevolent defender of the disadvantaged, and came to be titled ''Vizier of the Poor''.<ref>F. Charles Fensham, "Widow, Orphan, and the Poor in Ancient near Eastern Legal and Wisdom Literature," ''Journal of Near Eastern Studies'', Vol. 21, No. 2 (April 1962), 129-139. 133.</ref> Indeed, as the fortunes of these Theban dynasties were extended, Amun, their patron god, came to be associated with the office of the ruler. For instance, in "his chief cult temple at Karnak in Thebes, Amun, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, ruled as a divine pharaoh."<ref>Pinch, 100; Budge (1969), Vol. II, 4. This association with leadership is attested to in an inchoate form in the [[Pyramid Texts]], where the office of the human ruler is metonymically described as "the throne of Amūn" (see [http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/pyt/pyt41.htm Pyramid Texts] 1540b).</ref>
  
Several Theban kings of the later part of the Middle Kingdom adopted the same name; and when the Theban family of the XVIIth dynasty drove out the Hyksos, Ammon, as the god of the royal city, was again prominent. It was not, however, until the rulers of the XVIIIth dynasty carried their victorious arms beyond the Egyptian frontiers in every direction that Amun began to assume the proportions of a universal god for the Egyptians, eclipsing all their other deities and asserting his power over the gods of all foreign lands. To Amun the Pharaohs attributed all their successful enterprises, and on his temples they lavished their wealth and captured spoil.
+
However, it was not until the expansionistic military successes of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 B.C.E.) that Amun began to assume the proportions of a universal god for the Egyptians, eclipsing (or becoming syncretized with) most other deities and asserting his power over the gods of foreign lands. At this time, the Pharaohs credited all their successful enterprises to the god, which led them to lavish their wealth and captured spoil on his temples.<ref>Budge (1969), Vol. II, 4-5.</ref>
  
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====Sun God====
 +
{{Hiero|Amun-Ra|<hiero>i-mn:n-ra:Z1-C1</hiero>||align=left|era=egypt}}
 +
[[Image:Amon-Re.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Amun-Ra]]
 +
As Amun's cult spread throughout the empire, the ''Hidden One'' became identified with [[Ra]], the sun god worshiped as lord of the cosmos in the Lower Kingdom. This identification led to a merger of identities, with the two deities joined into the composite form ''Amun-Ra''. As [[Ra]] had been the father of [[shu (Egyptian deity)|Shu]], and [[Tefnut]], and the remainder of the [[Ennead]] (paralleling Amun's parentage of the [[Ogdoad]]), Amun-Ra was identified as the father of all Egyptian gods. This merger also saw Amun-Ra adopting the role of sun god, with Ra as the ''visible'' aspect of the sun and Amun as the ''hidden'' aspect (representing the seeming disappearance of the solar disc at night).
  
When the [[army|armies]] of the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth dynasty]] evicted the [[Hyksos]] rulers from Egypt, the victors' city of origen, Thebes, now held the mantle of the most important city in Egypt. Therefore, Amun became nationally important. The [[Pharaoh]]s attributed all their successful enterprises to Amun, and they lavished much of their wealth and captured spoil on the construction of his temples.  
+
Throughout the New Kingdom period (1570–1070 B.C.E.), Amun-Ra was chief deity of the Egyptian religious system, a wide-spread devotional adoration that was even attested to in the names of monarchs, from Amenhotep ("Amun is Satisfied") to [[Tutankhamun]] ("the living image of Amun"). These rulers were also associated with the god through a popular myth that they were each conceived following a mystical union between their mothers and Amun.<ref>Pinch, 101.</ref> Though the worship of the god was briefly halted under [[Akhenaten]], it is still fair to say that it was the single most important cult in Egypt for over five hundred years.<ref>Budge (1969), Vol. II, 4-7; Pinch, 101-102; Wilkinson, 92-95.</ref>
 
 
Because of the adoration now given to Amun, [[tourism|visiting]] Greek travelers to Egypt would report back that Amun, king of the Egyptian gods, was one in the same, and therefore became identified with, the Greek king of the gods [[Zeus]]. As did Amun's consort [[Mut]] become associated with Zeus's consort [[Hera]].
 
 
 
As the [[Egyptians]] considered themselves oppressed during the period of Hyksos' rule, the victory under the supreme god Amun, was seen as his championing of the [[underdog|less fortunante]]. Consequently, Amun was viewed as upholding the rights of justice to the poor, and became titled ''[[Vizier (Ancient Egypt)|Vizier]] of the poor'', and by aiding those who travelled in his name, he became the ''Protector of the road''. Since he upheld [[Ma'at]], those who prayed to Amun were required first to demonstrate that they were worthy, by confessing their sins.
 
  
===Fertility God===
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====Fertility God====
When, subsequently, Egypt conquered [[Kush]], they identified the chief deity of the Kushites as Amun. This deity was depicted as [[Ram (animal)|Ram]] headed, more specifically a [[wool]]ly Ram with curved [[horn (anatomy)|horns]], and so Amun started becoming associated with the Ram. Indeed, due to the aged appearance of it, they came to believe that this had been the original form of Amun, and that Kush was where he had been born.
+
When Egypt conquered Nubia ([[Kush]]), they identified the chief deity of the Kushites as Amun. This deity was depicted as [[Ram (animal)|Ram]] headed, more specifically a [[wool]]ly Ram with curved [[horn (anatomy)|horns]], and so Amun started becoming associated with the Ram. Indeed, due to the aged appearance of it, they came to believe that this had been the original form of Amun, and that Kush was where he had been born.
  
 
However, since rams, due to their [[rutting]], were considered a symbol of [[virility]], Amun also became thought of as a fertility deity, and so started to absorb the identity of [[Min (god)|Min]], becoming ''Amun-Min''. This association with virility led to ''Amun-Min'' gaining the [[epithet]] ''Kamutef'', meaning ''Bull of his mother'', in which form he was often found depicted on the walls of [[Karnak]], [[ithyphallic]], and with a [[scourge]].
 
However, since rams, due to their [[rutting]], were considered a symbol of [[virility]], Amun also became thought of as a fertility deity, and so started to absorb the identity of [[Min (god)|Min]], becoming ''Amun-Min''. This association with virility led to ''Amun-Min'' gaining the [[epithet]] ''Kamutef'', meaning ''Bull of his mother'', in which form he was often found depicted on the walls of [[Karnak]], [[ithyphallic]], and with a [[scourge]].
 
===Sun God===
 
{{Hiero|Amun-Ra|<hiero>i-mn:n-ra:Z1-C1</hiero>||align=left|era=egypt}}
 
 
[[Image:Amon-Re.JPG|thumb|right|150px|Amun-Ra]]
 
As Amun's cult grew bigger, Amun rapidly became identified with the chief God that was worshipped in other areas, ''Ra-Herakhty'', the merged identities of [[Ra]], and [[Horus]]. This identification led to a merger of identities, with Amun becoming ''Amun-Ra''. As [[Ra]] had been the father of [[shu (Egyptian deity)|Shu]], and [[Tefnut]], and the remainder of the [[Ennead]], so Amun-Ra was likewise identified as their father.
 
 
Ra-Herakhty had been a [[solar deity|sun god]], and so this became true of Amun-Ra as well, Amun becoming considered the ''hidden'' aspect of the sun (e.g. during the night), in contrast to Ra-Herakhty as the ''visible'' aspect, since Amun clearly meant ''the one who is hidden''. This complexity over the sun led to a gradual movement towards the support of a more pure form of deity.
 
 
During the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|eighteenth dynasty]], the pharaoh [[Akhenaten]] (also known as Amenhotep IV) introduced the worship of [[Aten]], an unseeable god whose power was manifested both literally and symbolically in the sun's disc.  He defaced the symbols of the old gods and based his new religion upon one new god: the Aten.  However, this abrupt change was very unpopular, particularly with the previous [[priesthood| temple priests]], who now found themselves without any of their former power. Consequently, when Akhenaten died, his name was striken from the Egyptian records, and all of his changes were swiftly undone. It was almost as if this [[monotheistic]] sect had never occurred. Worship of the Aten was replaced and worship of Amun-Ra was restored. The priests persuaded the new underage pharaoh [[Tutankhaten]], whose name meant "the living image of Aten", to change his name to [[Tutankhamun]], "the living image of Amun".
 
  
 
===Decline===
 
===Decline===
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Likewise, in [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] there remained a solitary oracle of Amun in the [[Libyan Desert]] at the [[oasis]] of [[Siwa Oasis|Siwa]]. Such was its reputation among the Greeks that [[Alexander the Great]] journeyed there after the [[battle of Issus]] and during his occupation of Egypt in order to be acknowledged the son of Amun. Even during this occupation, Amun, identified as a form of [[Zeus]], continued to be the great god of Thebes throughout its decay.
 
Likewise, in [[Ancient Libya|Libya]] there remained a solitary oracle of Amun in the [[Libyan Desert]] at the [[oasis]] of [[Siwa Oasis|Siwa]]. Such was its reputation among the Greeks that [[Alexander the Great]] journeyed there after the [[battle of Issus]] and during his occupation of Egypt in order to be acknowledged the son of Amun. Even during this occupation, Amun, identified as a form of [[Zeus]], continued to be the great god of Thebes throughout its decay.
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 +
 +
 +
 +
Because of the adoration now given to Amun, [[tourism|visiting]] Greek travelers to Egypt would report back that Amun, king of the Egyptian gods, was one in the same, and therefore became identified with, the Greek king of the gods [[Zeus]]. As did Amun's consort [[Mut]] become associated with Zeus's consort [[Hera]].
  
 
==Derived terms==
 
==Derived terms==

Revision as of 20:04, 14 August 2007

Amun and Mut

Amun (also spelled Amon, Amoun, Amen, and rarely Imen, Greek Ἄμμων Ammon, and Ἅμμων Hammon, Egyptian Yamanu) was the name of a deity, in Egyptian mythology, who gradually rose to become one of the most important deities in Ancient Egypt, before fading into obscurity.

Amun in an Egyptian Context

Amun
in hieroglyphs
imn
n
C12

As an Egyptian deity, Geb belonged to a complex religious, mythological and cosmological belief system developed in the Nile river basin from earliest prehistory to 525 B.C.E.[1] Indeed, it was during this relatively late period in Egyptian cultural development, a time when they first felt their beliefs threatened by foreigners, that many of their myths, legends and religious beliefs were first recorded.[2] The cults within this framework, whose beliefs comprise the myths we have before us, were generally fairly localized phenomena, with different deities having the place of honor in different communities.[3] Despite this apparently unlimited diversity, however, the gods (unlike those in many other pantheons) were relatively ill-defined. As Frankfort notes, “the Egyptian gods are imperfect as individuals. If we compare two of them … we find, not two personages, but two sets of functions and emblems. … The hymns and prayers addressed to these gods differ only in the epithets and attributes used. There is no hint that the hymns were addressed to individuals differing in character.”[4] One reason for this was the undeniable fact that the Egyptian gods were seen as utterly immanental—they represented (and were continuous with) particular, discrete elements of the natural world.[5] Thus, those who did develop characters and mythologies were generally quite portable, as they could retain their discrete forms without interfering with the various cults already in practice elsewhere. Also, this flexibility was what permitted the development of multipartite cults (i.e. the cult of Amun-Re, which unified the domains of Amun and Re), as the spheres of influence of these various deities were often complimentary.[6]

The worldview engendered by ancient Egyptian religion was uniquely appropriate to (and defined by) the geographical and calendrical realities of its believer’s lives. Unlike the beliefs of the Hebrews, Mesopotamians and others within their cultural sphere, the Egyptians viewed both history and cosmology as being well ordered, cyclical and dependable. As a result, all changes were interpreted as either inconsequential deviations from the cosmic plan or cyclical transformations required by it.[7] The major result of this perspective, in terms of the religious imagination, was to reduce the relevance of the present, as the entirety of history (when conceived of cyclically) was ultimately defined during the creation of the cosmos. The only other aporia in such an understanding is death, which seems to present a radical break with continuity. To maintain the integrity of this worldview, an intricate system of practices and beliefs (including the extensive mythic geographies of the afterlife, texts providing moral guidance (for this life and the next) and rituals designed to facilitate the transportation into the afterlife) was developed, whose primary purpose was to emphasize the unending continuation of existence.[8] Given these two cultural foci, it is understandable that the tales recorded within this mythological corpus tended to be either creation accounts or depictions of the world of the dead, with a particular focus on the relationship between the gods and their human constituents.

Etymology

Amun's name is first attested to in Egyptian records as imn, which can be translated as "the Hidden (One)."[9] Since vowels were not written in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Egyptologists, in their hypothetical reconstruction of the spoken language, have argued that it would have originally been pronounced *Yamānu (yah-maa-nuh). The name survives, with unchanged meaning, as the Coptic Amoun, the Ethopian Amen, and the Greek Ammon.[10]

Some scholars have noted a strong linguistic parallel between the names of Amun (/Amen) and Min, an ancient deity who shared many areas of patronage and influence with his more popular contemporary. This veracity of this potential identification is bolstered by the fact that, historically speaking, the cult of Amun did supplant the worship of Min, especially in the area around Thebes (from whence it originated).[11]

Development of the Cult of Amun

As with many Egyptian deities, the cult of Amun (and the myths associated with it) developed through a long process of syncretism and theological innovation, both of which were tempered by the political fortunes of the cult's home region. While the understandings discussed below can broadly be divided into historical periods, it should be noted that the depictions of the god (unless otherwise noted) were cumulative. For example, Amun's later association with fertility seems to have supplemented (rather than overriding) his previous characterizations as a creator god and a royal patron.

Early Cult - Amun as Creator God and Patron of Thebes

Amun was, to begin with, the local deity of Thebes, when it was an unimportant town on the east bank of the river, about the region now occupied by the Temple of Karnak. Already characterized as the "Hidden One," the god was identified with the wind —an invisible but immanent presence in the region[12] — and also with the "hidden and unknown creative power which was associated with the primeval abyss [that predated the creation of this world]."[13] In this context, he (along with his female counterpart/consort Amunet) is mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, a compilation of inscriptions from the Old Kingdom period (268–2134 B.C.E.):

Thy established-offering is thine, O Niw (Nun) together with Nn.t (Naunet),
ye two sources of the gods, protecting the gods with their (your) shade.
Thy established-offering is thine, O Amūn together with Amūnet,
ye two sources of the gods, protecting the gods with their (your) shade.[14]

Describing this earliest mention of the deity, Budge notes that the explicit parallel between Nun/Naunet and Amun/Amunet (the former representing the primordial void) indicates that "the authors and editors of the Pyramid Texts assigned great antiquity to their existence."[15]

By the First Intermediate Period (2183-2055 B.C.E.), these beliefs were further elaborated, with the god coming to be interpreted as the creator of the universe (and, resultantly, as the creator of the celestial pantheon).[16] These developments are well summarized by Geraldine Pinch:

Amun tended to be the subject of speculative theology rather than mythical narratives, but he did play a role in the creation myths of Hermopolis [an Upper Kingdom city relatively close to Thebes]. One of his incarnations was as the Great Shrieker, a primeval goose whose victory shout was the first sound. In some accounts, this primeval goose laid the "world egg;" in others, Amun fertilized or created this egg in his ram-headed serpent form known as Kematef[17] ("He who has completed his moment"). The temple of Medinet Habu in western Thebes was sometimes identified as the location of this primal event. A cult statue of the Amun of Karnak regularly visited this temple [during festival processions] to renew the process of creation.[18]

During this age, Amun was also assigned a female companion (aside from Amunet, who is better characterized as the god's own female aspect). Given his increasing identification with the creation of the cosmos, it was logical that he be united with Mut, a popular mother goddess of the Theban region. Within the context of this new family, he was thought to have fathered a son: either Menthu, a local war-god who became subordinate to him, or Khons, a lunar deity.[19]

The increasing importance of Amun can be strongly tied to the political fortunes of the Theban nome during this period of the Egyptian dynastic history. Most specifically, the eleventh dynasty (ca. 2130-1990 B.C.E.) was founded by a family from the area around Thebes itself, which thereby catapulted their favored deities into national prominence. The name of Amun came to be incorporated in the monikers of many rulers from this dynasty, such as Amenemhe (founder of the twelfth dynasty (1991-1802 B.C.E.)), whose name can be literally translated as "Amun is preeminent" or "The god Amon is First." The honors accorded to the god led to an increased level of expenditure at his various cult centers, most notably at the Temple of Karnak, which became one of the most well-appointed in the kingdom.[20]

In this phase of the cult's development, Amun was primarily depicted in human form, seated on a throne, wearing a plain circlet from which rise two straight parallel plumes, possibly symbolic of the tail feathers of a bird, a reference to his earliest characterization as a wind god. Two main types are seen: in the one he is seated on a throne, in the other he is standing, ithyphallic, holding a scourge, precisely like Min, the god of Coptos and Chemmis (Akhmim)—a god whose association with Amun is discussed above.

Rise to National Prominence

File:Chem.jpg
Amun-Min

When the Theban royal family of the seventeenth dynasty drove out the Hyksos, Amun, as the god of the royal city, was again prominent. Given the oppression of the Egyptians under their Hyksos rulers, their victory (which was attributed to the supreme god Amun) was seen as the god's championing of the less fortunate. Consequently, Amun came to be seen as a benevolent defender of the disadvantaged, and came to be titled Vizier of the Poor.[21] Indeed, as the fortunes of these Theban dynasties were extended, Amun, their patron god, came to be associated with the office of the ruler. For instance, in "his chief cult temple at Karnak in Thebes, Amun, Lord of the Thrones of the Two Lands, ruled as a divine pharaoh."[22]

However, it was not until the expansionistic military successes of the Eighteenth Dynasty (1550-1292 B.C.E.) that Amun began to assume the proportions of a universal god for the Egyptians, eclipsing (or becoming syncretized with) most other deities and asserting his power over the gods of foreign lands. At this time, the Pharaohs credited all their successful enterprises to the god, which led them to lavish their wealth and captured spoil on his temples.[23]

Sun God

Amun-Ra
in hieroglyphs
imn
n
ra
Z1
C1
Amun-Ra

As Amun's cult spread throughout the empire, the Hidden One became identified with Ra, the sun god worshiped as lord of the cosmos in the Lower Kingdom. This identification led to a merger of identities, with the two deities joined into the composite form Amun-Ra. As Ra had been the father of Shu, and Tefnut, and the remainder of the Ennead (paralleling Amun's parentage of the Ogdoad), Amun-Ra was identified as the father of all Egyptian gods. This merger also saw Amun-Ra adopting the role of sun god, with Ra as the visible aspect of the sun and Amun as the hidden aspect (representing the seeming disappearance of the solar disc at night).

Throughout the New Kingdom period (1570–1070 B.C.E.), Amun-Ra was chief deity of the Egyptian religious system, a wide-spread devotional adoration that was even attested to in the names of monarchs, from Amenhotep ("Amun is Satisfied") to Tutankhamun ("the living image of Amun"). These rulers were also associated with the god through a popular myth that they were each conceived following a mystical union between their mothers and Amun.[24] Though the worship of the god was briefly halted under Akhenaten, it is still fair to say that it was the single most important cult in Egypt for over five hundred years.[25]

Fertility God

When Egypt conquered Nubia (Kush), they identified the chief deity of the Kushites as Amun. This deity was depicted as Ram headed, more specifically a woolly Ram with curved horns, and so Amun started becoming associated with the Ram. Indeed, due to the aged appearance of it, they came to believe that this had been the original form of Amun, and that Kush was where he had been born.

However, since rams, due to their rutting, were considered a symbol of virility, Amun also became thought of as a fertility deity, and so started to absorb the identity of Min, becoming Amun-Min. This association with virility led to Amun-Min gaining the epithet Kamutef, meaning Bull of his mother, in which form he was often found depicted on the walls of Karnak, ithyphallic, and with a scourge.

Decline

After the Twentieth dynasty moved the center of power back to Thebes, the powerbase of Amun's cult had been revivified, and the authority of Aten began to weaken. Under the Twenty-first dynasty the secondary line of priest kings of Thebes upheld his dignity to the best of their power, and the Twenty-second favoured Thebes.

The sarcophagus of a priestess of Amon-Ra cerca 1000 B.C.E. at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

As the sovereignty weakened, the division between Upper and Lower Egypt asserted itself; thereafter, Thebes would have rapidly decayed had it not been for the piety of the kings of Nubia towards Amun, whose worship had long prevailed in their country. Thebes was at first their Egyptian capital, and they honoured Amun greatly, although neither their wealth nor culture were sufficient to affect much change.

However, in the rest of Egypt, the popularity of his cult was rapidly overtaken by the less divisive cult of the Legend of Osiris and Isis, which had not been associated with the viewed-as-traitorous Akhenaten. And so there, his identity became first subsumed into Ra (Ra-Herakhty), who still remained an identifiable figure in the Osiris cult, but ultimately, became merely an aspect of Horus.

In areas outside of Egypt where the Egyptians had previously brought the worship of Amun, his fate was not as dreadful. In Nubia, where his name was pronounced Amane, he remained the national god, with his priests at Meroe and Nobatia, via an oracle, regulating the whole government of the country, choosing the king, and directing his military expeditions. According to Diodorus Siculus, they were even able to compel kings to commit suicide, although this behaviour stopped when Arkamane, in the 3rd century B.C.E., slew them.

Likewise, in Libya there remained a solitary oracle of Amun in the Libyan Desert at the oasis of Siwa. Such was its reputation among the Greeks that Alexander the Great journeyed there after the battle of Issus and during his occupation of Egypt in order to be acknowledged the son of Amun. Even during this occupation, Amun, identified as a form of Zeus, continued to be the great god of Thebes throughout its decay.



Because of the adoration now given to Amun, visiting Greek travelers to Egypt would report back that Amun, king of the Egyptian gods, was one in the same, and therefore became identified with, the Greek king of the gods Zeus. As did Amun's consort Mut become associated with Zeus's consort Hera.

Derived terms

Several words derive from Amun via the Greek form Ammon: ammonia and ammonite. Ammonia, as well as being the chemical, is a genus name in the foraminifera. Both these foraminiferans (shelled Protozoa) and ammonites (extinct shelled cephalopods) have/had spiral shells resembling a ram's, and Ammon's, horns. The regions of the hippocampus in the brain are called the cornu ammonis – literally "Amun's Horns", due to the horned appearance of the dark and light bands of cellular layers. The religious term Amen is also said to originate from the time before the Exodus when the ancient Israelites were slaves in Egypt.[citation needed]

Notes

  1. This particular "cut-off" date has been chosen because it corresponds to the Persian conquest of the kingdom, which marks the end of its existence as a discrete and (relatively) circumscribed cultural sphere. Indeed, as this period also saw an influx of immigrants from Greece, it was also at this point that the Hellenization of Egyptian religion began. While some scholars suggest that even when "these beliefs became remodeled by contact with Greece, in essentials they remained what they had always been" (Erman, 203), it still seems reasonable to address these traditions, as far as is possible, within their own cultural milieu.
  2. The numerous inscriptions, stelae and papyri that resulted from this sudden stress on historical posterity provide much of the evidence used by modern archeologists and Egyptologists to approach the ancient Egyptian tradition (Pinch, 31-32).
  3. These local groupings often contained a particular number of deities and were often constructed around the incontestably primary character of a creator god (Meeks and Meeks-Favard, 34-37).
  4. Frankfort, 25-26.
  5. Zivie-Coche, 40-41; Frankfort, 23, 28-29.
  6. Frankfort, 20-21.
  7. Assmann, 73-80; Zivie-Coche, 65-67; Breasted argues that one source of this cyclical timeline was the dependable yearly fluctuations of the Nile (8, 22-24).
  8. Frankfort, 117-124; Zivie-Coche, 154-166.
  9. As Budge (1969: Vol. II) notes, "The word or root amen certainly means 'what is hidden,' 'what is not seen,' 'what cannot be seen,' and the like, and this fact is proved by the scores of examples which may be collected from texts of all periods. In hymns to Amen we often read that he is 'hidden to his children,' and 'hidden to gods and men' (2).
  10. Pinch, 100; Wilkinson, 92; W. Max Muller and Kaufmann Kohler, "Amon" in the Jewish Encyclopedia, retrieved August 13, 2007.
  11. See, for example, G. A. Wainwright's "The Origin of Amun," The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, Vol. 49. (Dec. 1963), pp. 21-23. 22.
  12. Pinch, 100.
  13. Budge (1969), Vol. II., 2.
  14. Pyramid Texts 446a-446d. Accessible online at: sacred-texts.com.
  15. Budge (1969), Vol. II, 1-2.
  16. More specifically, Amun, at least in the context of his Theban worshipers, came to be titled father of the gods, and was understood to precede the other gods of the Ogdoad, although remaining one of them (Wilkinson, 92-93).
  17. The ram form of the god, with its associated connotations of fertility, will be discussed in greater detail below.
  18. Pinch, 101.
  19. Wilkinson, 92; Pinch, 100.
  20. Wilkinson, 92; Budge (1969), Vol. II, 3-4. Zivie-Coche, 75-77. See also Brian Brown's The Wisdom of Egypt, 1923 (p. 119). Accessed online at: sacred-texts.com.
  21. F. Charles Fensham, "Widow, Orphan, and the Poor in Ancient near Eastern Legal and Wisdom Literature," Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 21, No. 2 (April 1962), 129-139. 133.
  22. Pinch, 100; Budge (1969), Vol. II, 4. This association with leadership is attested to in an inchoate form in the Pyramid Texts, where the office of the human ruler is metonymically described as "the throne of Amūn" (see Pyramid Texts 1540b).
  23. Budge (1969), Vol. II, 4-5.
  24. Pinch, 101.
  25. Budge (1969), Vol. II, 4-7; Pinch, 101-102; Wilkinson, 92-95.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

  • Assmann, Jan. In search for God in ancient Egypt. Translated by David Lorton. Ithica: Cornell University Press, 2001. ISBN 0801487293.
  • Breasted, James Henry. Development of religion and thought in ancient Egypt. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1986. ISBN 0812210454.
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis (translator). The Egyptian Book of the Dead. 1895. Accessed at sacred-texts.com.
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis (translator). The Egyptian Heaven and Hell. 1905. Accessed at [www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ehh.htm sacred-texts.com].
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis. The gods of the Egyptians; or, Studies in Egyptian mythology. A Study in Two Volumes. New York: Dover Publications, 1969.
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis (translator). Legends of the Gods: The Egyptian texts. 1912. Accessed at sacred-texts.com.
  • Budge, E. A. Wallis (translator). The Rosetta Stone. 1893, 1905. Accessed at sacred-texts.com.
  • Dennis, James Teackle (translator). The Burden of Isis. 1910. Accessed at sacred-texts.com.
  • Dunand, Françoise and Zivie-Coche, Christiane. Gods and men in Egypt: 3000 B.C.E. to 395 C.E.. Translated from the French by David Lorton. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004. ISBN 080144165X.
  • Erman, Adolf. A handbook of Egyptian religion. Translated by A. S. Griffith. London: Archibald Constable, 1907.
  • Frankfort, Henri. Ancient Egyptian Religion. New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1961. ISBN 0061300772.
  • Griffith, F. Ll. and Thompson, Herbert (translators). The Leyden Papyrus. 1904. Accessed at sacred-texts.com.
  • Klotz, David. Adoration of the Ram: Five Hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple. New Haven, 2006. ISBN 0974002526.
  • Larson, Martin A. The Story of Christian Origins. 1977. ISBN 0883310902.
  • Meeks, Dimitri and Meeks-Favard, Christine. Daily life of the Egyptian gods. Translated from the French by G.M. Goshgarian. Ithaca, NY : Cornell University Press, 1996. ISBN 0801431158.
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  • Pietschmann. "Ammon" and "Ammoneion" in August Pauly, Georg Wissowa, Wilhelm Kroll, Kurt Witte, Karl Mittelhaus, Konrat Ziegler, eds. Paulys Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft: neue Bearbeitung. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1894-1980.
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  • Shafer, Byron E. (editor). Temples of ancient Egypt. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. ISBN 0801433991.
  • Wilkinson, Richard H. The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. London: Thames and Hudson, 2003. ISBN 0500051208.

External links


Ankh Topics about Ancient Egypt edit Ankh
Places: Nile river | Niwt/Waset/Thebes | Alexandria | Annu/Iunu/Heliopolis | Luxor | Abdju/Abydos | Giza | Ineb Hedj/Memphis | Djanet/Tanis | Rosetta | Akhetaten/Amarna | Atef-Pehu/Fayyum | Abu/Yebu/Elephantine | Saqqara | Dahshur
Gods associated with the Ogdoad: Amun | Amunet | Huh/Hauhet | Kuk/Kauket | Nu/Naunet | Ra | Hor/Horus | Hathor | Anupu/Anubis | Mut
Gods of the Ennead: Atum | Shu | Tefnut | Geb | Nuit | Ausare/Osiris | Aset/Isis | Set | Nebet Het/Nephthys
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Writing: Egyptian hieroglyphs | Egyptian numerals | Transliteration of ancient Egyptian | Demotic | Hieratic
Chronology: Ancient Egypt | Greek and Roman Egypt | Early Arab Egypt | Ottoman Egypt | Muhammad Ali and his successors | Modern Egypt

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