Amun

 

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Egyptian Gods

Amun

Amun

God generally associated with the vent and with all things hidden. In Thebes he became known as Amun Ra, king of the Gods and was part of the Theban Triad together with Mut and Khonsu.

God generally associated with the vent and with all things hidden. In Thebes he became known as Amun Ra, king of the Gods and was part of the Theban Triad together with Mut and Khonsu.

Amun, a primitive god whose shadow protected the other gods, was already mentioned the Pyramid Texts (5th dynasty). His female counterpart was Amunet and he was often also associated with invisibility. He was considered, by the ancients, to be behind, and within, everything; a deity too complex to be given just one name or to be depicted in his true form. It is for this reason that at the time, Amun bore no name, but was instead described in phrases: 'He who inhabits everything', 'Hidden of appearance, mysterious of form' and 'Ba (individual personality) of everything.'

Being behind the creation of the entire cosmos, the other deities knew nothing of his true from. He was at times depicted as a goose of the Nile, which may have its origins in the myth of the Creation; the goose who carried the egg from which all life was born and who designated Amun as God creator.

Another frequent image of Amun shows him in the form of a human, seated on a throne with two large feathers on his head. His skin is blue like the highly sought-after and semi-precious stone lapis lazuli and he is wearing a short kilt. God of the Egyptian Gods, he is revered at Karnak.

As well as being God of the wind, it is he who created the Gods, humans and everything else. Genitor of the king, it is he who enthrones him. Born from nothing in a small village, Amun has neither a mother nor a father. His name means 'hidden', this, even though he is the master of the universe. It was the priests of Thebes who gave unto this local god a unique dimension by associating him to other Gods; Amun Ra and Amun Min. In Thebes he has as a wife, Mut, with whom he has one son, Khonsu. The Theban clergy, by a game of influence and power battles, gradually imposed themselves upon their God, faced with other Gods of the Creation who had appeared from the very beginning (Ra, Ptah...)

Amun is represented in the form of a human wearing a crown of high feathers or with the head of a ram, Amun's sacred animal. His cult is omnipresent not only through the temples which are dedicated to him, but also by means of celebrated festivals, such as that of Opet. Between 1351 and 1334 BC, during the reign of Amenhotep IV (Akhenaten), Amun would be replaced by Aton (the disk of the sun) who asserts himself as unique God. The name and representations of Amun would be carved into temples and tombs and his cult, as well as that of the other Gods, would be restored by Tutankhamun.

The two large feathers of his crown elevated him to the rank of divinity reigning over the sky and it was said of him that he was as invisible as the wind.
Category : Egyptian Gods
items Date : 01/08/2009
Author of items : Charles Rossignol