{{Otheruses}}
[[Image:Amun.svg|thumb|Amun was often depicted in human form with a tall crown]]
'''Amun''' (also spelled '''Amon''', '''Amoun''', '''Amen''', and rarely '''Imen''', [[Greek language|Greek]] Ἄμμων '''Ammon''', and Ἅμμων '''Hammon''', [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] Yamanu{{Fact|date=September 2007}}) 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.

{{Hiero|Amun|<hiero>i-mn:n-C12</hiero>|align=right|era=Egypt}}

==Origin of name==
Amun's name is first recorded in [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] records as ''{{Unicode|ỉmn}}'', meaning "The hidden (one)". Since vowels were not written in [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]], Egyptologists have reconstructed the name to have been pronounced {{Unicode|*Yamānu}} ({{IPA|/jamaːnu/}}) originally. The name survived in [[Coptic language|Coptic]] as {{Coptic|Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ}}, ''{{transl|cop|Amoun}}''.

==Creator==
[[Image:Amon och Mut, Nordisk familjebok.png|170px|thumb|left|Amun and Mut]]

Gradually, as god of air, he came to be associated with the ''breath of life'', which created the [[Egyptian soul|ba]], particularly in [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]]. By the [[First Intermediate Period]] this had led to him being thought of, in these areas, as the creator god, titled ''father of the gods'', preceding the [[Ogdoad]], although also part of it. As he became more significant, he was assigned a wife (Amunet being his own female aspect, more than a distinct wife), and since he was the creator, his wife was considered the divine mother from which the cosmos emerged, who in the areas where Amun was worshipped was, by this time, [[Mut]].

Amun became depicted in [[human]] form, seated on a throne, wearing on his head a plain deep circlet from which rise two straight parallel plumes, possibly symbolic of the tail [[feather]]s of a [[bird]], a reference to his earlier status as a wind god.

Having become more important than [[Menthu]], the local [[war]] [[god]] of Thebes, Menthu's authority became said to exist because he was the son of Amun. However, as Mut was infertile, it was believed that she, and thus Amun, had adopted Menthu instead. In later years, due to the shape of a pool outside the sacred temple of Mut at Thebes, Menthu was replaced, as their adopted son, by [[Chons]], the [[lunar deity|moon god]].

==King==
[[Image:Amun5.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Bas-relief depicting Amun as king.]]
[[Image:Chem.png|right|thumb|150px|Amun-Min]]
When the [[army|armies]] of the [[Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt|Eighteenth dynasty]] evicted the [[Hyksos]] rulers from Egypt, the victors' city of origin, 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.

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 and the same (and therefore became identified) with the Greek king of the gods, [[Zeus]]. Likewise, 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 fortunate]]. Consequently, Amun was viewed as upholding the rights of justice for the poor. By aiding those who traveled 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==
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.

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 [[Atenism|worship of the Aten]], a 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==
After the [[Twentieth dynasty of Egypt|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 of Egypt|Twenty-first dynasty]] the secondary line of priest kings of Thebes upheld his dignity to the best of their power, and the [[Twenty-second dynasty of Egypt|Twenty-second]] favoured Thebes.

[[Image:AmonRaMummy.jpg|left|thumb|200px|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 heretical 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 BC]], [[slaughter|slew]] them.

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.

==Derived terms==
Several words derive from Amun via the Greek form Ammon: [[ammonia]] and [[ammonite]]. The Romans called the [[ammonium chloride]] deposits they collected from near the Temple of Jupiter Amun in [[ancient Libya]] 'sal ammoniacus' (salt of Amun) because of proximity to the nearby temple<ref>{{cite web | title = Ammonia | work = h2g2 Eponyms | publisher = BBB.CO.UK | date = January 11, 2003 | url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A632990| accessdate = 2007-11-08 }}</ref>. Ammonia, as well as being the chemical, is a genus name in the [[foraminifera]]. Both these foraminiferans (shelled [[Protozoa]]) and ammonites (extinct shelled [[cephalopod]]s) 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]] &ndash; literally "Amun's Horns", due to the horned appearance of the dark and light bands of cellular layers.

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{1911}}
*[[Adolf Erman]], ''Handbook of Egyptian Religion'' (London, 1907)
*[[David Klotz]], ''Adoration of the Ram: Five Hymns to Amun-Re from Hibis Temple'' (New Haven, 2006)
*[[Ed. Meyer]], article "Ammon" in [[W. H. Roscher]]'s ''Lexikon der griechischen und römischen Mythologie''
*[[Pietschmann]], articles "Ammon" and "Ammoneion" in [[Pauly-Wissowa]], ''Realencyclopädie.''

==External links==
* [http://www.egyptianmyths.net/amon.htm Ancient Egypt: the Mythology] - Amon
*[http://www.ancientlibrary.com/wcd/Ammon Wiki Classical Dictionary: Ammon]
*[http://www.maat.sofiatopia.org/amun.htm Leiden Hymns to Amun]
*[http://www.freewebs.comamericanunderground/amun.htm Leiden Hymns to Amun]
*[http://cf.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=0528&version=NIV Strong's H0528 Amon in the Bible]

[[Category:Egyptian gods]]
[[Category:Solar gods]]
[[Category:Fertility gods]]
[[Category:Sky and weather gods]]
[[Category:Deities in the Hebrew Bible]]

{{Ancient Egypt}}

[[ar:أمون]]
[[be:Амон]]
[[bg:Амон]]
[[ca:Ammon]]
[[cs:Amon]]
[[da:Amon]]
[[de:Amun]]
[[et:Amon]]
[[el:Άμων]]
[[es:Amón (mitología)]]
[[eu:Amon]]
[[fr:Amon]]
[[gl:Amón]]
[[ko:아문]]
[[hi:अमुन]]
[[hr:Amon]]
[[it:Amon]]
[[ka:ამონი]]
[[la:Amun]]
[[lt:Amonas]]
[[hu:Ámon]]
[[ms:Amun]]
[[nl:Amon (mythologie)]]
[[ja:アメン]]
[[pl:Amon (bóg egipski)]]
[[pt:Amon]]
[[ro:Ammon]]
[[ru:Амон]]
[[simple:Amun]]
[[sk:Amón]]
[[sl:Amon]]
[[sh:Amun]]
[[fi:Amon]]
[[sv:Amon]]
[[tr:Amun]]
[[uk:Амон]]
[[zh:阿蒙]]