It was a very unusual ancient Egyptian god. His name is translated as “hidden” or “secret”, and meanwhile the sun, the embodiment of which he was, shone over the heads of his admirers, accessible to all eyes. He was credited with extraordinary wisdom, but with the sacred animals personifying it he had a goose and a ram. As the local patron of Thebes, the capital of Upper Egypt, he extended his power throughout the country. God Amon is one of the central figures of the Egyptian pantheon.
The Divine Triad of Ancient Thebes
The god Amon was portrayed as a fantastic creature with a human body, and the head of an animal - most often the ram so beloved by him. Known, however, are images of a human head decorated with a crown with two high feathers. Usually the picture was supplemented by the sun disk as a symbol of the fact that Amon is the lord of this eternal star. In his hands was a cross with a noose signifying life. For a modern person, this appearance may seem to be meaningless, but for the ancient Egyptians it was full of concrete symbolism.
As mentioned above, Thebes was the main center of his veneration. Together with his wife, the sky-goddess Mut, and their son, the moon-god Khonsu, they made up the so-called Theban triad and were rightful arbiters of the fate of the city. True, some sources indicate that his wife was not Mut at all, but another goddess named Amaunet. Perhaps it was, but no one remembers exactly after the prescription of years.
The sun god who conquered the war
It was not easy for Amon to win the championship among the many other deities that lived in the upper Nile and claimed leadership. For example, during the period of the Middle Kingdom, that is, in the twenty-first century BC, when the 11th dynasty of the Pharaohs ruled in Egypt, the war god Montu persistently declared his rights. He was very formidable and could not stand the competition, but over time he either grew old, or simply relaxed, but after some one hundred fifty to two hundred years, during the reign of the next, the XII dynasty, Amon pressed him. In the beginning they were identified or, simply put, confused, but gradually the solar god Amon expelled the rude soldier and firmly took his place.
It must be said that in the same period, the previously reigning sun god Ra, also gradually losing ground. His name goes to the head of the Theban triad, which from now on is referred to as Amon-Ra.
Way to the top of power
More than two hundred years passed, and Amon-Ra was bored in his Thebes. I felt that I was capable of more. And here, even in the period of the Middle Kingdom , the fertility god Ming tried to enter into a struggle with him, so insistently that they were even identified for some time - they were so intertwined in a duel. But the god Amon defeated his rival, and he was forced to retire.
Soon, the sunny god smiled at unheard of luck. By the beginning of the sixteenth century BC, the center of the earthly political power of Egypt moved to the ancient Thebes. It was there that the rulers of the XVIII Theban dynasty founded their residence, and the god Amon immediately acquired the status of the king of all gods, and his cult became nation-wide.
The veneration and exaltation of the supreme deity
Whether he understood that he owed his exaltation to the game of chance, or attributed it exclusively to personal merits, is unknown, but only since then has Amon favorably listened to the servile choir, which has awarded him more and more new titles. He became both a creator god, and the ruler of the world, and in general - the height of perfection.
The priests of Amon went so far as to claim that the earthly rulers - the pharaohs - were born from a marriage between the queen mother and Amon himself, who was on her bed in the guise of a legitimate husband. Amon himself, although embarrassed by such details, was proud at heart, because the pharaoh was now considered his son, and therefore inferior to him in his greatness.
Accordingly, the status of his wife, the sky goddess Mut, also grew. She became the "first lady" of the divine pantheon and the other gods of Egypt bowed before her . Amon, with his son, the moon-god Khonsu, strictly followed everything that happened on the banks of the Nile. In Thebes he was erected the largest temple in Egypt, called Karnak. Once a year, during the festivities, the priests carried out a barge from the temple, on which towered the radiant Amon - the god of the sun and the ruler of the world. On this day, the pharaoh, who was considered, as was said, his son and living embodiment, on his behalf, but with his own mouth spoke the will of the deity and adjudicated.
Century-repeating finale
However, the happiness of those who acquired it by chance is not constant. Centuries passed, and in the fourteenth century BC, the reign of Theban dynasty ended. They were replaced by other masters, and the center of political power moved to another place. The time has come to declare oneself to the other gods and to overthrow the triad, accustomed to the supreme power, from the shining peaks: Amon, the goddess of heaven Mut and their firstborn, the moon god Khonsu. Again they became the rank and file of the Egyptian pantheon. This is an old story. It is repeated for as many centuries as the world exists. No government is everlasting.