Amun

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Amun in hieroglyphics
ideogram
C12
or
O25
Old empire
M17 Y5
N35

Amun
Jmn
the hidden one
or
with  determinative
M17 Y5
N35
A40
ditto too
M17 Y5
N35 		C12

Greek Ἀμοῦν Amū̂n ( acc .), Ἄμμων Ámmōn
Bohair Coptic table ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ
(Amun)
In cuneiform tradition amâna / amûnu
Amun.svg
Amun
Karnak temple, Great Hall of Columns 9512.JPG
Amun in the great pillared hall in Karnak

Amun (also Amon, Amoun, Ammon, Hammon, Amen or more rarely Imenand ) is the wind and fertility god of the ancient Egyptian religion . Amun is not to be confused with Ameni, an epithet of Re .

origin

Amun has been recorded together with Amaunet since the Old Kingdom : "Amun and Amaunet protect their gods with their shadow". In the 11th dynasty he rose to become the local deity of Thebes . After the Hermonthen family had won the civil war of the First Intermediate Period , they tried to give Thebes sufficient legitimation.

At the beginning of the 12th dynasty , the new capital Thebes was moved to the north. After the relocation of Thebes, Sesostris I expanded the temple of Amun built there.

Deity with a ram's head, probably Amun, in the Louvre

presentation

In the pre- Amarna period, Amun was represented as a person with a crown and staff. In the post-Amarna period with blue skin and a double crown of two upright peacock feathers.

The blue skin is said to symbolize the air and creation. The people worshiped him in his original version as a ram , god of flocks and pastures and their fertility.

Reclining rams on pedestals lined the paths to the temple in Karnak , for example . Sometimes he was depicted in human form with a ram's head.

Daily sacrificial ritual

The following daily sacrificial ritual was performed for Amun in Karnak during the New Kingdom:

  1. Leaving the sanctuary , then breaking the false seal and pulling back the door latch, opening the false door
  2. Setting up the fire basin, then burning incense and fat
  3. Preparing the grilled meat and the skewer
  4. Heating up the embers with a fan, then deglazing with beer
  5. Offering white bread, pastries, beer, wine and milk
  6. Purification of the divine offering with the first libation and incense
  7. Second libation and greeting with the Nemset jug
  8. Incense and myrrh incense
  9. Presentation of the daily normal menu
  10. Calling out the sacrifice and arranging the offering table and libations
  11. Burning the myrrh and conjuring up the god
  12. Closing the false door
  13. Summoning the god and calling out the sacrifice, sprinkling the walls with water
  14. Call to the gods, blurring the footprint and locking the false door
  15. Libation and incense for Re
  16. Preparation of the sacrificial circulation: preparing the altar of the kings
  17. Return to Sanctuary for the Sacrifice Circulation
  18. Libation and incense after diverting the offerings
  19. Illuminate the sanctuary with a torch, then extinguish the torch
  20. Conjuration of the offerings and evening singing

covers

In Thebes, the local goddess Mut and the couple's son, the bird-headed moon god Chons , was worshiped as the wife of Amun .

Importance to other peoples

Stele of Amun in three forms (human, goose, ram) (late period, 25th Dynasty, around 700 BC; place of discovery: Abydos , today Egyptian Museum Berlin )

The Greeks identified Amun with Zeus , the Romans later with Jupiter . So the Amun cult remained for some time after the fall of the Egyptian Empire. After his trip to the Amunoracle in the Siwa Oasis, Alexander the Great was partially identified with Amun and also depicted with ram horns.

In Greek mythology

Amonskopf as the ridge cap of a grave building (CSIR II / 5, 605), courtyard of the Hollenburg, municipality of Köttmannsdorf, Carinthia, Austria

Amun was a fabulous king of Libya. He had Rhea , the daughter of Uranus and sister of Kronos , as his wife.

Later he was unfaithful to his wife with Amaltheia . This gave birth to their son Bacchus , whom they had to withdraw from Hera's jealousy and therefore brought to Nysa (a mythical mountain). Here the child was given the name Dio-Nysus ( Dionysus ) and was raised by nymphs . After his death, Amun was accepted among the gods.

Amun in Nubia

Amun was one of the most important gods in Nubia . Its original Nubian shape was that of a ram. A sun deity in the shape of an aries can already be demonstrated for the Nubia of the scriptless Kerma culture . The ram shape was then adopted by the Egyptians after the conquest of Nubia. In later times Amun was called Amani in the Meroitic language , the language of Nubia. The name Amani was also found in numerous Nubian personal names such as Tanwetamani , Senkamanisken Anlamani , Arkamani, Amanitore , Amanishakheto or Natakamani . The Nubian Amun had many different manifestations, which can be identified by certain identity-forming crowns. Well-known forms are:

  • the Amun of Naga , who also wore the crown of Amun of Napata in Meroitic times,
  • the Amun of Kawa , whose nickname was "lion over the south", who was an ancient lion god and who could appear both as a ram and as a lion in Meroitic times,
  • and Amun of Thebes , also venerated in Nubia, who was venerated in Napata with his consort Mut and his son Chons .

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: Amon  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations
Commons : Amun  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Pyramid text 446c – 446d . On: lib.uchicago.edu ; Retrieved June 13, 2014.