Amun-Re
| Amun-Re in hieroglyphics | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ideogram |
|
||||||||||||
| Middle realm |
|
||||||||||||
| New kingdom |
|
||||||||||||
| Greco-Roman time |
Amun-Re, Amen-Re Jmn-Rˁ Re , the hidden one |
||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||
As the ancient Egyptian "King of the Gods", Amun-Re combines the properties of Re , Min and Amun . This makes him the god of sun , wind and fertility in ancient Egyptian religion .
background
Amun-Re is documented for the first time in the 11th dynasty under Mentuhotep II in his mortuary temple . The chapel for his new cult was built in his honor. In order to assert themselves against the strong reverence of the Old Kingdom , the priests Amun and Re moved together to form Amun-Re. Amun was often worshiped as the "Re whom one worships in Karnak".
His synonym “breath of life for all things” goes back to the Old Kingdom. The "world chamber" and the " Obelisk room " of the sun sanctuary of Niuserre was the center of the then re-cult in connection to the gods Re and Min. At the same time stood creation motif in transfer to the ruling king in the center, whose former role as "executors of creation “United the characters of Re and Min.
In the New Kingdom he became the main god as "King of the gods and lord of the thrones of both countries". Under Amenhotep IV the veneration of Amun-Re decreased; Whether as a result of a short-term monolatry ( Aton ) or the spatial separation of pharaoh and elite is not unanimously clarified in the research world.
presentation
Since the Middle Kingdom, Amun-Re of Thebes appeared in the three special forms " Amun-Re, Lord of Karnak ", " Amun-Re, Lord of Luxor " and " Amun-Re-Kamutef ". The iconographic representation initially symbolized the attributes of Min and Amun. Mostly Amun-Re wears the double feather crown, which is held by a headband. Behind his back is the raised arm with a scourge , a symbol of the subjugation of the enemies of Egypt.
The at that time further equation with Min-Amun is attested for the first time from the course of the Second Intermediate Period , which was followed in the New Kingdom by the addition of Kamutef to Amun-Re-Min-Kamutef. Its iconographic representation expanded accordingly with the Temple of Min and the plants of the lettuce garden . In the early 18th dynasty , the Min tent was finally shown .
More functions
At the latest under Hatshepsut , Amun-Re took control of the first Peret month in the lunar calendar as a chronocrat . With this step a further connection was established to Niuserre in the 5th dynasty , who celebrated the Sedfest in his time with sunrise on the first new moon day in the first Peret month.
In the mortuary temple of Seti I , Amun-Re bears the name "First of the Ninth of Heliopolis , who is in the middle of the mortuary temple of Seti I." This title refers to the old creator deity Atum , who was replaced by Re in the 6th Dynasty as the new head of the Ninth in Heliopolis .
Temple of Amun-Re in Karnak
The temple of Amun-Re in Karnak was the largest and richest in the empire. Ultimately, Re ruled in the mask of Amun until the end of the Pharaonic era. With the destruction of Thebes in 663 BC However, through the Assyrians , Osiris rose to become the main god, who now assumed the office of chronocrat over the first Peret month of Tybi .
Osiris in the role of Amun-Re
In Greco-Roman times , the 29th Choiak was added as a Kikellia festival in the course of the Osiris Mysteries . For the Ptolemies , the celebrations in the context of the Osiris Mysteries were the most important holidays.
On the evening of the first day of the month of Tybi, the Horus festival began with the opening of the Peret season , during which the procreation of Horus was celebrated. The day before, on the evening of the 30th Choiak, the Osiris festival opened the rebirth cycle that the Egyptians started with processions of the resurrection from the evening of the 29th Choiak to the first rays of sunshine of the 1st Tybi in all temples with the entering of the holy ones Bark of Osiris celebrated and after sunrise on 1st Tybi continued with the Horus festival in the evening.
Mention in the Bible
In the Bible (Jer 46, 25; Nah 3, 8) Amun-Re is mentioned as Amon from No-Amon. The prophet Jeremiah foretells the destruction of Amun by the God of Israel.
See also
literature
- Jan Assmann: Re and Amun. The crisis of the polytheistic worldview in Egypt of the 18th-20th centuries Dynasty, OBO 51, Friborg and Göttingen 1983
- Christian Leitz u. a .: Lexicon of the Egyptian gods and names of gods . Vol. 1: 3 - y. Peeters, Leuven 2002, ISBN 2-87723-644-7 , pp. 335-336.
- Maria M. Luiselli: The Amun-Re Hymn of P. Boulaq 17 (P. Kairo CG 58038). Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden 2004, ISBN 3-447-04841-7 .
- Herbert Ricke : The Kamutef Shrine Hatshepsut and Thutmoses' III. in Karnak. Report on an excavation in front of the mother temple district. Swiss Institute for Egyptian Building Research and Antiquity, Cairo 1954.
- Siegfried Schott : Ancient Egyptian festival dates. Publishing house of the Academy of Sciences and Literature, Mainz / Wiesbaden 1950.
- Susanne Voss : Investigations into the sun sanctuaries of the 5th dynasty. Significance and function of a singular temple type in the Old Kingdom. Hamburg 2004 (also: dissertation, University of Hamburg 2000) ( PDF; 2.5 MB ).
