Introduction - Egyptian God Amun
It was common for the importance of ancient Egyptian gods to change throughout the history of ancient Egypt. This was certainly the case with Amun (also spelled Ammon, Amon, or Amen) who was a relatively unimportant Theban god but would eventually be worshipped as the king of the gods in ancient Egypt. On this page we list interesting facts about this Egyptian deity; information including how he came to be ancient Egypt's main god, where he was worshiped, and how the Egyptian people worshipped him. Whether you are a kid writing a school paper or an adult who wants to learn more about the Egyptian God Amun this page should be helpful to you.Click here for a great selection of Amazon.com books about the ancient Egyptian Gods.
List of Facts about the Egyptian God Amun
- The worship of Amun first appears in ancient Egypt's Old Kingdom (2686 - 2181 BC) where he is regarded as a relatively minor god.
- In the 11th dynasty the importance of Amun rose to a point where he became more important than the god Montu.
- Amun began to be worshipped as the king of all gods sometime after the 12th Dynasty.
- He was considered to be primordial; meaning believed to have existed from the beginning of time. This is written in the Pyramid Texts which are a collection of ancient Egyptian text dating to the Old Kingdom.
- Amun had a consort (companion god) the goddess Amunet (also spelled Amaunet or Amonet); meaning "female hidden one". This is the feminine form of Amun's name. The people of ancient Egypt often paired male gods with female gods. Usually nothing other than gender distinguished the male god from the female goddess; in fact the females name was usually just the feminine form of the male name.
- The ancient Egyptians depicted Amun in many forms including as a goose, frog, a Uraeus (cobra symbolizing royalty), crocodile, and most frequently as a ram or as a man with the head of a ram.
- Numerous buildings were erected in ancient Egypt in order to honor Amun. In fact the largest religious complex ever built, the temple of Karnak, was built by the ancient Egyptians to honor the Theban Triad, to which Amun belonged.
- In the isolated town of Siwa in the Egyptian desert stands the remains of a Temple built to honor Amun Ra which is believed to be about 3,000 years old.
- Amun, along with his consort Mut and their son Khonsu, was a member of the Theban Triad; the three highest revered gods in Thebes.
- This god's name translates to the Hidden One and to portray this the ancient Egyptians would paint images of him in blue which to them represented invisibility.
- The god Amun along with his consort the goddess Amunet were members of the Ogdoad. The Ogdoad were a group of eight gods worshipped at the ancient site of Hermopolis during the Old Kingdom.
- With the establishment of Egypt's 18th Dynasty this ancient civilization was liberated from the Hyksos and the New Kingdom was ushered in. With the New Kingdom the gods Ra and Amun were joined into the god Amun-Ra.