Egyptians believed that eight deities, four gods and their consorts, who were identified as the Ogdoad, created the world, merging their powers together. Each pair represented the male and female aspects of the four creative powers or sources. They are the primeval waters; eternity; darkness and air. Amun and his consort Amunet, represented air. The air and wind could be felt but never seen or touched, making it an invisible source of power. The name Amun carries this invisibility of the power, since it means the hidden one" or "invisible".
Unlike other gods, the deities who are considered to be the Ogdoad, were not born. So Amun as well was not born, but was created by himself. He if often represented as a bearded man wearing a cap surmounted by two tall plumes made of red ostrich feathers. He also holds the ankh on one hand and the scepter on the other. But there are many other forms for the god as well. Among all Egyptian deities, Amun held a prominent place. He is referred to as the king of all gods. So he is considered as the Egyptian equivalent to the Greek god Zeus. He dominated the Egyptian dynasty and they even believed Amun to be the only god. This dominance could even be seen among priests. The priests of the temple of amun were even welcomed to the royal court to provide advice to pharaoh and the priests of Amun controlled an impressive proportion of Egyptian land and resources.
The popularity of Amun increased during the rule of “Ahmose-one”, who was a pharaoh and founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt, which is also identified as the first dynasty of the New Kingdom of Egypt, the era in which ancient Egypt achieved the peak of its power. “Ahmose-one” credited Amun for being able to defeat “Hyksos” rulers from Egypt. When the pharaoh started to worship Amun, the dynasty began to prosper and he attributed all of their successes to Amun. So people began to see Amun as the pharaoh’s invisible champion. Those who prayed to Amun were required first to demonstrate that they were worthy, by confessing their sins.
His worshipers considered Amun to be more than just the god of air. They worshiped him for guidance, protection, justice and much more. So along the way, Amun was merged with many gods as well. For example, the sun god Ra and Amun were seen as one deity. Thereafter, Amun was called Amun-Ra, to signify both the god’s capabilities. In the depictions of Amun-Ra, it could be seen the sun disc of god Ra sitting on head dress of the god. Amun-Ra was considered to be the father and protector of the pharaoh.
When Egypt conquered Kush, they identified the chief deity of the Kushites as Amun. This Kush deity was depicted with a ram-head with curved horns. So Amun got associated with the ram and depictions related to Amun sometimes had small ram's horns, known as the Horns of Ammon.
Such deviations of the god could be seen throughout the Egyptian dynasty. So Amun was a god who was constantly evolved, merging with gods, including foreign gods as well. The god was even considered to have the ability to communicate through oracles. But these oracles were rare, but when found, they are respected just as the deity and given the privilege to be the main advisor to the pharaoh. During the latter part of the eighteenth dynasty, the pharaoh Akhenaten tried to replace Amun with Aten, who personifies the disc of the sun. But his reign didn’t last long and as soon as he died, Amun priests took back their power. Akhenaten's name was struck from Egyptian records, all of his religious and governmental changes were undone as if he never existed. The priests of Amun even persuaded his young son, Tutankhaten, whose name meant, "the living image of Aten", to follow Amun. This led him to change his name from Tutankhaten, to Tutankhamun, which has the meaning, "the living image of Amun".
With all these facts, there is no doubt that Amun is one of the Egypt’s greatest deities of all time. Because of his powers and control over his fellow deities, the priests as well had the luxury to spread their dominance over the dynasty. Some even argue that the amun priests were more powerful than the pharaoh himself.
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