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Amen
Alternatively Aman, Ammon, Amon, Amon-Ra, Amon-Re,
Amum, Atum, Am, Amen-Ra,
Amen-Ur, Amun-Re, Hammon, Niu, Zeus-Ammon and Jupiter-Ammon.
A god of ancient Egyptian religion, patron deity of
the city of Thebes, known as "The Hidden One," his image came to be painted blue, which
was the symbol of invisibility. In
Greece Amen was identified with
Zeus, and in Rome
with Jupiter, thus the names Jupiter-Ammon and Zeus-Ammon, under which he was worshipped at the
oasis of Siwah, in the Libyan desert — the famous sanctuary and
oracle Alexander the Great consulted
to "confirm" his divine lineage and to enhance his "Greek character" among his
soldiers.
Amen was the son of
Thoth and Maat, and his wife was Mut, with whom he had the son Khonsu, the
god of the moon.
Originally being a god of Thebes, or perhaps even earlier,
a god of Hermopolis, Amen was connected to reproduction in the representation
of a ram. In Thebes, Amen formed a triad with his wife and son, becoming the
patron of the pharaohs, and therefore a national god of Egypt. Later, in
Heliopolis, he came to be identified with the god Re or Ra, and the names of both
were united into Amen-Re or Amon-Ra.
At around the Twelfth Dynasty Amon-Ra
was elevated to the status of supreme god, the father of all gods, the creator
of every human being and all creatures. An ancient Theban inscription reads:
"The concealed spirit, a mystery for him whom he hath created, is Ammon
of the ancient of days, who is from the beginning, the creator of heaven,
earth, the depth, and the mountains".
The cult of Amon-Ra proved to be very powerful, and his
high priest came to be one of the most important persons of Egypt, rivaling
the power of the pharaohs. The largest temple structure for Amon-Ra was the
temple at Karnak (today Luxor).
See
Thoth,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1) Turner,
Patricia and Coulter, Charles R.,
Dictionary of Ancient Deities,
Oxford
University Press; (2) Faulkner, Raymond
(Translator),
The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of
Going Forth by Day, Chronicle Books; (3) Brace, C. Loring,
Unknown God or
Inspiration Among Pre-Christian Races, Kessinger Publishing.
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