Terms

Description of Amon Ra. Amon is the father of the gods and pharaohs. Door to a parallel world

- (ìmn, lit. "hidden", "hidden"), in Egyptian mythology, the god of the sun. The center of the cult of A. Thebes, whose patron he was considered. Sacred animal A. ram. Usually A. was depicted as a man (sometimes with a ram's head) in a crown with two high ... Encyclopedia of mythology

amon- (Ammon) (reliable, faithful (see Amen)): 1) the governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab (1 Kings 22:26; 2 Chronicles 18:25); 2) the son and heir of Judas. King Manasseh (641-640 BC). He came to the throne at the age of 22 and reigned for only 2 years, continuing ... ... Brockhaus Bible Encyclopedia

AMON- in ancient Egyptian mythology, the patron god of Thebes, gradually began to be identified with the supreme god Ra (Amon Ra) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

amon- the ancient Egyptian god of fertility, originally local (in Thebes); later the god of light, likened to the sun god Re (or Ra) and equally revered. Hence A. = Re. Over time, A. became the main god of Egypt. The cult of A. "king of the gods" flourished in ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

amon- Ra Dictionary of Russian synonyms. amon n., number of synonyms: 2 god (375) ra (4) ... Synonym dictionary

amonite- 1st name of the human genus vikopny molusk amonit 2nd name of the human genus vibukhov speech ...

AMON- AMON, in Egyptian mythology, the god of the sun, the patron of the city of Thebes. Revered in the form of a ram ... Modern Encyclopedia

amon- (m) Hidden Egyptian names. Meaning Dictionary... Dictionary of personal names

amon- the biblical name of the Egyptian main deity Osiris and the city of Thebes dedicated to his cult (Ifp. XLVI, 25; Avak. III, 8). Philologists are trying to find the root of this name in the Egyptian language and hieroglyphs and are looking for different meanings for it, but ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

ammoniyak- ammoniac (barrel-free gas with a strong odor), smoridets, amia[i]k ... Glossary of synonyms of Ukrainian language

ammoniac- the name of a human family ... Spelling Dictionary of Ukrainian Movies

Books

Board game "Amon-Ra" (8977) , . Pharaohs live and disappear in the boundless Nile, which bestows its benefits on farmers, and only the pyramids are eternal. Every ruler wants to go down in history and invests in the most successful for ... Buy for 7504 rubles
Song of great love Warrior of Light Salome Amon-Ra set of 3 books, Amonashvili Sh. Book 1. Song of Great Love. Amon-Ra. The legend of the stone.. The atmosphere of the book of the famous scientist, teacher, writer, academician Sh.

Originally - one of the patrons of Thebes

Egyptian god Amon at first he was revered as one of the patrons of the city of Thebes, the deity of air and harvest. However, during the period of the XII dynasty (20-18 centuries BC), he supplanted (replaced) as the main patron of the city of Montu.

With the growth of the power of Thebes, the influence of Amun also grew. The goddess of the sky Mut began to be considered the wife of the deity.

The divine couple had one child - Khonsu, the deity of the Moon. Together they formed the Theban triad: Amon - Mut - Khonsu.

During the Middle Kingdom, the fertility deity Ming is identified with him. In this case, Amon is depicted with an erect phallus characteristic of Ming images.

In the era of the XVIII dynasty of the New Kingdom (16-14 centuries BC), he merged with the sun god Ra into a single deity, receiving the name Amon-Ra, which first occurs « Pyramid Texts » , that is, even in the days of the Old Kingdom.

King of all the gods of Egypt

God Amon-Ra becomes the head of the entire Egyptian divine pantheon under the pharaohs of the New Kingdom, who were sure that it was this deity that helped them win military victories (in particular, he helped Ahmose I drive the Hyksos out of Egypt) and supported him in every possible way. Invisibly (which follows from his very name) all deities, people and objects exist in him.

During this period, the image of Amon is identified and merged with the images of other divine beings: Horus, Hapi, Nun, Ptah, Khepri, Sebek, Khnum and others. He was revered as a wise, omniscient, "king of all gods", heavenly intercessor, defender of the oppressed, creator of the world.

The deification of the pharaoh is inextricably linked with his cult, since the pharaoh was revered as his son in the flesh (the pharaoh is born from the marriage of a deity and a queen mother, to whom he appears in the form of her husband).

Pharaohs sometimes bore names that included the name of their divine father - Amenemhat, Amenhotep. He provided great patronage and protection to the pharaoh.

Numerous temples were built in honor of him, the most grandiose in Luxor and Karnak. The majestic remains of these temples still amaze the imagination. For example, Temple of Amun in Karnak covers an area of 260,000 square meters. meters! During the "beautiful festival of the valley" - a holiday dedicated to this deity, from this temple, with a large gathering of people (80,000 people could fit in the temple alone!) They solemnly carried out a statue of a deity mounted on a boat. Egyptian god Amon Ra with the help of the priests, he expressed his will on that day, predicted the future, and made decisions on difficult issues.

Iconography of Amun

His sacred animal is the ram and the goose (both symbols of wisdom). In front of the temple at Karnak there is a whole alley lined with huge statues with a lion's body, but with a ram's head, guarding the pharaohs, standing between their front paws.

Usually he was depicted as a man (sometimes with a ram's head), with a scepter and a crown, with two high feathers and a solar disk. Its flesh was often stained with lapis lazuli, which gave the body a blue color. On the one hand, such a coloring emphasized his heavenly status, on the other hand, the Egyptians believed that it was such an expensive paint that was brought to Egypt from afar that was worthy of decorating such a great deity.

Each of the two feathers on the headdress is divided vertically into two sections. This duality reflects the balance of opposites characteristic of the Egyptian worldview, for example, Upper and Lower Egypt, etc. Also, each pen was divided into segments by horizontal stripes. Their number was not random. Most often, there are seven segments, since this figure is one of the most significant in the religious worldview of the ancient Egyptians.

Amun in Egyptian mythology is the hidden god of heaven. The ram and the goose (symbols of wisdom) are the sacred animals of Amun. From the era of the Middle Kingdom, he was depicted in an anthropomorphic appearance and with feathers on his headdress, borrowed from the god of fertility Min (Koptos). Amon is originally the local god of Thebes. In addition to this local cult, Amon was also considered one of the hidden deities of the Germanic Ogdoad, being paired with his female hypostasis (Amaunet). The mythological elaboration of the image of Amun is scarce. It was believed that his wife was Mut, although in earlier sources Useret appeared in this capacity (as for Amaunet, she was only the female incarnation of Amun and did not have her own image). The moon god Khonsu was the son of Amon and Mut. Amun, Mut and Khonsu together made up the Theban triad. In connection with the connection with Ming, the epithet "Kamutef" was attached to him.

Amon-Ra
in hieroglyphs

The reign of the XVIII dynasty was marked by the erection of grandiose temples to Amun in Karnak and Luxor, which reached special heights under Hatshepsut, Amenhotep III and Ramesses II.

After the failure of the pharaoh Akhenaten's attempt to ban the veneration of Amun and introduce in return the cult of Aten, close to monotheism, his successors, Aye and Horemheb, restored the cults of ancient deities led by Amon-Ra. As a result, the position of the Theban priests only strengthened, which led to the actual establishment of theocracy under the last Ramessides (XX dynasty) and the accession to the throne of Herihor, the high priest of Amun.

Amun in Kush

As a result of the conquest of Nubia (Kush) by Egypt, the supreme deity of the Kushites was finally identified with Amun during the 18th dynasty. As a result, by the 1st millennium BC. e. the cult of Amun in these former southern possessions of Egypt became even more centralized than in Upper Egypt itself, where Isis and Horus are becoming more popular. The sacred city of Amun in Nubia was its first capital, Napata.

Received a name from a shepherd who erected a temple in Libya. According to another story, Dionysus in India (that is, Ethiopia) was looking for water and did not find it, a ram came out of the sand and showed water. Then Dionysus asked Zeus to include the ram among the constellations. Where water was found, Dionysus built a temple to Zeus Amun

The oracle of Amun broadcast that Andromeda should be given to be eaten by a monster.

It is known that the oracle of Amon, located in the Siwa oasis in the Libyan desert, was visited by Alexander the Great, who recaptured Egypt from the Persians, the oracle called Alexander the son of "Zeus-Ammon", which gave him confidence in his own divinity.

Rationalist interpretation

Eponyms

Some terms (eponyms) in modern languages come from the name of Amon, which came down through the Greek language in the form "Ammon".

In particular, it is the name of extinct ammonite cephalopods, whose spiral shells resemble the ram's horns with which this god was sometimes depicted.

Another example is ammonia, whose name is derived from the Latin expression sal ammoniacus("salt of Amun"), since ammonium chloride could be mined near the temple of Amun in the Libyan oasis of Siwa. In a hot climate, urea (NH 2) 2 CO, contained in the waste products of animals (in particular, caravan camels passing through an oasis that was an important crossroads of trade routes), decomposes especially quickly. One of the degradation products is ammonia. According to other sources, ammonia got its name from the ancient Egyptian word for people who worship the god Amun. During their ritual rites, they sniffed ammonia NH 4 Cl, which, when heated, evaporates ammonia.

Pierre got out of the carriage and, past the working militias, ascended the mound from which, as the doctor told him, the battlefield was visible.
It was eleven o'clock in the morning. The sun stood somewhat to the left and behind Pierre and brightly illuminated through the clean, rare air the huge panorama that opened before him like an amphitheater along the rising terrain.
Up and to the left along this amphitheater, cutting through it, the great Smolenskaya road wound, going through a village with a white church, lying five hundred paces in front of the mound and below it (this was Borodino). The road crossed under the village across the bridge and through the descents and ascents wound higher and higher to the village of Valuev, which could be seen six miles away (Napoleon was now standing in it). Behind Valuev, the road was hidden in a yellowed forest on the horizon. In this forest, birch and spruce, to the right of the direction of the road, a distant cross and the bell tower of the Kolotsky Monastery glittered in the sun. Throughout this blue distance, to the right and left of the forest and the road, in different places one could see smoking fires and indefinite masses of our and enemy troops. To the right, along the course of the Kolocha and Moskva rivers, the area was ravine and mountainous. Between their gorges, the villages of Bezzubovo and Zakharyino could be seen in the distance. To the left, the terrain was more even, there were fields with grain, and one could see one smoking, burned village - Semenovskaya.
Everything that Pierre saw to the right and to the left was so indefinite that neither the left nor the right side of the field fully satisfied his idea. Everywhere there was not a share of the battle that he expected to see, but fields, clearings, troops, forests, smoke from fires, villages, mounds, streams; and no matter how much Pierre disassembled, he could not find positions in this living area and could not even distinguish your troops from the enemy.
“We must ask someone who knows,” he thought, and turned to the officer, who was looking with curiosity at his unmilitary huge figure.
“Let me ask,” Pierre turned to the officer, “which village is ahead?”
- Burdino or what? – said the officer, addressing his comrade with a question.
- Borodino, - correcting, answered the other.
The officer, apparently pleased with the opportunity to talk, moved towards Pierre.
Are ours there? Pierre asked.
“Yes, and the French are farther away,” said the officer. “There they are, they are visible.
- Where? where? Pierre asked.
- You can see it with the naked eye. Yes, here, here! The officer pointed with his hand at the smoke visible to the left across the river, and on his face appeared that stern and serious expression that Pierre had seen on many faces he met.
Oh, it's French! And there? .. - Pierre pointed to the left at the mound, near which troops were visible.
- These are ours.
- Ah, ours! And there? .. - Pierre pointed to another distant mound with a large tree, near the village, visible in the gorge, near which fires were also smoking and something blackened.
"It's him again," the officer said. (It was the Shevardinsky redoubt.) - Yesterday was ours, and now it's his.
So what is our position?
- Position? said the officer with a smile of pleasure. - I can tell you this clearly, because I built almost all of our fortifications. Here, you see, our center is in Borodino, right here. He pointed to a village with a white church in front. - There is a crossing over the Kolocha. Here, you see, where rows of cut hay lie in the lowlands, here is the bridge. This is our center. Our right flank is where (he pointed steeply to the right, far into the gorge), there is the Moskva River, and there we built three very strong redoubts. The left flank ... - and then the officer stopped. - You see, it's hard to explain to you ... Yesterday our left flank was right there, in Shevardin, over there, you see where the oak is; and now we have taken back the left wing, now out, out - see the village and the smoke? - This is Semenovskoye, yes here, - he pointed to the mound of Raevsky. “But it’s unlikely that there will be a battle here. That he moved troops here is a hoax; he, right, will go around to the right of Moscow. Well, yes, wherever it is, we will not count many tomorrow! the officer said.
The old non-commissioned officer, who approached the officer during his story, silently waited for the end of his superior's speech; but at this point he, obviously dissatisfied with the words of the officer, interrupted him.
“You have to go for tours,” he said sternly.
The officer seemed to be embarrassed, as if he realized that one could think about how many people would be missing tomorrow, but one should not talk about it.
“Well, yes, send the third company again,” the officer said hastily.
“And what are you, not one of the doctors?”
“No, I am,” Pierre answered. And Pierre went downhill again past the militia.
- Ah, the damned! - said the officer following him, pinching his nose and running past the workers.
- There they are! .. They are carrying, they are coming ... There they are ... now they will come in ... - suddenly voices were heard, and officers, soldiers and militias ran forward along the road.
A church procession rose from under the mountain from Borodino. Ahead of all, along the dusty road, the infantry marched harmoniously with their shakos removed and their guns lowered down. Church singing was heard behind the infantry.

- (Ammon) (reliable, faithful (see Amen)): 1) the governor of Samaria in the time of Ahab (1 Kings 22:26; 2 Chronicles 18:25); 2) the son and heir of Judas. King Manasseh (641-640 BC). He came to the throne at the age of 22 and reigned for only 2 years, continuing ... ... Brockhaus Bible Encyclopedia

In ancient Egyptian mythology, the patron god of Thebes gradually began to be identified with the supreme god Ra (Amon Ra) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Ancient Egyptian god of fertility, originally local (in Thebes); later the god of light, likened to the sun god Re (or Ra) and equally revered. Hence A. = Re. Over time, A. became the main god of Egypt. The cult of A. "king of the gods" flourished in ... ... Literary Encyclopedia

Ra Dictionary of Russian synonyms. amon n., number of synonyms: 2 god (375) ra (4) ... Synonym dictionary

amonite- 1st name of the human genus vikopny molusk amonit 2nd name of the human genus vibukhov speech ...

AMON, in Egyptian mythology, the god of the sun, the patron of the city of Thebes. Revered in the form of a ram ... Modern Encyclopedia

- (m) Hidden Egyptian names. Meaning Dictionary... Dictionary of personal names

The biblical name of the Egyptian main deity Osiris and the city of Thebes dedicated to his cult (Ifp. XLVI, 25; Avak. III, 8). Philologists are trying to find the root of this name in the Egyptian language and hieroglyphs and are looking for different meanings for it, but ... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

ammoniyak- ammoniac (barrel-free gas with a strong odor), smoridets, amia[i]k ... Glossary of synonyms of Ukrainian language

ammoniac- the name of a human family ... Spelling Dictionary of Ukrainian Movies

Books

Board game "Amon-Ra" (8977) , . Pharaohs live and disappear in the boundless Nile, which bestows its benefits on farmers, and only the pyramids are eternal. Every ruler wants to go down in history and invests in the most successful for ...
Song of great love Warrior of Light Salome Amon-Ra set of 3 books, Amonashvili Sh. Book 1. Song of Great Love. Amon-Ra. The legend of the stone.. The atmosphere of the book of the famous scientist, teacher, writer, academician Sh.

"Think of nothing but entertainment, because soon it will be your turn to go to the realm of the dead" (John M. White, "The Gods and Men of Ancient Egypt").

Gods of the Sun

In paganism, there is a special reverence for the gods of the Sun. A variety of cultures erected them on a pedestal, realizing already in those distant and dark times that without the sun there is no life. It warms, marks the beginning of a new day, contributes to the growth of the crop. The sun gods were considered the supreme demiurges, the forefathers of all gods. And Ancient Egypt was distinguished by special reverence for its gods, especially for Amon-Ra. Today we will take a closer look at the history of this god.

God Ra

Translated from the ancient Egyptian Ra (sometimes - Re) means "sun". Starting from the 5th dynasty of the pharaohs, he began to be especially revered as the supreme god. According to legend, the world originally looked like a vast ocean ruled by Nun. He created Ra, who created the world, the gods of the wind, sky, earth. Ra ordered Shu (the god of the wind) to divide the heavens and the earth into two parts, thereby creating the world as we see it today. The words of Ra created animals on earth and in water, and people came out of the eyes of the deity. There is a subtle connection with Christianity here: "In the beginning was the word."

Initially, Ra lived in the form of a man among people. However, one day people decided to kill him, as the powers of the deity were weakening, and they were attracted to his silver bones and golden flesh. Ra, having learned about the deceit of people, gathered all the gods he created and consulted with them. He asked the bloodthirsty goddess Sekhmet to descend to earth and kill everyone she saw. But when Egypt drowned in the rivers of blood, Ra took pity and recalled Sekhmet. And so that she would no longer kill people, he turned her into the goddess of love.

Nevertheless, Ra, tired of the deceit of people and pain, nevertheless left his shell and ascended to heaven, from now on appearing to people only in a divine image.

Every night, Ra goes out to fight the serpent Apophis, who dreams of swallowing the sun and plunging the world into darkness and chaos. And every morning he emerges victorious when the solar disk reappears in the sky.

Ra in Egypt is depicted as a pharaoh with the head of a falcon. People believed that the pharaohs were demigods, so the particle "ra" was always present in their names. Some pseudo-cultures still believe that the god Ra lives in our words - rainbow, joy, truth. This is especially true for Russian researchers.

Legend from the future

There is a legend that tells about the god Gebe, who replaced Ra. Having found out that somewhere in the East of Egypt, Ra hid his treasures in a golden box, Geb found it. And when he opened it, a flame burst out of the box, which burned Geb and killed everyone present when it was opened. Many researchers were sure that it was a conventional generator of electricity.

amon

Initially, Amon, the god of the sun, was the patron of the city of Thebes, where he was considered the supreme deity. Outside Thebes, he was referred to the Germanic Ogdoad (eight gods of the city of Hermopolis). But over time, Amon began to be revered throughout Egypt, which historians associate with the increased influence of Thebes.

Attention! In demonology, Amon is the name of one of the powerful demons.

By itself, the god Amon has a rather poorly developed image. His wife, Mut, gave birth to Khonsu, the moon god. Mut herself was called the lord of the sky and she was depicted in two forms - in the form of an earthly woman and a cow. The god of Egypt Amon himself also appears in the guise of a man in almost all images.

A certain similarity can be traced in the image of Amon and Ra - both appear in human images, in their hands - a scepter (staff) and ankh (cross with a loop). These symbols are the most popular and significant in Egypt. A particularly interesting and mysterious symbol to this day is the ankh - a cross with a loop at the top.

In addition, the god Amun is also depicted with a crown surmounted by two symmetrical feathers. It has an important symbolic meaning. The 2 feathers on the crown are divided vertically, each divided into segments by stripes. Symmetrical feathers symbolize the balance of opposites characteristic of the Egyptians - day and night, darkness and light, Lower and Upper Egypt, etc. The number 7 (the number of segments) is a very important figure in Egypt.

When the god Amon reached the necessary "size", thanks to the increased influence of Thebes, he was connected with Ra. It was believed that Amon, with Ptah (the patron of art) and Ra, forms a single triad, as if personifying both of them. The god Amon-Ra was more benevolent than his halves separately. He was always ready to lend a helping hand to people, for which the Egyptians loved him.

God of all things Amon-Ra

Amon-Ra, the god of the sun, was also known outside of Egypt, his oracles were listened to and revered. The Greeks identified the deity with Zeus. It was the oracle of Amun that proclaimed that Andromeda should be given to be eaten by a monster.

The sacred symbols of this deity are the goose and the ram.

The priestesses of Amun-Ra became especially influential. Thanks to their abilities, they put Hatshepsut, the first female pharaoh in the history of Egypt, on the royal throne.

It was believed that the pharaoh was born from the confluence of the queen with her husband, in the image of which the god appears. Thus, the names of the pharaohs with the particle "amon" appear.

The love of the Egyptians for this deity is quite justified - if earlier only the elect could get to heaven to Ra, Amon-Ra equalized everyone, both rich and poor. Although, of course, he also remained the patron of the pharaohs and was perceived by the people as a state deity. But Osiris, the lord of the underworld, was loved by all the Egyptians without exception.

Somewhat later, Amon-Ra began to be revered as a military god who gives success in battles. The reasons for this probably lie in the expansion of Ancient Egypt. During these times, many treasures were preserved in the temples. The Egyptians deprived the captured enemies of their hands and phalluses right in the temples in order to glorify Amon-Ra (it was believed that these body parts were the main symbols of the deity).

It is noteworthy that the gods themselves in Egypt, of which there are dozens, could be depicted both in the form of people and in the form of animals.

Crisis period

However, with the coming to power of Pharaoh Akhenaten, everything changed. Vladyka, known as a religious reformer, decided to bring his people to monotheism (that is, to glorify one god). He built the magnificent white-stone city of Akhetaten, making it the religious capital. He proclaimed Amon the new supreme and only deity, calling him the only god of the sun.

But this did not lead to the desired results. After Akhenaten's successor became pharaoh, the cult of the god Amon-Ra was revived again.

Karnak Complex

By order of the rulers of Egypt, many luxurious temples were erected in honor of Amon-Ra. The most grandiose of them were built in Luxor and Karnak.

The temple of Amon-Ra, built in Karnak (Karnak complex), accommodates 80,000 people and has an area of 260,000 square meters. m. This is one of the most famous buildings, ancient and impressive in its scale, which have survived to this day. Its first buildings date back to the 28th century BC.

Conclusion

The information presented in this article is based primarily on the Book of the Dead and the Pyramid Texts. The first is a collection of magical rites that were recited at the time of the king's death in order to secure his afterlife. It has been created over the centuries, therefore it is a kind of mixture of magic and morality, which can be traced in the texts.

"Texts of the Pyramids" - another religious-mortuary collection, the texts of which covered the walls of the pyramids. Here, as in the book described above, one can find incantations, hymns, hymns, mythical formulas.