During the period known as the New Kingdom (1570 BC - 1070 BC), Amun became the national god of Egypt and head of the state pantheon and merged with Ra, the sun god as Amun-Ra. The status of Amun drastically changed during a religious revolution when the Pharaoh Akhenaten established the sun god Aten as the only god of Egypt.
The people of ancient Egypt were forced to change from a religion where they worshiped many gods, to a religion where they worshiped only one god. The Pharaoh Akhenaten used the might and power of the Egyptian military to destroy the old religion, its gods and the powerful priesthood.
They particularly wanted to get rid of people worshipping Amun as the national god. That’s not cool! The Temple of Karnak which was in Thebes and was dedicated to Amun was closed and the priests were thrown out and Akhenaten ordered the statues of the old gods to be destroyed.
Aten was worshiped for 16 years from 1349 to 1333 BC until the death of Akhenaten. The son of Akhenaten was Tutankhamen.
The boy king became the Pharaoh and was forced by the powerful priests of Amun to leave his home in Armana where they tried to get rid of all traces of Atenism and Akhenaten.
The new, young pharaoh changed his name from Tutankhaten to Tutankhamun and returned to Thebes and the old religion with Amun as the chief god. By the end of the period of the New Kingdom Thebes became known as ‘Niwt-imn’ meaning ‘The City of Amun.’
Symbols of Amun - The Amun Crown
The symbols of Amun were the Amun crown and the ram headed sphinx. The Amun crown had a flat-topped cylindrical crown base that was topped by tall, double ostrich feathers. The ostrich was a symbol of creation and light.
Symbols of Amun - The Ram Headed Sphinx
The ram headed sphinx is a strong symbol of fertility and Amun is sometimes referred to as ‘lord of the two horns’. The road to the Temple of Amun in ancient Thebes (now Luxor) was lined with ram headed lion sphinxes, each one guarding between its front legs a statue of the pharaoh. There were 900 statues of the ram headed sphinx at Thebes.
The ram heads represented Amun and were shown with the body of a lion (never winged), the hooves of a ram or a goat and the head of a ram. The ram headed sphinx is called a criosphinx whereas the human-headed sphinx is called the androsphinx. Now those are some words to try and wrap your head around! Bet you learnt something new.
So now you know all about Amun, the powerful Egyptian god! Have we left anything out that you know? Call King Karim on +27735329189 Email: infoatpowerfuljinn@gmail.com https://jinnrings.blogspot.com
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