Amen

variant spellings: Amon, Amun, Ammon, Amoun

Amen was the patron deity of the city of Thebes from earliest times, and was viewed (along with his consort Amenet) as a primordial creation-deity by the priests of Hermopolis. His sacred animals were the goose and the ram.Up to the Middle Kingdom Amen was merely a local god in Thebes; but when the Thebans had established their sovereignty in Egypt, Amen became a prominent deity, and by Dynasty 18 was termed the King of the Gods. His famous temple, Karnak, is the largest religious structure ever built by man. Amen appears to have been the protector of any pious devotee in need. In time Amun's sphere of influence changed. Once primarily a god of fertility in animals, he became a god of agriculture and was responsible for abundant crops and prosperity. As his popularity increased the pharaohs chose him as their own personal god, and as a result of their influence he became a solar god. Originally in predynastic times he was the god of the wind, and his name means 'hidden' or 'lnvisible one'. From Thebes the cult of Amun spread out of Egypt to all points of the empire. By the time of the rulership of Thothmes III (1504-1450 BCE), Amun had become the major deity of the then civilized world and was acknowledged in all parts as the king of the gods.As the power of Amun spread, his priests proclaimed him the creator of the universe, formulating complex legends describing how he had performed the act of creation in Thebes itself. Amun, they said, was the lord of time, who creates the years, governs the months and rules the nights and days. His followers claimed him to be a more powerful manifestation of the mighty god Ra and named him Amun-Ra. The supporters of the other gods, including those of the eclipsed Ra, grew alarmed at the power that the priesthood of Amun was amassing. Eventually they rebelled, seeking to restore the old order. Although they did have some limited success the revolution was short-lived, and with his return to power Amun's popularity climbed to even greater heights. Of course as his popularity increased so did the fortunes of his priesthood and temples. By the year 1160 BCE approximately one fifth of the population of Egypt, along with one third of the arable land and three quarters of all the wealth of Egypt belonged to the temple of Amun-Ra at Thebes. Consequently the temple expanded: the vast complex of sacred buildings contained over 22 major shrines, the sacred enclosure covered an area of 1.25 square km and the main temple itself was over 1.5 km in length.With all this power and wealth, Thebes became a semi-independent state within Egypt, ruled by the priests of Amun. Eventually this office became hereditary. Only with the beginning of the Twenty-second Dynasty about 935 BCE did Thebes once again start to become a true part of Egypt, and then the process of assimilation took almost two centuries.Amun in his other aspect, that of the god of warfare, directed the king in his actions against the enemies of Egypt. The planning of the many campaigns of conquest was credited to him: he was the essential divine inspiration behind Egypt's successful strategies.Although by the later period Amun had become primarily the god of the ruling monarch, the ordinary Egyptian still had access to him. By visiting the special temple of Amun who hears all prayers' a suppliant could ask the god for aid, and by leaving a small stele (an inscribed stone tablet) at its gate he could be sure that he would consider .The pharaohs who supported Amun promoted the belief that he was their father by divine marriage with their earthly mother. In this way they identified the kingship with the god and so gained the full support of his priesthood. So important were the links between the cult of Amun and the rulers of Egypt that the highest officers in the priesthood were members of the king's family or high-ranking nobles. Later, in the form of Jupiter Ammon, Amun [A1]   was worshipped into classical times. Even Alexander the Great felt the need to visit his temple at Thebes to obtain Amun's divine consent to rule his newly-conquered province, Egypt.