Amun Facts & Worksheets

Amun, the god of the air, was one of the eight primordial Egyptian deities. His role as King of the Deities during the Middle Kingdom evolved into a nationally worshiped god in the New Kingdom. Amun then became Amun-Ra, creator of the universe and King of God.

See the fact file below for more information on the ancient Egyptian god Amun, or you can download our 30-page Amun worksheet pack to utilize within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

EARLY HISTORY

• The names Amun and Amaunet appear in the Old Egyptian Pyramid Texts. The name Amun (written mn) means “the hidden one” or “invisible.” When the  First Intermediate Period ended, during the 11th Dynasty, Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes. 
• Mut was his wife as the patron of Thebes. Amun, Mut, and the Moon god Khonsu formed the “Theban Triad” divine family in Thebes.

TEMPLE AT KARNAK

• During the New Kingdom, the massive temple complex of Karnak was the primary religious center of the god Amun-Re in Thebes (which lasted from 1550 until 1070 BCE.). The complex is still one of the world’s largest religious complexes.
• Karnak was not just a single temple dedicated to one god, it housed the central precinct of the god Amun-Re and also the precincts of the gods Mut and Montu. 
• Karnak is in poorer condition than other ancient Egyptian temple complexes, but it still provides scholars with a wealth of information about Egyptian religion and art. 

The Most Select Places

• The site was built during the Middle Kingdom and was initially modest in scale, but as new importance was placed on Thebes, subsequent pharaohs began to leave their mark on Karnak.
• The central precinct would eventually house up to twenty temples and chapels. 
• “The Most Select Places,” commonly known as the Karnak in ancient times, served as a working territory for the priestly community who lived on-site as well as the place of the cult statue of Amun and a venue for the god to dwell on the earth.
• The main temple of Amun-Re had two axes, one running north/south and the other east/west. The southern axis continued towards the Luxor Temple, linked by an avenue of ram-headed sphinxes.
• While the sanctuary was plundered for stone in ancient times, it still contains several unique architectural features.
• For instance, the tallest obelisk in Egypt stood at Karnak and was dedicated by Hatshepsut, the female pharaoh who ruled Egypt during the New Kingdom.
• It was initially accompanied by a matching obelisk, which was removed and re-erected in Rome by the Roman emperor Constantine. 
• Another unusual feature was Thutmose III’s Festival Temple, which had columns resembling tent poles, which this pharaoh was undoubtedly familiar with from the many military campaigns he conducted.

Temple as Cosmos

• Temples in Egypt were linked conceptually to the idea of zep tepi, or “the first time,” the start of the world’s creation. The temple reflected this period when the mound of creation emerged from the primordial waters.
• The temple’s towers, or gateways, represent the horizon. As one moves deeper into the temple, the floor rises until it hits the sanctuary of the god, giving the feeling of a rising mound, as during creation.

NEW KINGDOM

Identification with Min and Ra

• When the army of the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty expelled the Hyksos rulers from Egypt, the victor’s hometown, Thebes, became the most important city in Egypt and the capital of a new dynasty. As a result, Amun, Thebes’ patron deity, rose to national prominence.
• The new pharaohs attributed all of their victories to Amun, bestowed much of their wealth, and seized spoils from the building projects of temples dedicated to Amun.
• The victory over “foreign rulers” won by pharaohs who worshiped Amun made him a champion of the less fortunate and support the rights of justice for the poor.
• He became the Protector of the Road by assisting those who traveled in his name. Because he upheld Ma’at (truth, justice, and goodness), those who prayed to Amun had to prove their worth by confessing their sins. 
• As a result, when Egypt conquered Kush, they identified Amun as the Kushites’ chief deity. 
• This Kush deity was portrayed as a ram, specifically a woolly ram with curved horns. As a result of the aged appearance of the Kush ram deity, Amun became associated with the ram, and depictions of Amun sometimes had small ram horns known as the Horns of Ammon.
• A solar god in the shape of a ram can be traced back to the pre-literate Kerma culture in Nubia, which was contemporary with Egypt’s Old Kingdom. Amani was Nubian Amun’s later (Meroitic Period) name, as evidenced by numerous personal terms such as Tanwetamani, Arkamani, and Amanitore. Because rams were considered a symbol of masculinity, Amun was also thought of as a fertility deity and thus began to absorb Min’s identity, becoming Amun-Min. 
• Because of his association with masculinity, Amun-Min was given the name Kamutef, which means “Bull of his Mother,” and depicted on the walls of Karnak in this form, ithyphallic and wielding a scourge, as Min was. As Amun’s cult grew in importance, Amun became identified with the chief deity worshiped in other areas at the time, the sun god Ra. This identification resulted in another identity merger, with Amun becoming Amun-Ra. 
• In the Hymn to Amun-Ra, he is portrayed as the Lord of Truth, the Father of the Gods, the Creator of Men, the Creator of All Animals, the Lord of All That Is, and the Creator of the Staff of Life.

Atenist heresy

• Atenism, also known as the Aten religion, the Amarna religion, or the “Amarna heresy,” was a religion associated with the ancient Egyptian Eighteenth Dynasty pharaoh Akhenaten.
• The faith was centered on worshiping the god Aten, depicted as the Sun’s disc, and was originally a characteristic of the traditional solar deity Ra. Atenism was Egypt’s state religion for about 20 years in the 14th century BC before subsequent rulers returned to the traditional polytheistic religion. The pharaohs associated with Atenism were erased from Egyptian records. Akhenaten implemented a radical religious reform program. 
• For about twenty years, he largely replaced the Egyptian state religion’s age-old beliefs and practices and deposed its spiritual hierarchy, led by the powerful priesthood of Amun at Thebes. The Egyptians had praised an extended family of gods and goddesses for fifteen centuries, each with its expanded system of temples, shrines, priests, and rituals. The adoration of statues of the gods and images, which were worshipped in the dark confines of the temples, was a vital feature of the cults.

THIRD INTERMEDIATE PERIOD

Theban High Priests of Amun

• The High Priest of Amun, also known as the First Prophet of Amun, was the highest-ranking priest in the ancient Egyptian priesthood. The first Amun high priests appeared in Egypt during the New Kingdom at the start of the Eighteenth Dynasty. 
• The Amun priesthood rose to power in Thebes during the early Eighteenth dynasty due to significant tributes to the god Amun by rulers such as Hatshepsut and, more importantly, Thutmose III. Amun’s priesthood had four high-ranking priests:

1. The Chief Prophet of Amun at Karnak, also known as the Amun Chief Priest.
2. The Second Prophet of Amun at Karnak, also known as the Amun’s Second Priest.
3. The Third Prophet of Amun, also known as the Third Priest of Amun.
4. The Fourth Prophet of Amun at Karnak, also known as the Fourth Priest of Amun.

• During the Amarna period, the power of the Amun priesthood was temporarily limited. In Akhenaten’s fourth year, a high priest named Maya is mentioned. Akhenaten had the name of Amun removed from monuments during his reign, as well as the names of several other deities.

Theban High Priests of Amun

• After his death, Amun was restored to prominence among Egyptian cults. The young pharaoh Tutankhaten changed his name to Tutankhamun to signal the restoration of Amun to his former place of importance. 
• The King appointed the Theban High Priest of Amun. It was not uncommon for dignitaries who held additional positions in the pharaoh’s administration to hold the position. Several high priests from Ramesses II’s reign also served as Vizier.
• At the end of the New Kingdom, Ramessesnakht dominated the Twentieth Dynasty priesthood of Amun. Amenhotep, his son, eventually succeeded his father and clashed with the Viceroy of Kush, Pinehesy. Pinehesy led his army north to besiege Thebes. Following this period, generals named Herihor and Piankh served as High Priests.

IRON AGE AND CLASSICAL ANTIQUITY

Nubia and Sudan

• His worship persisted into classical antiquity in areas where the Egyptians had previously introduced the cult of Amun. He remained a national deity in Nubia, where his name was Amane or Amani, with priests in Meroe and Nobatia regulating the country’s entire government through an oracle, choosing the ruler, and directing military expeditions.
• According to Diodorus Siculus, these religious leaders could even force kings to commit suicide, though this practice ended when Arkamane slew them. 
• Excavation of an Amun temple at Dangeil in Sudan began in 2000, under the direction of Dr. Salah Mohamed Ahmed and Julie R. Anderson of Sudan’s National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM) and the British Museum in the United Kingdom, respectively. 
• The temple was discovered to have been destroyed by fire, and Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) and C14 dating of the charred roof beams place the temple’s most recent incarnation. 
• The associated ceramics and inscriptions further confirm this date. The temple gradually decayed and collapsed after its destruction.

Siwa Oasis

• A solitary oracle of Amun near the Libyan Desert remained in Siwa Oasis, located in Western Egypt. Ammon worship was introduced to Greece at an early date, most likely through the Greek colony in Cyrene, which must have established a connection with the great oracle of Ammon in the Oasis soon after its establishment. Iarbas, a mythological Libyan king, was also considered Hammon’s son. Alexander the Great was a liberator when he advanced on Egypt.
• This oracle pronounced him the son of Amun, and thus he conquered Egypt without a fight.
• Alexander referred to Zeus-Ammon as his true father from then on, and after his death, currency depicted him with the Horns of Ammon as a symbol of his divinity.

Greece

• Amun, known to the Greeks as Ammon, had a temple and a statue at Thebes, a gift of Pindar, and another at Sparta, the inhabitants of which, according to Pausanias, consulted the oracle of Ammon in Libya earlier than the other Greeks. 
• From the period of Lysander, Amun was worshiped with the same zeal in Aphytis and Chalcidice. 
• Pindar, the poet, paid homage to the god with a hymn. At Megalopolis, the god was represented by a ram’s head, and the Greeks of Cyrenaica dedicated a chariot to Ammon.
• Because of its reputation among Classical Greeks, Alexander the Great traveled there after the war Issus and during his occupation of Egypt, where the oracle declared him the metaphorical “son of Amun.”
• Even during this stay, Amun, identified by these Greeks as a form of Zeus, remained Thebes’ primary local deity. Several words, including ammonia and ammonite, derive from Amun via the Greek form, Ammon. Because of its nearness to the Temple of Jupiter-Amun in ancient Libya, the Romans called it ammonium chloride. They collected sal ammoniac (salt of Amun). Ammonia is both a chemical and a genus name in the foraminifera.
• John Milton, the English poet, identifies Ammon with the biblical Ham (Cham) and claims that the gentiles referred to him as the Libyan Jove in his epic poem, Paradise Lost.

Amun Worksheets

This fantastic bundle includes everything you need to know about the ancient Egyptian god Amun across 30 in-depth pages. These ready-to-use worksheets are perfect for teaching kids about Amun, the god of the air, one of the eight primordial Egyptian deities.

Complete List of Included Worksheets

Below is a list of all the worksheets included in this document.

1. Amun Facts
2. Amun / Amun-Ra
3. Pick Out A Letter
4. My Creation
5. A Story To Tell
6. Understanding Amun
7. Primary Sources
8. Understanding Amun
9. Opet Festival
10. Spot A Lie
11. One On One With Amun

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Amun?

Amun was an ancient Egyptian god who was considered the king of the gods and the patron of Thebes, one of the most powerful cities in ancient Egypt. He was a god of the air and of the sun, and was associated with fertility and creation.

What was Amun’s role in ancient Egyptian religion?

Amun was one of the most important gods in ancient Egyptian religion and was considered the king of the gods. He was associated with the sun, air, fertility and creation. He was also considered the patron of Thebes and his temple at KarnACK was one of the most important religious sites in ancient Egypt.

How was Amun represented in ancient Egyptian art?

Amun was usually depicted as a man wearing a headdress with two tall feathers, representing the god of the air. He was also depicted as a man with a ram’s head, symbolizing fertility.

What was the Amun Temple Complex?

The Amun Temple Complex, also known as the Temple of Amun at KarnACK, is a complex of temples, chapels, and other buildings located in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes. It was one of the most important religious sites in ancient Egypt and the center of the worship of Amun.

How did Amun’s cult decline?

The cult of Amun declined after the rise of Christianity in Egypt and the decline of the pharaonic era. The temple of Amun at KarnACK was closed and the statues of the god were destroyed. The decline of the cult was also due to the decline of the New Kingdom, which was the period of the highest power of Amun’s cult.

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