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power of his house. Mentuhotep II, the fifth king, was able to impose his will upon the various feudal lords,
and secured their allegiance partly, no doubt, by force of arms, but mainly, it would appear, because the
prosperityof the country depended upon the establishment of a strong central government, which would
secure the distribution of water for agricultural purposes. Famine may have accomplished what the sword
was unable to do. Besides, the road to sacred Abydos had to be kept open. The political influence of the
Osirian cult must therefore have been pronounced for a considerable time.
Under Mentuhotep II the country was so well settled that a military expedition was dispatched to quell the
Nubian warriors. Commerce had revived, and the arts and industries had begun to flourish again. Temples
were built under this and the two succeeding monarchs of the line. The last Mentuhotep was able to organize
a quarrying expedition of ten thousand men.
Meantime the power of the ruling house was being securely established throughout the land. The Pharaoh's
vizier was Amenemhet, and he made vigorous attacks upon the feudal lords who pursued a policy of
aggression against their neighbours. Some were deposed, and their places were filled by loyal supporters of
the Pharaoh. After a long struggle between the petty "kings" of the nomes and the royal house, Amenemhet I
founded the Twelfth Dynasty, under which Egypt became once again a powerful and united kingdom. He was
probably a grandson of the vizier of the same name.
A new god the chief god of Thebes has now risen into prominence. His name is Amon, or Amen. The
earliest reference to him appears in the Pyramid of the famous King Unas of the Fifth Dynasty, where he and
his consort are included among the primeval gods associated with Nu "the fathers and mothers" who were in
"the deep" at the beginning. We cannot, however, attach much importance to the theorizing of the priests of
Unas's time, for they were busily engaged in absorbingevery religious myth in the land. Amon is evidently a
strictly local god, who passed through so many stages of development that it is impossible to grasp the
original tribal conception, which may, perhaps, have been crude and vague enough. His name is believed to
signify "The Hidden One" he concealed his "soul" and his "name", like the giant who hid his soul in an
CHAPTER XV. The Rise of Amon 100
EGYPTIAN MYTH AND LEGEND
egg. Sokar of Memphis was also a "hidden" god, and was associated with the land of the dead. Amon may
have been likewise a deity of Hades, for he links with Osiris as a lunar deity (Chapter XXII). In fact, as
Amon Ra he displaced Osiris for a time as judge of the dead.
Amon is represented in various forms: (1) As an ape; (2) as a lion resting with head erect, like the primitive
earth lion Aker; (3) as a frog-headed man accompanied by Ament, his serpent-headed female counterpart;
(4) as a serpent-headed man, while his consort is cat-headed; (5) as a man god with the royal sceptre in one
hand and the symbol of life (ankh) in the other; (6) as a ram-headed man.
In the Twelfth Dynasty a small temple was erected to Amon in the northern part of the city which was called
Apet, after the mother goddess of that name who ultimately was fused with Hathor. "Thebes" is believed to
have been derived from her name, the female article "T", being placed before "Ape"; Tap or Tape was
pronounced Thebai by the Greeks, who had a town of that name. The sacred name of the city was Nu or
Nu-Amon. "Art thou better than populous No?" cried
the Hebrew prophet, denouncing Nineveh; "Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength and it was infinite."
Amon, the ram god, was the most famous oracle in Egypt. Other oracles included the Apis bull; Sebek, the
crocodile; Uazit, the serpent goddess of Buto; and Bes, the grotesque god who comes into prominence later.
Revelations were made by oracles in dreams, and when Thutmose IV slept in the shadow of the Sphinx it
expressed its desire to him that the sand should be cleared from about its body. Worshippers in a state of
religious ecstasy were also given power to prophesy.
The oracle of Amon achieved great renown. The god was consulted by warriors, who were duly promised
victory and great spoils. Wrongdoers were identified by the god, and he was even consulted regarding the
affairs of State. Ultimately his priests achieved great influence owing to their reputation as foretellers of
future events, who made known the will of the god. A good deal of trickery was evidently indulged in, for we
gather that the god signified his assent to an expressed wish by nodding his head, or selected a suitable leader
of men by extending his arm.
Amon was fused with several deities as his various animal forms indicate. The ram's head comes, of course,
from Min, and it is possible that the frog's head was from Hekt. His cult also appropriated the war god Mentu,
who is depicted as a bull. Mentu, however, continued to have a separate existence, owing to his fusion with
Horus. He appears in human form wearing a bull's tall with the head of a hawk, which is surmounted by a sun
disk between Amon's double plumes; he is also depicted as a hawk-headed sphinx. As a bull-headed man he
carries bow and arrows, a club, and a knife.
In his Horus form Mentu stands on the prow ofthe sun bark on the nightly journey through Duat, and slays
the demons with his lance. He was appropriated, of course, by the priests of Heliopolis, and became the "soul
of Ra" and "Bull of Heaven". A temple was erected to him near Karnak, and in late times he overshadowed
Amon as Mentu-ra.
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