123-717: B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Amun was a major ancient Egyptian deity who appears as a member of the Hermopolitan Ogdoad . Amun was attested from the Old Kingdom together with his wife Amunet . His oracle in Siwa Oasis , located in Western Egypt near the Libyan Desert , remained the only oracle of Amun throughout. With
246-459: A "deity". One widely accepted definition, suggested by Jan Assmann , says that a deity has a cult , is involved in some aspect of the universe, and is described in mythology or other forms of written tradition. According to a different definition, by Dimitri Meeks, nṯr applied to any being that was the focus of ritual. From this perspective, "gods" included the king, who was called a god after his coronation rites , and deceased souls, who entered
369-438: A 1997 book. Seti's highest known date is Year 11, IV Shemu day 12 or 13 on a sandstone stela from Gebel Barkal but he would have briefly survived for 2 to 3 days into his Year 12 before dying based on the date of Ramesses II's rise to power. Seti I's accession date has been determined by Wolfgang Helck to be III Shemu day 24, which is very close to Ramesses II's known accession date of III Shemu day 27. More recently, in 2011,
492-602: A cache of diplomatic correspondence from the time of Akhenaten found at Akhenaten's capital at el-Amarna in Middle Egypt. Recent scholarship, however, indicates that the empire was not lost at this time, except for its northern border provinces of Kadesh and Amurru in Syria and Lebanon. While evidence for the military activities of Akhenaten, Tutankhamun and Horemheb is fragmentary or ambiguous, Seti I has left us an impressive war monument that glorifies his achievements, along with
615-445: A co-regency between the two monarchs. In addition, the late William Murnane, who first endorsed the theory of a co-regency between Seti I and Ramesses II, later revised his view of the proposed co-regency and rejected the idea that Ramesses II had begun to count his own regnal years while Seti I was still alive. Finally, Kenneth Kitchen rejects the term co-regency to describe the relationship between Seti I and Ramesses II; he describes
738-542: A crowd. While not regarded as a dynasty, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes were nevertheless of such power and influence that they were effectively the rulers of Egypt from 1080 to c. 943 BC. By the time Herihor was proclaimed as the first ruling High Priest of Amun in 1080 BC—in the 19th Year of Ramesses XI —the Amun priesthood exercised an effective hold on Egypt's economy. The Amun priests owned two-thirds of all
861-573: A deity to represent them, and deities were sometimes created to serve as opposite-sex counterparts to established gods or goddesses. Kings were said to be divine, although only a few continued to be worshipped long after their deaths. Some non-royal humans were said to have the favor of the gods and were venerated accordingly. This veneration was usually short-lived, but the court architects Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hapu were regarded as gods centuries after their lifetimes, as were some other officials. Through contact with neighboring civilizations,
984-567: A failed attempt to recapture Kadesh . Kadesh was henceforth effectively held by the Hittites even though Ramesses temporarily occupied the city in his 8th year. The traditional view of Seti I's wars was that he restored the Egyptian empire after it had been lost in the time of Akhenaten. This was based on the chaotic picture of Egyptian-controlled Syria and Palestine seen in the Amarna letters ,
1107-529: A force the Egyptians called heka , a term usually translated as "magic". Heka was a fundamental power that the creator god used to form the world and the gods themselves. The gods' actions in the present are described and praised in hymns and funerary texts . In contrast, mythology mainly concerns the gods' actions during a vaguely imagined past in which the gods were present on earth and interacted directly with humans. The events of this past time set
1230-626: A fundamental part of Egyptian society. The beings in ancient Egyptian tradition who might be labeled as deities are difficult to count. Egyptian texts list the names of many deities whose nature is unknown, and make vague, indirect references to other gods who are not even named. The Egyptologist James P. Allen estimates that more than 1,400 deities are named in Egyptian texts, whereas his colleague Christian Leitz says there are "thousands upon thousands" of gods. The Egyptian language 's terms for these beings were nṯr , "god", and its feminine form nṯrt , "goddess". Scholars have tried to discern
1353-721: A large column depicting Seti I with the goddess Hathor , can be seen in the National Archaeological Museum, Florence . This decorative style set a precedent which was followed in full or in part in the tombs of later New Kingdom kings. Seti's mummy itself was discovered by Émil Brugsch on June 6, 1881, in the mummy cache (tomb DB320 ) at Deir el-Bahri and has since been kept at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. His huge sarcophagus , carved in one piece and intricately decorated on every surface (including
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#17327662881411476-466: A moment; none remains. His breath comes back to us in mercy ... May your ka be kind; may you forgive; It shall not happen again. Subsequently, when Egypt conquered Kush , they identified the chief deity of the Kushites as Amun. This Kush deity was depicted as ram-headed, more specifically a woolly ram with curved horns. Amun thus became associated with the ram arising from the aged appearance of
1599-413: A number of texts, all of which tend to magnify his prowess on the battlefield. From an examination of Seti's extremely well-preserved mummy, Seti I appears to have been less than forty years old when he died unexpectedly. This is in stark contrast to the situation with Horemheb , Ramesses I and Ramesses II who all lived to an advanced age. The reasons for his relatively early death are uncertain, but there
1722-471: A permanent military occupation of Kadesh and Amurru so close to the Hittite homelands. It is unlikely that Seti I made a peace treaty with the Hittites or voluntarily returned Kadesh and Amurru, but he may have reached an informal understanding with the Hittite king Muwatalli on the precise boundaries of their empires. Five years after Seti I's death, however, his son Ramesses II resumed hostilities and made
1845-413: A secret burial chamber containing hidden treasures. The team failed to follow the original passage in their excavations, and had to call a halt due to instabilities in the tunnel; further issues with permits and finances eventually ended Sheikh Ali's dreams of treasure, though they were at least able to establish that the passage was over 30 meters (98 feet) longer than the original estimate. In June 2010,
1968-535: A series of wars in western Asia, Libya and Nubia in the first decade of his reign. The main source for Seti's military activities are his battle scenes on the north exterior wall of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall, along with several royal stelas with inscriptions mentioning battles in Canaan and Nubia. In his first regnal year, he led his armies along the "Horus Military road", the coastal road that led from
2091-603: A sexually differentiated pair of deities: Shu and his consort Tefnut . Similarly, Neith, who was sometimes regarded as a creator goddess, was said to possess masculine traits but was mainly seen as female. Seti I Menmaatre Seti I (or Sethos I in Greek ) was the second pharaoh of the Nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt during the New Kingdom period, ruling c. 1294 or 1290 BC to 1279 BC. He
2214-429: A symbol of virility, Amun also became thought of as a fertility deity, and so started to absorb the identity of Min , becoming Amun-Min. This association with virility led to Amun-Min gaining the epithet Kamutef , meaning "Bull of his mother", in which form he was found depicted on the walls of Karnak , ithyphallic , and with a "flail" , as Min was. As the cult of Amun grew in importance, Amun became identified with
2337-487: A team from Egypt's Ministry of Antiquities led by Dr. Zahi Hawass completed excavation of the tunnel, which had begun again after the discovery in 2007 of a downward-sloping passage beginning approximately 136 meters (446 feet) into the previously excavated tunnel. After uncovering two separate staircases, they found that the tunnel ran for 174 meters (571 feet) in total; unfortunately, the last step seemed to have been abandoned prior to completion and no secret burial chamber
2460-399: A time before the gods' withdrawal from the human realm, take place in an earthly setting. The deities there sometimes interact with those in the sky. The underworld, in contrast, is treated as a remote and inaccessible place, and the gods who dwell there have difficulties in communicating with those in the world of the living. The space outside the cosmos is also said to be very distant. It too
2583-417: A variety of animal and human figures. Some of these images, such as stars and cattle, are reminiscent of important features of Egyptian religion in later times, but in most cases, there is not enough evidence to say whether the images are connected with deities. As Egyptian society grew more sophisticated, clearer signs of religious activity appeared. The earliest known temples appeared in the last centuries of
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#17327662881412706-401: Is inhabited by deities, some hostile and some beneficial to the other gods and their orderly world. In the time after myth, most gods were said to be either in the sky or invisibly present within the world. Temples were their main means of contact with humanity. Each day, it was believed, the gods moved from the divine realm to their temples, their homes in the human world. There they inhabited
2829-455: Is known about popular religious belief is consistent with the elite tradition. The two traditions form a largely cohesive vision of the gods and their nature. Most Egyptian deities represent natural or social phenomena . The gods were generally said to be immanent in these phenomena—to be present within nature. The types of phenomena they represented include physical places and objects as well as abstract concepts and forces. The god Shu
2952-482: Is mainly due to the fact that he no longer objects to the identification of "Apiru" with "Ibri" (i.e. the Hebrews) provided that we grant him that the vocal change has been driven by a popular etymology that brought the term "eber" (formerly 'ibr), that is to say the man from beyond the river." It seems that Egypt extends beyond the river. The attack on Yenoam is illustrated in his war scenes, while other battles, such as
3075-401: Is no evidence of violence on his mummy. His mummy was found decapitated, but this was likely caused by tomb robbers after his death. The Amun priest carefully reattached his head to his body with the use of linen cloths. It has been suggested that he died from a disease which had affected him for years, possibly related to his heart. The latter was found placed in the right part of the body, while
3198-475: Is normal in being merciful. The Lord of Thebes does not spend an entire day angry. As for his anger – in the completion of a moment there is no remnant ... As thy Ka endures! thou wilt be merciful! In the Leiden hymns, Amun, Ptah , and Re are regarded as a trinity who are distinct gods but with unity in plurality. "The three gods are one yet the Egyptian elsewhere insists on the separate identity of each of
3321-542: Is otherwise quite well documented in historical records, other scholars suggest that a continuous break in the record for his last four years is unlikely, although it is technically possible simply that no records have been yet discovered. Peter J. Brand noted that the king personally opened new rock quarries at Aswan to build obelisks and colossal statues in his Year 9. This event is commemorated on two rock stelas in Aswan. However, most of Seti's obelisks and statues such as
3444-415: Is the effort of the gods to maintain maat against the forces of disorder. They fight vicious battles with the forces of chaos at the start of creation. Ra and Apep, battling each other each night, continue this struggle into the present. Another prominent theme is the gods' death and revival. The clearest instance where a god dies is the myth of Osiris's murder , in which that god is resurrected as ruler of
3567-414: Is transliterated as " sty mry-n-ptḥ" or Sety Merenptah , meaning "Man of Set, beloved of Ptah ". Manetho incorrectly considered him to be the founder of the 19th Dynasty, and gave him a reign length of 55 years, though no evidence has ever been found for so long a reign. After the enormous social upheavals generated by Akhenaten 's religious reform , Horemheb , Ramesses I and Seti I's main priority
3690-516: The 11th Dynasty ( c. 21st century BC), Amun rose to the position of patron deity of Thebes by replacing Montu . Initially possibly one of eight deities in the Hermapolite creation myth, his worship expanded. After the rebellion of Thebes against the Hyksos and with the rule of Ahmose I (16th century BC), Amun acquired national importance , expressed in his fusion with
3813-715: The Coffin Texts renders the name of the funerary god Seker as sk r , meaning "cleaning of the mouth", to link his name with his role in the Opening of the Mouth ritual, while one in the Pyramid Texts says the name is based on words shouted by Osiris in a moment of distress, connecting Sokar with the most important funerary deity. The gods were believed to have many names. Among them were secret names that conveyed their true natures more profoundly than others. To know
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3936-560: The Flaminian and Luxor obelisks were only partly finished or decorated by the time of his death, since they were completed early under his son's reign based on epigraphic evidence (they bore the early form of Ramesses II's royal prenomen "Usermaatre"). Ramesses II used the prenomen Usermaatre to refer to himself in his first year and did not adopt the final form of his royal title "Usermaatre Setepenre" until late into his second year. Brand aptly notes that this evidence calls into question
4059-552: The Hymn to the Aten : When thou crossest the sky, all faces behold thee, but when thou departest, thou are hidden from their faces ... When thou settest in the western mountain, then they sleep in the manner of death ... The fashioner of that which the soil produces, ... a mother of profit to gods and men; a patient craftsman, greatly wearying himself as their maker ... valiant herdsman, driving his cattle, their refuge and
4182-565: The Kingdom of Kush . The Victory Stele of Piye at Gebel Barkal (8th century BC) now distinguishes between an "Amun of Napata " and an "Amun of Thebes". Tantamani (died 653 BC), the last pharaoh of the Nubian dynasty, still bore a theophoric name referring to Amun in the Nubian form Amani . In areas outside Egypt where the Egyptians had previously brought the cult of Amun his worship continued into classical antiquity . In Nubia, where his name
4305-670: The Luxor Temple . This Great Inscription (which has now lost about a third of its content) shows the king's campaigns and eventual return with items of potential value and prisoners. Next to this inscription is the Victory Stela , which is largely a copy of the more famous Merneptah Stele found in the funerary complex of Merenptah on the west bank of the Nile in Thebes. Merenptah's son Seti II added two small obelisks in front of
4428-623: The Old Egyptian Pyramid Texts . The name Amun (written imn ) meant something like "the hidden one" or "invisible", which is also attested by epithets found in the Pyramid Texts "O You, the great god whose name is unknown". Amun rose to the position of tutelary deity of Thebes after the end of the First Intermediate Period , under the 11th Dynasty . As the patron of Thebes, his spouse
4551-796: The Pharaohs' Golden Parade . Seti's well-preserved tomb ( KV17 ) was found in 1817 by Giovanni Battista Belzoni , in the Valley of the Kings ; it proved to be the longest at 446 feet (136 meters) and deepest of all the New Kingdom royal tombs. It was also the first tomb to feature decorations (including the Book of the Heavenly Cow ) on every passageway and chamber with highly refined bas-reliefs and colorful paintings – fragments of which, including
4674-546: The Sun god , Ra , as Amun-Ra (alternatively spelled Amon-Ra or Amun-Re ). On his own, he was also thought to be the king of the gods . Amun-Ra retained chief importance in the Egyptian pantheon throughout the New Kingdom (with the exception of the " Atenist heresy " under Akhenaten ). Amun-Ra in this period (16th–11th centuries BC) held the position of transcendental , self-created creator deity "par excellence"; he
4797-410: The cult images , the statues that depicted deities and allowed humans to interact with them in temple rituals. This movement between realms was sometimes described as a journey between the sky and the earth. As temples were the focal points of Egyptian cities, the god in a city's main temple was the patron deity for the city and the surrounding region. Deities' spheres of influence on earth centered on
4920-417: The hygroscopic inlay material to fall out and disappear completely. A small watercolour nearby records the appearance, as it was. The tomb also had an entrance to a secret tunnel hidden behind the sarcophagus, which Belzoni's team estimated to be 100 meters (330 feet) long. However, the tunnel was not truly excavated until 1961, when a team led by Sheikh Ali Abdel-Rasoul began digging in hopes of discovering
5043-626: The temple lands in Egypt and 90 percent of her ships and many other resources. Consequently, the Amun priests were as powerful as the pharaoh, if not more so. One of the sons of the High Priest Pinedjem would eventually assume the throne and rule Egypt for almost half a century as pharaoh Psusennes I , while the Theban High Priest Psusennes III would take the throne as king Psusennes II —the final ruler of
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5166-447: The true name of a deity was to have power over it. The importance of names is demonstrated by a myth in which Isis poisons the superior god Ra and refuses to cure him unless he reveals his secret name to her. Upon learning the name, she tells it to her son, Horus, and by learning it they gain greater knowledge and power. In addition to their names, gods were given epithets , like "possessor of splendor", "ruler of Abydos ", or "lord of
5289-541: The 21st Dynasty. In the 10th century BC, the overwhelming dominance of Amun over all of Egypt gradually began to decline. In Thebes, however, his worship continued unabated, especially under the Nubian Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt , as Amun was by now seen as a national god in Nubia. The Temple of Amun, Jebel Barkal , founded during the New Kingdom, came to be the center of the religious ideology of
5412-452: The 3rd century BC, slew them. Ancient Egyptian deities B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt . The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion , which emerged sometime in prehistory . Deities represented natural forces and phenomena , and
5535-563: The Abydos Dedicatory Inscription and the Kuban Stela of Ramesses II, consistently give the latter titles associated with those of a crown prince only, namely the "king's eldest son and hereditary prince" or "child-heir" to the throne "along with some military titles." Hence, no clear evidence supports the hypothesis that Ramesses II was a co-regent under his father. Brand stresses that: Ramesses' claim that he
5658-473: The Aten ceased for the most part and worship of Amun-Ra was restored. During the reign of Horemheb, Akhenaten's name was struck from Egyptian records, all of his religious and governmental changes were undone, and the capital was returned to Thebes. The return to the previous capital and its patron deity was accomplished so swiftly that it seemed this monolatrist cult and its governmental reforms had never existed. The god of wind Amun came to be identified with
5781-465: The Duat. The sun god is also said to grow old during his daily journey across the sky, sink into the Duat at night, and emerge as a young child at dawn. In the process, he comes into contact with the rejuvenating water of Nun , the primordial chaos. Funerary texts that depict Ra's journey through the Duat also show the corpses of gods who are enlivened along with him. Instead of being changelessly immortal,
5904-551: The Dutch Egyptologist Jacobus Van Dijk questioned the "Year 11" date stated in the great temple of Amun on the Gebel Barkal stela—Seti I's previously known highest attested date. This monument is quite badly preserved but still depicts Seti I in erect posture, which is the only case occurring since his Year 4 when he started to be depicted in a stooping posture on his stelae. Furthermore,
6027-523: The Egyptian city of Tjaru (Zarw/Sile) in the northeast corner of the Egyptian Nile Delta along the northern coast of the Sinai peninsula ending in the town of "Canaan" in the modern Gaza strip. The Ways of Horus consisted of a series of military forts, each with a well, that are depicted in detail in the king's war scenes on the north wall of the Karnak Hypostyle Hall. While crossing the Sinai,
6150-598: The Egyptians also adopted foreign deities . The goddess Miket , who occasionally appeared in Egyptian texts beginning in the Middle Kingdom ( c. 2055 –1650 BC), may have been adopted from the religion of Nubia to the south, and a Nubian ram deity may have influenced the iconography of Amun. During the New Kingdom ( c. 1550 –1070 BC), several deities from Canaanite religion were incorporated into that of Egypt, including Baal , Resheph , and Anat . In Greek and Roman times, from 332 BC to
6273-709: The Egyptians first revered primitive fetishes , then deities in animal form, and finally deities in human form, whereas Henri Frankfort argued that the gods must have been envisioned in human form from the beginning. Some of these theories are now regarded as too simplistic, and more current ones, such as Siegfried Morenz' hypothesis that deities emerged as humans began to distinguish themselves from their environment, and to 'personify' ideas relating to deities. Such theories are difficult to prove. Predynastic Egypt originally consisted of small, independent villages. Because many deities in later times were strongly tied to particular towns and regions, many scholars have suggested that
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#17327662881416396-812: The Egyptians supported and appeased them through offerings and rituals so that these forces would continue to function according to maat , or divine order. After the founding of the Egyptian state around 3100 BC, the authority to perform these tasks was controlled by the pharaoh , who claimed to be the gods' representative and managed the temples where the rituals were carried out. The gods' complex characteristics were expressed in myths and in intricate relationships between deities: family ties, loose groups and hierarchies, and combinations of separate gods into one. Deities' diverse appearances in art —as animals, humans, objects, and combinations of different forms—also alluded, through symbolism, to their essential features. In different eras, various gods were said to hold
6519-419: The Egyptians' many-faceted approach to religious belief—what Henri Frankfort called a "multiplicity of approaches" to understanding the gods. In myth, the gods behave much like humans. They feel emotion; they can eat, drink, fight, weep, sicken, and die. Some have unique character traits. Set is aggressive and impulsive, and Thoth , patron of writing and knowledge, is prone to long-winded speeches. Yet overall,
6642-471: The Hittite Empire. Egypt had not held Kadesh since the time of Akhenaten . Seti I was successful in defeating a Hittite army that tried to defend the town. He entered the city in triumph together with his son Ramesses II and erected a victory stela at the site which has been found by archaeologists. Kadesh, however, soon reverted to Hittite control because the Egyptians did not or could not maintain
6765-591: The Kush ram deity, and depictions related to Amun sometimes had small ram's horns, known as the Horns of Ammon . A solar deity in the form of a ram can be traced to the pre-literate Kerma culture in Nubia, contemporary to the Old Kingdom of Egypt. The later ( Meroitic period ) name of Nubian Amun was Amani , attested in numerous personal names such as Tanwetamani , Arkamani , and Amanitore . Since rams were considered
6888-547: The Libyans would pose an ever-increasing threat to Egypt during the reigns of Merenptah and Ramesses III. The Egyptian army also put down a minor "rebellion" in Nubia in the 8th year of Seti I. Seti himself did not participate in it although his crown prince, the future Ramesses II, may have. The greatest achievement of Seti I's foreign policy was the capture of the Syrian town of Kadesh and neighboring territory of Amurru from
7011-419: The Nile, no god personified it in the way that Ra personified the sun. Short-lived phenomena, such as rainbows or eclipses, were not represented by gods; neither were fire, water, or many other components of the world. The roles of each deity were fluid, and each god could expand its nature to take on new characteristics. As a result, gods' roles are difficult to categorize or define. Despite this flexibility,
7134-655: The Precinct of Amun-Ra took place during the 18th Dynasty when Thebes became the capital of the unified ancient Egypt. Construction of the Hypostyle Hall may have also begun during the 18th Dynasty, though most building was undertaken under Seti I and Ramesses II . Merenptah commemorated his victories over the Sea Peoples on the walls of the Cachette Court , the start of the processional route to
7257-471: The Second Pylon, and a triple bark-shrine to the north of the processional avenue in the same area. This was constructed of sandstone, with a chapel to Amun flanked by those of Mut and Khonsu . The last major change to the Precinct of Amun-Ra's layout was the addition of the first pylon and the massive enclosure walls that surrounded the whole Precinct, both constructed by Nectanebo I . When
7380-490: The army of the founder of the Eighteenth Dynasty expelled the Hyksos rulers from Egypt, the victor's city of origin, Thebes , became the most important city in Egypt, the capital of a new dynasty. The local patron deity of Thebes, Amun, therefore became nationally important . The pharaohs of that new dynasty attributed all of their successes to Amun, and they lavished much of their wealth and captured spoil on
7503-490: The artisans' village at Deir el-Medina record: [Amun] who comes at the voice of the poor in distress, who gives breath to him who is wretched ... You are Amun, the Lord of the silent, who comes at the voice of the poor; when I call to you in my distress You come and rescue me ... Though the servant was disposed to do evil, the Lord is disposed to forgive. The Lord of Thebes spends not a whole day in anger; His wrath passes in
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#17327662881417626-515: The chief deity who was worshipped in other areas during that period, namely the sun god Ra . This identification led to another merger of identities, with Amun becoming Amun-Ra. In the Hymn to Amun-Ra he is described as Lord of truth, father of the gods, maker of men, creator of all animals, Lord of things that are, creator of the staff of life. During the latter part of the Eighteenth dynasty ,
7749-930: The cobra to depict many female deities. The Egyptians distinguished nṯrw , "gods", from rmṯ , "people", but the meanings of the Egyptian and the English terms do not match perfectly. The term nṯr may have applied to any being that was in some way outside the sphere of everyday life. Deceased humans were called nṯr because they were considered to be like the gods, whereas the term was rarely applied to many of Egypt's lesser supernatural beings, which modern scholars often call "demons". Egyptian religious art also depicts places, objects, and concepts in human form. These personified ideas range from deities that were important in myth and ritual to obscure beings, only mentioned once or twice, that may be little more than metaphors. Confronting these blurred distinctions between gods and other beings, scholars have proposed various definitions of
7872-449: The complex process by which the organized universe and its many deities emerged from undifferentiated chaos. The period following creation, in which a series of gods rule as kings over the divine society, is the setting for most myths. The gods struggle against the forces of chaos and among each other before withdrawing from the human world and installing the historical kings of Egypt to rule in their place. A recurring theme in these myths
7995-560: The construction of temples dedicated to Amun. The victory against the "foreign rulers" achieved by pharaohs who worshipped Amun caused him to be seen as a champion of the less fortunate , upholding the rights of justice for the poor. By aiding those who traveled in his name, he became the Protector of the road . Since he upheld Ma'at (truth, justice, and goodness), those who prayed to Amun were required first to demonstrate that they were worthy, by confessing their sins. Votive stelae from
8118-403: The context of creation myths, in which the androgynous deity represents the undifferentiated state that existed before the world was created. The Ogdoad , a group of eight primordial gods all had a female form and consort. Atum was primarily male but had a feminine aspect within himself, who was sometimes seen as a goddess, known as Iusaaset or Nebethetepet . Creation began when Atum produced
8241-424: The country at start of the Middle Kingdom ( c. 2055 –1650 BC), they elevated Thebes' patron gods—first the war god Montu and then Amun—to national prominence. In Egyptian belief, names express the fundamental nature of the things to which they refer. In keeping with this belief, the names of deities often relate to their roles or origins. The name of the predatory goddess Sekhmet means "powerful one",
8364-427: The defeat of Beth-Shan, were not shown because the king himself did not participate, sending a division of his army instead. The year one campaign continued into Lebanon where the king received the submission of its chiefs who were compelled to cut down valuable cedar wood themselves as tribute. At some unknown point in his reign, Seti I defeated Libyan tribesmen who had invaded Egypt's western border. Although defeated,
8487-531: The divine realm through funeral ceremonies . Likewise, the preeminence of the great gods was maintained by the ritual devotion that was performed for them across Egypt. The first written evidence of deities in Egypt comes from the Early Dynastic Period ( c. 3100 –2686 BC). Deities must have emerged sometime in the preceding Predynastic Period (before 3100 BC) and grown out of prehistoric religious beliefs . Predynastic artwork depicts
8610-432: The earliest phase of Ramesses II's career as a "prince regency" where the young Ramesses enjoyed all the trappings of royalty including the use of a royal titulary and harem but did not count his regnal years until after his father's death. This is due to the fact that the evidence for a co-regency between the two kings is vague and highly ambiguous. Two important inscriptions from the first decade of Ramesses' reign, namely
8733-481: The early centuries AD, deities from across the Mediterranean world were revered in Egypt, but the native gods remained, and they often absorbed the cults of these newcomers into their own worship. Modern knowledge of Egyptian beliefs about the gods is mostly drawn from religious writings produced by the nation's scribes and priests . These people were the elite of Egyptian society and were very distinct from
8856-414: The entire country. These sacred kings and their subordinates assumed the right to interact with the gods, and kingship became the unifying focus of the religion. New deities continued to emerge after this transformation. Some important deities such as Isis and Amun are not known to have appeared until the Old Kingdom ( c. 2686 –2181 BC). Places and concepts could inspire the creation of
8979-400: The entrances of temples , representing the presence of a deity, throughout ancient Egyptian history . Other such hieroglyphs include a falcon, reminiscent of several early gods who were depicted as falcons, and a seated male or female deity. The feminine form could also be written with an egg as determinative, connecting goddesses with creation and birth, or with a cobra, reflecting the use of
9102-414: The general populace, most of whom were illiterate. Little is known about how well this broader population knew or understood the sophisticated ideas that the elite developed. Commoners' perceptions of the divine may have differed from those of the priests. The populace may, for example, have treated the religion's symbolic statements about the gods and their actions as literal truth. But overall, what little
9225-558: The glyphs "I ∩" representing the 11 are damaged in the upper part and may just as well be "I I I" instead. Subsequently, Van Dijk proposed that the Gebel Barkal stela should be dated to Year 3 of Seti I, and that Seti's highest date more likely is Year 9 as suggested by the wine jars found in his tomb. In a 2012 paper, David Aston analyzed the wine jars and came to the same conclusion since no wine labels higher than Seti I's 8th regnal year were found in his KV17 tomb. Seti I fought
9348-598: The goddess Nut on the interior base), is in Sir John Soane's Museum . Soane bought it for exhibition in his open collection in 1824, when the British Museum refused to pay the £2,000 demanded. On its arrival at the museum, the alabaster was pure white and inlaid with blue copper sulphate . Years of the London climate and pollution have darkened the alabaster to a buff colour and absorbed moisture has caused
9471-402: The gods are more like archetypes than well drawn characters. Deities' mythic behavior is inconsistent, and their thoughts and motivations are rarely stated. Most myths lack highly developed characters and plots, because their symbolic meaning was more important than elaborate storytelling. Characters were even interchangeable. Different versions of a myth could portray different deities playing
9594-449: The gods had limited abilities and spheres of influence. Not even the creator god could reach beyond the boundaries of the cosmos that he created, and even Isis, though she was said to be the cleverest of the gods, was not omniscient . Richard H. Wilkinson , however, argues that some texts from the late New Kingdom suggest that as beliefs about the god Amun evolved he was thought to approach omniscience and omnipresence , and to transcend
9717-399: The gods periodically died and were reborn by repeating the events of creation, thus renewing the whole world. Nonetheless, it was always possible for this cycle to be disrupted and for chaos to return. Some poorly understood Egyptian texts even suggest that this calamity is destined to happen—that the creator god will one day dissolve the order of the world, leaving only himself and Osiris amid
9840-410: The gods' multifarious nature. The Egyptians regarded the division between male and female as fundamental to all beings, including deities. Male gods tended to have a higher status than goddesses and were more closely connected with creation and with kingship, while goddesses were more often thought of as helping and providing for humans. Some deities were androgynous , but most examples are found in
9963-520: The greater gods or as roving spirits that caused illness or other misfortunes among humans. Demons' position in the divine hierarchy was not fixed. The protective deities Bes and Taweret originally had minor, demon-like roles, but over time they came to be credited with great influence. The most feared beings in the Duat were regarded as both disgusting and dangerous to humans. Over the course of Egyptian history, they came to be regarded as fundamentally inferior members of divine society and to represent
10086-413: The highest position in divine society, including the solar deity Ra , the mysterious god Amun , and the mother goddess Isis . The highest deity was usually credited with the creation of the world and often connected with the life-giving power of the sun. Some scholars have argued, based in part on Egyptian writings, that the Egyptians came to recognize a single divine power that lay behind all things and
10209-527: The idea of a 15 Year reign for Seti I and suggests that "Seti died after a ten to eleven year reign" because only two years would have passed between the opening of the Rock Quarries and the partial completion and decoration of these monuments. This explanation conforms better with the evidence of the unfinished state of Seti I's monuments and the fact that Ramesses II had to complete the decorations on "many of his father's unfinished monuments, including
10332-631: The king's army fought local Bedouins called the Shasu . In Canaan, he received the tribute of some of the city states he visited. Others, including Beth-Shan and Yenoam , had to be captured but were easily defeated. A stele in Beth-Shan testifies to that reconquest; according to Grdsseloff, Rowe, Albrecht et Albright, Seti defeated Asian nomads in war against the Apirus (Hebrews). Dussaud commented Albright's article: "The interest of Professor Albright's note
10455-482: The limits of the world in a way that other deities did not. The deities with the most limited and specialized domains are often called "minor divinities" or "demons" in modern writing, although there is no firm definition for these terms. Some demons were guardians of particular places, especially in the Duat , the realm of the dead. Others wandered through the human world and the Duat, either as servants and messengers of
10578-432: The making of their living ... The sole Lord, who reaches the end of the lands every day, as one who sees them that tread thereon ... Every land chatters at his rising every day, in order to praise him. When Akhenaten died, Akhenaten's successor, Smenkhkare , became pharaoh and Atenism remained established during his brief 2-year reign. When Smenkhkare died, an enigmatic female pharaoh known as Neferneferuaten took
10701-478: The name of the mysterious god Amun means "hidden one", and the name of Nekhbet , who was worshipped in the city of Nekheb , means "she of Nekheb". Many other names have no certain meaning, even when the gods who bear them are closely tied to a single role. The names of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb do not resemble the Egyptian terms for sky and earth . The Egyptians also devised false etymologies giving more meanings to divine names. A passage in
10824-411: The newly formed world; Ptah , who embodies thought and creativity, gives form to all things by envisioning and naming them; Atum produces all things as emanations of himself; and Amun, according to the theology promoted by his priesthood, preceded and created the other creator gods. These and other versions of the events of creation were not seen as contradictory. Each gives a different perspective on
10947-413: The obelisks and colossi he commissioned in [his] year nine would have been completed, in particular those from Luxor. If he in fact died after little more than a decade on the throne, however, then at most two years would have elapsed since the Aswan quarries were opened in year nine, and only a fraction of the great monoliths would have been complete and inscribed at his death, with others just emerging from
11070-473: The opposite of the beneficial, life-giving major gods. Yet even the most revered deities could sometimes exact vengeance on humans or each other, displaying a demon-like side to their character and blurring the boundaries between demons and gods. Divine behavior was believed to govern all of nature. Except for the few deities who disrupted the divine order, the gods' actions maintained maat and created and sustained all living things. They did this work using
11193-420: The original nature of the gods by proposing etymologies for these words, but none of these suggestions has gained acceptance, and the terms' origin remains obscure. The hieroglyphs that were used as ideograms and determinatives in writing these words show some of the traits that the Egyptians connected with divinity. The most common of these signs is a flag flying from a pole. Similar objects were placed at
11316-464: The pantheon formed as disparate communities coalesced into larger states, spreading and intermingling the worship of the old local deities. Others have argued that the most important predynastic gods were, like other elements of Egyptian culture, present all across the country despite its political divisions. The final step in the formation of Egyptian religion was the unification of Egypt, in which rulers from Upper Egypt made themselves pharaohs of
11439-445: The pattern for the events of the present. Periodic occurrences were tied to events in the mythic past; the succession of each new pharaoh, for instance, reenacted Horus's accession to the throne of his father Osiris . Myths are metaphors for the gods' actions, which humans cannot fully understand. They contain seemingly contradictory ideas, each expressing a particular perspective on divine events. The contradictions in myth are part of
11562-527: The pharaoh Akhenaten (also known as Amenhotep IV) advanced the worship of the Aten , a deity whose power was manifested in the sun disk, both literally and symbolically. He defaced the symbols of many of the old deities, and based his religious practices upon the deity, the Aten . He moved his capital away from Thebes, but this abrupt change was very unpopular with the priests of Amun, who now found themselves without any of their former power. The religion of Egypt
11685-404: The prayer, who comes at the cry of the poor and distressed...Beware of him! Repeat him to son and daughter, to great and small; relate him to generations of generations who have not yet come into being; relate him to fishes in the deep, to birds in heaven; repeat him to him who does not know him and to him who knows him ... Though it may be that the servant is normal in doing wrong, yet the Lord
11808-411: The predynastic era, along with images that resemble the iconographies of known deities: the falcon that represents Horus and several other gods, the crossed arrows that stand for Neith , and the enigmatic " Set animal " that represents Set . Many Egyptologists and anthropologists have suggested theories about how the gods developed in these early times. Gustave Jéquier , for instance, thought
11931-431: The primordial chaos. Gods were linked to specific regions of the universe. In Egyptian tradition, the world includes the earth, the sky, and the underworld. Surrounding them is the dark formlessness that existed before creation. The gods in general were said to dwell in the sky, although gods whose roles were linked with other parts of the universe were said to live in those places instead. Most events of mythology, set in
12054-407: The quarries so that Ramesses would be able to decorate them shortly after his accession. ... It now seems clear that a long, fourteen-to fifteen-year reign for Seti I can be rejected for lack of evidence. Rather, a tenure of ten or more likely probably eleven, years appears the most likely scenario. The German Egyptologist Jürgen von Beckerath also accepts that Seti I's reign lasted only 11 Years in
12177-579: The quarry." (KRI 74:12-14) However, despite this promise, Brand stresses that there are few obelisks and apparently no colossi inscribed for Seti. Ramesses II, however, was able to complete the two obelisks and four seated colossi from Luxor within the first years of his reign, the two obelisks in particular being partly inscribed before he adopted the final form of his prenomen sometime in [his] year two. This state of affairs strongly implies that Seti died after ten to eleven years. Had he [Seti I] ruled on until his fourteenth or fifteenth year, then surely more of
12300-521: The same role, as in the myths of the Eye of Ra , a feminine aspect of the sun god who was represented by many goddesses. The first divine act is the creation of the cosmos, described in several creation myths . They focus on different gods, each of which may act as creator deities. The eight gods of the Ogdoad , who represent the chaos that precedes creation, give birth to the sun god, who establishes order in
12423-492: The sky", that describe some aspect of their roles or their worship. Because of the gods' multiple and overlapping roles, deities can have many epithets—with more important gods accumulating more titles—and the same epithet can apply to many deities. Some epithets eventually became separate deities, as with Werethekau , an epithet applied to several goddesses meaning "great enchantress", which came to be treated as an independent goddess. The host of divine names and titles expresses
12546-428: The solar god Ra and the god of fertility and creation Min , so that Amun-Ra had the main characteristic of a solar god , creator god and fertility god . He also adopted the aspect of the ram from the Nubian solar god, besides numerous other titles and aspects. As Amun-Ra, he was petitioned for mercy by those who believed suffering had come about as a result of their own or others' wrongdoing. Amun-Ra "who hears
12669-427: The sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going." A Leiden hymn to Amun describes how he calms stormy seas for the troubled sailor: The tempest moves aside for the sailor who remembers the name of Amon. The storm becomes a sweet breeze for he who invokes His name ... Amon is more effective than millions for he who places Him in his heart. Thanks to Him the single man becomes stronger than
12792-595: The southern half of the Great Hypostyle Hall at Karnak and portions of his father's temples at Gurnah and Abydos" during the very first Year of his own reign. Critically, Brand notes that the larger of the two Aswan rock stelas states that Seti I "has ordered the commissioning of multitudinous works for the making of very great obelisks and great and wondrous statues (i.e. colossi) in the name of His Majesty, L.P.H. He made great barges for transporting them, and ships crews to match them for ferrying them from
12915-697: The testimony of ancient Greek historiographers in Libya and Nubia . As Zeus Ammon and Jupiter Ammon , he came to be identified with Zeus in Greece and Jupiter in Rome. In 1910 René Basset suggested that the cult of Amun first developed in ancient Libya before spreading to ancient Egypt. But this is just an unproven hypothesis since Amun was "[f]irst attested in the tomb of Pharaoh Unas " (ca. 2350 BCE) in Egypt, and not in Libya. Amun and Amaunet are mentioned in
13038-511: The three." This unity in plurality is expressed in one text: All gods are three: Amun, Re and Ptah, whom none equals. He who hides his name as Amun, he appears to the face as Re, his body is Ptah. Henri Frankfort suggested that Amun was originally a wind god and speculating pointed out that the implicit connection between the winds and mysteriousness was paralleled in a passage from the Gospel of John : "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear
13161-411: The throne for a brief period but it is unclear what happened during her reign. After Neferneferuaten's death, Akhenaten's 9-year-old son Tutankhaten succeeded her. At the beginning of his reign, the young pharaoh reversed Atenism, re-establishing the old polytheistic religion and renaming himself Tutankhamun . His sister-wife, then named Ankhesenpaaten, followed him and was renamed Ankhesenamun. Worship of
13284-449: The towns and regions they presided over. Many gods had more than one cult center and their local ties changed over time. They could establish themselves in new cities, or their range of influence could contract. Therefore, a given deity's main cult center in historical times is not necessarily his or her place of origin. The political influence of a city could affect the importance of its patron deity. When kings from Thebes took control of
13407-467: The universal order that was a central principle of Egyptian religion and was itself personified as a goddess. Yet some deities represented disruption to maat . Most prominently, Apep was the force of chaos, constantly threatening to annihilate the order of the universe, and Set was an ambivalent member of divine society who could both fight disorder and foment it. Not all aspects of existence were seen as deities. Although many deities were connected with
13530-583: The usual practice of the day was to place it in the left part during the mummification process. Opinions vary whether this was a mistake or an attempt to have Seti's heart work better in his afterlife. Seti I's mummy is about 1.7 metres (5 feet 7 inches) tall. In April 2021 his mummy was moved from the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities to the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization along with those of 17 other kings and 4 queens in an event termed
13653-535: Was Mut . In Thebes, Amun as father, Mut as mother, and the Moon god Khonsu as their son formed the divine family or the " Theban Triad ". The history of Amun as the patron god of Thebes begins in the 20th century BC, with the construction of the Precinct of Amun-Ra at Karnak under Senusret I . The city of Thebes does not appear to have been of great significance before the 11th Dynasty. Major construction work in
13776-450: Was at Memphis . He was considered a great king by his peers, but his fame has been overshadowed since ancient times by that of his son, Ramesses II. Seti I's known accession date is known to be on III Shemu day 24. Seti I's reign length was either 9 or 11 rather than 15 full years. Egyptologist Kenneth Kitchen has estimated that it was 15 years, but there are no dates recorded for Seti I after his Year 11 Gebel Barkal stela . As this king
13899-447: Was credited with producing the annual Nile flood that fertilized the country's farmland. Perhaps as an outgrowth of this life-giving function, he was said to create all living things, fashioning their bodies on a potter's wheel . Gods could share the same role in nature; Ra , Atum , Khepri , Horus, and other deities acted as sun gods . Despite their diverse functions, most gods had an overarching role in common: maintaining maat ,
14022-1994: Was crowned king by Seti, even as a child in his arms [in the Dedicatory Inscription], is highly self-serving and open to question although his description of his role as crown prince is more accurate...The most reliable and concrete portion of this statement is the enumeration of Ramesses' titles as eldest king's son and heir apparent, well attested in sources contemporary with Seti's reign. ( Shamshi-Adad dynasty 1808–1736 BCE) (Amorites) Shamshi-Adad I Ishme-Dagan I Mut-Ashkur Rimush Asinum Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi (Non-dynastic usurpers 1735–1701 BCE) Puzur-Sin Ashur-dugul Ashur-apla-idi Nasir-Sin Sin-namir Ipqi-Ishtar Adad-salulu Adasi ( Adaside dynasty 1700–722 BCE) Bel-bani Libaya Sharma-Adad I Iptar-Sin Bazaya Lullaya Shu-Ninua Sharma-Adad II Erishum III Shamshi-Adad II Ishme-Dagan II Shamshi-Adad III Ashur-nirari I Puzur-Ashur III Enlil-nasir I Nur-ili Ashur-shaduni Ashur-rabi I Ashur-nadin-ahhe I Enlil-Nasir II Ashur-nirari II Ashur-bel-nisheshu Ashur-rim-nisheshu Ashur-nadin-ahhe II Second Intermediate Period Sixteenth Dynasty Abydos Dynasty Seventeenth Dynasty (1500–1100 BCE) Kidinuid dynasty Igehalkid dynasty Untash-Napirisha Twenty-first Dynasty of Egypt Smendes Amenemnisu Psusennes I Amenemope Osorkon
14145-484: Was found. Around Year 9 of his reign, Seti appointed his son Ramesses II as the crown prince and his chosen successor, but the evidence for a coregency between the two kings is likely illusory. Peter J. Brand stresses in his thesis that relief decorations at various temple sites at Karnak , Qurna and Abydos, which associate Ramesses II with Seti I, were actually carved after Seti's death by Ramesses II himself and, hence, cannot be used as source material to support
14268-537: Was inexorably tied to the leadership of the country, the pharaoh being the leader of both. The pharaoh was the highest priest in the temple of the capital, and the next lower level of religious leaders were important advisers to the pharaoh, many being administrators of the bureaucracy that ran the country. The introduction of Atenism under Akhenaten constructed a monolatrist worship of Aten in direct competition with that of Amun. Praises of Amun on stelae are strikingly similar in language to those later used, in particular,
14391-660: Was present in all the other deities. Yet they never abandoned their original polytheistic view of the world, except possibly during the era of Atenism in the 14th century BC, when official religion focused exclusively on an abstract solar deity, the Aten . Gods were assumed to be present throughout the world, capable of influencing natural events and the course of human lives. People interacted with them in temples and unofficial shrines, for personal reasons as well as for larger goals of state rites. Egyptians prayed for divine help, used rituals to compel deities to act, and called upon them for advice. Humans' relations with their gods were
14514-464: Was pronounced Amane or Amani (written in meroitic hieroglyphs as "𐦀𐦉𐦊𐦂" and in cursive as "𐦠𐦨𐦩𐦢"), he remained a national deity, with his priests, at Meroe and Nobatia , regulating the whole government of the country via an oracle , choosing the ruler, and directing military expeditions. According to Diodorus Siculus , these religious leaders were even able to compel kings to commit suicide, although this tradition stopped when Arkamane , in
14637-515: Was recorded in some large scenes placed on the front of the temple of Amun , situated in Karnak . A funerary temple for Seti was constructed in what is now known as Qurna ( Mortuary Temple of Seti I ), on the west bank of the Nile at Thebes while a magnificent temple made of white limestone at Abydos featuring exquisite relief scenes was started by Seti, and later completed by his son. His capital
14760-486: Was the champion of the poor or troubled and central to personal piety . With Osiris , Amun-Ra is the most widely recorded of the Egyptian gods. Ra's name simply means "sun". Like most gods in Egyptian mythologies, gods had multiple names; his additional names were Re, Amun-Re, Khepri, Ra-Horakhty, and Atum. As the chief deity of the Egyptian Empire , Amun-Ra also came to be worshiped outside Egypt, according to
14883-473: Was the deification of all the world's air; the goddess Meretseger oversaw a limited region of the earth, the Theban Necropolis ; and the god Sia personified the abstract notion of perception . Major gods were often involved in several types of phenomena. For instance, Khnum was the god of Elephantine Island in the midst of the Nile , the river that was essential to Egyptian civilization. He
15006-486: Was the son of Ramesses I and Sitre , and the father of Ramesses II . The name 'Seti' means "of Set", which indicates that he was consecrated to the god Set (also termed "Sutekh" or "Seth"). As with most pharaohs, Seti had several names. Upon his ascension, he took the prenomen "mn-m3't-r' ", usually vocalized in Egyptian as Menmaatre (Established is the Justice of Re). His better known nomen , or birth name,
15129-574: Was to re-establish order in the kingdom and to reaffirm Egypt's sovereignty over Canaan and Syria , which had been compromised by the increasing external pressures from the Hittite state. Seti, with energy and determination, confronted the Hittites several times in battle. Without succeeding in destroying the Hittites as a potential danger to Egypt, he reconquered most of the disputed territories for Egypt and generally concluded his military campaigns with victories. The memory of Seti I's military successes
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