The Forms of Amen-Ra

The definiteness of the assertions of this composition suggest that it formed the creed of the worshipers of Amen-Ra, from every one of them appears to have been made with the express purpose of contradicting the pretensions urged by the priests of other gods - Aten and Osiris - and an examination of the sentences will show that Amen made the universe.

It is, however, important to note that he is not in any way identified with Osiris in this text, a fact which seems to indicate that the national god of the Resurrection in Egypt was ignored by the priests of Amen who composed the contents of Nesi-Khensu's papyrus.

From what has been said as to the importance of Amen-Ra it will be evident that a large number of shrines of this god must have lived chiefly upon the endowments which the pious Egyptians had provided for gods other than he. We may now consider the various forms in which Amen-Ra is depicted on monuments and papyri.

His commonest form is that of a strong-bearded man who appears upon his head lofty double plumes, the various sections of which are colored alternately red and green, or red and blue ; round his neck he wears a deep collar necklace, and his close-fitting tunic is supported by elaborately worked shoulder-straps. His arm and wrists are provided with armlets and bracelets, in his right hand is the symbol of life, and his left the scepter.

Hanging from his tunic is the tail of some animal, the custom of wearing which by gods and kings was common in Egypt in the earliest times. In this form his title is "Amen-Ra, lord of the thrones of the two lands,".

Instead of the sign of life, he sometimes holds the khepesh war knife, in his right hand. At times he is given the head of a hawk which is surmounted by the solar disk encircled by a serpent as "Amen-Ra-Temu in Thebes" he has the head of a man surmounted by the solar disk encircled by a serpent ; before him is the ankh, which is provided with human legs and arms, offering lotus flowers to the god. Thus he becomes the god both of Heliopolis and Thebes"

In many scenes we find Amen-Ra with the head of a ram, when he usually wears the solar disk, plumes, and uraeus at times, however, he wears the disk and urauus or the disk only. In this form he is called "Amen-Ra, lord of the thrones of the two lands, the "dweller in Thebes, the great god appeareth in the horizon," or "Amen-Ra, lord of the thrones of the two lands, governor of "Ta-Kenset {Nubia}." Another form of Amen-Ra is that in which he is represented with the body of the ithyphallic god Amsu, or Min, or Khem, i.e., as the personification of the power of generation. In this form he wears either the customary disk and plumes, or the united crowns of the South and North, and has one hand and arm raised to support, which holds above his shoulder ; he is called "Amen-Ra, the bull of his mother," and possesses all the attributes of Fa-a, i.e., the god of the lifted hand.

In one of the examples reproduced by Lanzone Amen-Ra in his ithyphallic form stands by the side of a pylon-shaped building, on the top of which are two trees, an the side of a large lotus flower ; the lotus flower represents the rising sun, which was supposed to issue daily from between two trees. In another form Amen-Ra has the head of a crocodile, and he wears the crown which is composed of the solar disk, plumes and horns, and is called the "disposer of the life of Ra and the years of Temu." Finally,the god was somtimes represented in the form of a goose ; the animal sacred to him in many parts of Egypt, and all over Nubia, was the ram.

In very late dynastic times, especially in the Ptolamaic period, it became customary to make figures of Amen-Ra in bronze in which every important attribute of the god was represented. In these he has the bearded head of a man, the body of a beetle with the wings of a hawk, the legs of a man with the toes and claws of a lion, and is provided with four hands and arms, and four wings, the last named being extended. One hand, which is stretched along the wing, grasps the symbols, the knives, another is raised to support, after the manner of the "god of the lifted hand" a third holds the symbol of generation and fertility ; and the fourth is lifted to his head.

The face of the god is, in reality, that of the solar disk, from which proceed the heads and necks of eight rams. Resting on the disk is a pair of ram's horns, with a disk on each , and stretching upwards are the two characteristics plumes of the god Amen. From the tip of each of these projects a lion-headed uraeus which ejects moisture from its mouth. This form of the god was a production probably of the period immediately following the XXVIth Dynasty, but some modifications of it are not so old.

The idea which underlines the figure is that of representing the pact or company of the gods, of which Amen was the chief, and of showing pictorially how every one of the oldest gods of Egypt was contained in him. (Read More ...)