Amon

Amon, in the Bible

Amon (ā`mŏn) [Heb.,=trustworthy].

1 King of Judah (642–640 B.C.), son and successor of Manasseh. According to Chronicles, he was inattentive to the worship of God, and the accounts accordingly denounce him strongly. However, his worship of other gods indicates that he, like his father, was an Assyrian vassal. Amon was murdered, and Josiah succeeded him.

2 In the Bible, Ahab's governor of Samaria.

---

Amon, Egyptian deity

Amon (ā`mən, ä`–), Ammon (ă`mən), or Amen (ä`mĕn), Egyptian deity. He was originally the chief god of Thebes; he and his wife Mut and their son Khensu were the divine Theban triad of deities. Amon grew increasingly important in Egypt, and eventually he (identified as Amon Ra; see Ra) became the supreme deity. He was identified with the Greek Zeus (the Roman Jupiter). Amon's most celebrated shrine was at Siwa in the Libyan desert; the oracle of Siwa later rivaled those of Delphi and Dodona. He is frequently represented as a ram or as a human with a ram's head.

---

Amon

 or Amen

Egyptian deity revered as king of the gods. Amon may have originated as a local deity at Khmun in Middle Egypt. His cult spread to Thebes, where he became patron of the pharaohs by Mentuhotep I's reign (2008–1957 BC) and was identified with the sun god Re. Represented as a human, a ram, or both, Amon-Re was worshiped with the goddess Mut and the youthful god Khons. Akhenaton directed his reforms against the cult of Amon, but with little success, and Amon's status was restored in the 14th–13th century BC. In the New Kingdom, Amon came to be seen as one of a triad with Ptah and Re, and in the 11th–10th century BC as a universal god who intervened in affairs of state by speaking through oracles.