AMMON (also Amôn; Coptic Amûn from Egyptian [A]men or Jmn; Greek 'Αμμων). - Egyptian deity, worshipped at Thebes (v.). The name was interpreted as "creator of all things," then falsely as "he who hides his name" (Plutarch, De Iside, 9). At first an almost unknown local god, with the advent of the Theban XIIth dynasty (1996 B.C.) A. was exalted and merged with the ancient solar god of Heliopolis, Râ (Rie). The supremacy of Ammon-Râ (better: Amenrle) spread especially after Thebes was raised to the status of capital, under the XVIIIth dynasty: A. is by then acclaimed "king of the gods." He was depicted as a man with blue flesh (the color of the firmament), with two tall plumes on his head; in the New Empire his sacred animals were the goose, then the ram. He formed a triad with his wife Mût and with his son Hons (moon god). He was finally added to the cosmogonic ogdoad of Hermopolis. Lord of kingdoms, he was considered the physical father of the pharaoh.
Continuous and exceedingly rich donations constituted the enormous sacred patrimony of A. Except for the interlude of Amenhotep IV (v.), the pharaohs promoted his cult, which had its center in the two grandiose temples (at Karnak and at Luxor), in whose service there were 81,322 dependents at the time of Ramses III (1198-1167 B.C.). The oracle of A. (by the motion of the head of the statue, or similar expedients) decided every public and private question. The power of the priests reached sovereignty: with Herhor (ca. 1090), high priest of A., there historiographical concepts, but he was a good continuator of humanistic historiography and a distinguished representative of our culture in the period of the Counter-Reformation. Even in his writings there are clear indications, albeit in a timid and guarded form, of that Catholic reaction to Machiavelli's ideas, which in that period found broader development in the theories on Reason of State. In his historical works there is a lack of clear and precise guiding ideas, and above all the author lacks a direct political experience that could be a sure guide for him in the understanding and ordering of facts. In exchange, his information is rich, abundant and at times new, although his use of sources is not always critical, and they are never cited.