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Amen Re
While the Egyptians worshipped a wide variety of gods, Amon Re ruled them all as the king among gods. While almost all deities that were worshipped by the Egyptian people can be traced back to a certain time period, Amon Re appears to have been present in Egyptian mythology since the beginning. Evidence referring to this supreme god is present since the earliest days of the Egyptian nation, with its complicated religious traditions.
Initially, the deity was only referred to as Amon and in some cases Amen or Amun. His symbols were those of the sun, and several animal symbols, including a ram and a goose.
Though the god was worshipped nationwide, Thebes and Hermopolis, where the level of his worship reached frantic levels. Thebes regarded him as their patron saint. Thebes was also the place where the Pharaoh and following were located. In Thebes, Amon merged with Re, who was the god of the sun, and from then on the deity was referred to as Amon Re. In Hermopolis his worshippers were convinced Amon Re and Mut had joined in marriage, and spawned a son named Khonsu, who was the god of the Moon. In some areas of the country, the popular belief was that Amon was responsible for creating the world and mankind, at least in part. Other wide spread beliefs where Amon is concerned was his role as protector of the helpless.
The deity has managed to maintain his popularity throughout all time periods in the rich Egyptian history, unlike many other Egyptian deities from the ancient times. However, Amon Re did have a few periods where he had fallen from grace, especially in the period of Queen Hatshepsut, who ascended to the throne when the ruling Pharaoh, to whom she was married, died. In order to gain control and give validity to her right to the throne, she declared it was Amon Re that chose her to claim it. She also claimed to be the daughter of Amon Re. Queen Hatshepsut had a temple built in his honor at Deir-el-Bahri.
Amon's popularity was once again challenged by Pharaoh Akhenaten, who made an attempt to introduce a replacement god of the sun called Aten. During his rule he moved away from Thebes in order to establish the new religion nationwide. During that period he promoted the worship of Aten in an attempt to strengthen the new religion. He failed, as the popularity of the original sun god proved to be too strong for the Pharaoh, whose efforts appeared to harvest the opposite result. The more the pharaoh promoted the new god, the more people seemed to be drawn towards Amon, and Aten never gained any solid ground with the Egyptian people. After the Pharaoh died and was followed by the fabled Tutankhamen, Amon Re was once again restored to his former glory, as once again the worship to Amon Re was the official Egyptian religion. Most of the artifacts and objects regarding Aten that were created during the era of Pharaoh Akhenaten were demolished.
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