Editing Amunet (section)

=== Primeval counterparts ===
The goddess originated as a female doublet of the god Amun.<ref name=":0" />  Female doublets are distinguished  from their male counterparts mainly by the feminine ending of their name. They did not receive a cult worship of their own until the late period. The most famous Female doublets are the four pairs of the [[Ogdoad (Egyptian)|Ogdoad]] of which Amunet was originally a part of.<ref>Hornung, Erik (1982).''Conceptions of God in ancient Egypt'' '': the one and the many''. Ithaca:  Cornell University Press. pp. 85-86</ref> Her name, {{lang|egy|[[wikt:jmnt#Etymology 2|jmnt]]}}, is a feminine noun that means "The Hidden One".As a member of the [[Ogdoad (Egyptian)|Ogdoad]] of [[Hermopolis]], she represented aspects of the primeval existence before the [[creation myth|creation]]: Amunet was paired with Amun—whose name also means "The Hidden One", with a masculine ending (''[[wikt:jmn#Etymology 1|jmn]]'')—within this divine group, from the earliest known documentation.<ref name=":0" /> Such pairing of deities is characteristic of the religious concepts of the ancient Egyptians. In early concepts known as the [[Ogdoad (Egyptian)|Ogdoad]], the primeval deity group to which they belonged as "Night" (or as the determinative D41 meaning "to halt, stop, deny", suggesting the principle of inactivity or repose),<ref>Budge, Wallis A., ''[https://archive.org/stream/godsofegyptianso00budg The Gods of the Egyptians: Or, Studies in Egyptian Mythology]'', 1904, volume 1</ref> was composed of four balanced couples of deities or deified primeval concepts.<ref>Hart (1986), p. 148.</ref>

The [[Pyramid Texts]], the earliest known religious texts of Ancient Egypt, mention "the beneficent shadow of Amun and Amunet":<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.maat.sofiatopia.org/amun.htm|title=ANCIENT EGYPT : Amun and the One, Great & Hidden|website=www.maat.sofiatopia.org|access-date=2018-04-25}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|text=O Amun and Amunet! You pair of the gods, who joined the gods with their shadow.|sign=|source=PT 446c}}

The German Egyptologist Kurt [[Kurt Sethe|Sethe]] suggests that the names Amun and Amunet were originally used as epithets for the twin pair [[Shu (Egyptian god)|Shu]] and [[Tefnut]], who, in the Heliopolitan tradition, were the first children of the creator god Atum. Sethe further proposed that the eight primeval gods were established in the early religion of Memphis as the manifestations of the creator-god Ptah. The theology of [[Memphis, Egypt|Memphis]] placed [[Ptah]] on the top of the creation chain by making him the embodiement of the primordial waters from which Atum was born.<ref>Sethe, Kurt Heinrich (1929). ''Amun und die acht Urgötter von Hermopolis  eine Untersuchung über Ursprung und Wesen des aegyptischen Götterkönigs''. Berlin: Verlag der Akademie und Wissenschaft. pp.34-41</ref> Originally, Amunet was intended as the consort of Amun, just as the other female members of the Ogdoad formed pairs with their male counterparts. The cosmogonic text Theb. T. 283b describes the emergence of the female members of the Ogdoad with the following words: "The Eight came into being there (in Thebes), consisting of their four men and one woman for each."<ref>Sethe (1982), p.86</ref>

The move of the cult of Amun and Amunet from Hermopolis to Thebes likely occurred no earlier than in the 11th Dynasty. The earliest records of Theban worship of Amun appear during the reign of King [[Intef I|Intef]] the Great, who expanded Theban control northward, seizing Abydos and pushing the frontier to the 10th nome.At that time, Hermopolis, the home of the Ogdoad and Amunet as one of its members, belonged to the kings of the 10th dynasty who ruled from Heracleopolis Magna. The establishment of a distinct cult for Amun and Amunet in Thebes may have been a strategic move by the Thebans to undermine their rivals by appropriating a deity of significant importance to them.It is possible that a Theban king established a new sanctuary for Amun in Thebes to claim the god's support and strengthen his rule. Amun's role as an oracle deity may have also positioned Thebes as a competing religious center against Hermopolis <ref>Sethe (1929), pp.116-117</ref>