Editing Amunet (section)

=== Cult becomes localized ===
By at least the [[Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt]] (c. 1991–1803 BC), Amunet often was superseded by [[Mut]] as Amun's partner, as cults evolved or similar ones in other regions were merged following [[Mentuhotep II]]'s [[Upper and Lower Egypt|reunification of Egypt]]—but Amunet remained locally important in [[Thebes, Egypt|Thebes]], where Amun was worshipped.<ref name=":0" /> In that capitol of the unified country she was seen as a protector of the king, playing a preeminent role in rituals associated with the [[coronation of the pharaoh|royal coronation]] (''khaj-nisut'') and [[Sed festival]]s (''heb-sed'') celebrating its well-celebrated anniversaries,<ref name=":1" /> and priests were dedicated to Amunet's service at [[Karnak]], Amun's cult center.<ref>Wilkinson (2003), p. 136.</ref> In contrast to Mut, Amunet has been described as a merely a feminine abstraction of Amun, parallel to the other female-male pairs of the Ogdoad which she originally belonged to. Unlike the other female members of the Ogdoad, her cult grew in the Later period and a number of priests of Amunet are known from hieroglyphic and demonis sources.<ref>Klotz, David (2008).''Kneph: The Religion of Roman Thebes''. ProQuest LLC, Ann Arbor, p.88</ref> During festivaels she was represented by her own divine bark and a Roman Period Papyrus even mentions an edifice within Karnak called the open court of Amunet’as an important stop in the Khoiak festival. She held titles such as „Amunet the very great, lady of the two lands within Karnak“, and „Ruler in Thebes“, and is the only goddess mentioned within the Karnak temple complex in the Ramesside „Litany of Victorious Thebes“, as well as being the only one listed with Amun together as the principal deities of the Theban nome in a Late period Manual. This connection distinguishes her from the goddess Mut who in only associated with the Mut complex and the Isheru lake of the Mut Temple within the larger karnak temple complex <ref>Klotz (2008), pp. 88-89</ref>

Amunet appears most frequently alongside ithyphallic forms of Amun such as Amenope or Amun-Min-kamutef and never appears in temple scenes together with Khonsu or any other child gods. Thus while Amun, Mut and Khonsu form the classic Theban triad, Amunet only accompanies Amun.<ref>Klotz (2008), p.89</ref> In the [[Festival Hall of Thutmose III]] (c. 1479–1425 BC), Amunet is shown with the [[List of fertility deities|fertility god]] [[Min (god)|Min]] while leading a row of deities to visit the king in the anniversary celebration.<ref name=":1" /> Amunet is mythologically regarded as the mother-wife of Amun-Min, which is also indicated by his title “bull of his mother”.<ref>Sethe (1929), p.20</ref> Inscriptions from Karnak describe the goddess as „the mother together with the father in the beginning“ and as the embodiment of the primordial Lotus which gave birth to the sun god.<ref>Klotz (2008), p.91</ref> Amunet is also less frequently referred to as Amun's daughter or sister-wife in Karnak.<ref>Sethe (1929), p.34</ref>

In spite of Amunet's stable position as a local goddess of Egypt's most important city, her cult began to have very little following outside the Theban region that developed into a dominant religious center for the unified country.<ref name=":0" />

Amunet was depicted as a woman wearing the [[Deshret]] "Red Crown of [[Lower Egypt]]" and carrying a staff of [[papyrus]]—as in her colossal statue placed during the reign of [[Tutankhamun]] (c. 1332–1323 BC) into the Record Hall of [[Thutmose III]] at [[Karnak]]. The reason for this iconography is uncertain.<ref name=":0" /> At that time, the cult of Amun was being restored after being displaced by worship of [[Aten]] during the reign of [[Akhenaten]].

The Graeco-Roman texts emphasize the Ogdoad cosmogony, where Amun (the bull) and Amunet (the cow) are primordial creators, preceding and forming the Ogdoad, which consists of four bulls ([[Montu]]s) and four cows ([[Raet-Tawy|Raettawy]]s). Amun and Amunet's union symbolizes the creation of the sun, a key cosmogonic event. This is reflected in Amenope's epithet, "eldest of the primeval ones," and Amunet's designation as "the Great Cow that gave birth to Ra".<ref>Klotz (2008), p.75</ref> The goddess Raet is a female doublet of the sun god Ra, with whom both Montu and Amun were associated. In the Leiden Papyrus, Amun is described as “the one who appeared as Ra from the one who created what is and what is not, the father of fathers, the mother of mothers, the bull of those four young women of the first time.” Amun here embodies the four male aspects of the Ogdoad, which at the same time also embody Ra and Montu, who are supposed to unite with the four goddesses. In a demotic papyrus by Abusir el Meleq (Berl. Pap. 13603), Ptah-Tatennen, who is regarded here as a god superior to the Ogdoad, commands that the eight gods should unite and pour their seed into the great lake of Hermopolis, whereupon the first sun god emerges from this union.<ref name="Sethe 1929, p.85">Sethe (1929), p.85</ref>

In one of the Theban creation myths described in the Song of the Primal Gods, Amun hatched for the first time from an invisible egg at the Lake of the Two Knives (a mythological place that the sun god passes every day) on the Primal Hill in Hermopolis with Amunet as his companion.<ref name="Sethe 1929, p.85"/>

During the New kingdom period (since the 26th dynasty)Amun and Amaunet appear only outside of Thebes as members of the ogdoad while Theban traditions place them a generation above the Ogdoad and replace them with the twin pair Niau and Niaut.<ref>Sethe (1929), p.68</ref> On some of [[Ptolemy III Euergetes|Ptolemy Euergetes]]'s monuments at Thebes, on which the new pair of Niau and Niaut complete the number eight of the primordial gods, Amun and Amunet are equated with the pair of gods Nun and Naunet and are seen as the parents of the sun god Atum.<ref>Sethe (1929), pp.69-70</ref>

Although she remained a distinct deity as late as the [[Ptolemaic Kingdom]] (323–30 BC), in some late texts from Karnak Amunet was syncretized with [[Neith]] and she was carved suckling pharaoh [[Philip III of Macedon]] (323–317 BC) who appears as a divine child immediately after his own enthronement, onto an exterior wall of the eighteenth dynasty Festival Hall of Thutmose III at Karnak.<ref name=":1"/> Just like Neith, Amunet is called the „great cow who birthed Ra“, „mother of Ra“, „mother of light“ and "mother of god“.<ref>Klotz (2008, p.90</ref> <gallery mode="packed" widths="300" heights="300"> 
During the Greek period, Amunet was worshipped in her temple in Medinet Habu as the goddess of the north wind.<ref>Klotz (2008), p.78</ref>

File:The Nile boat or, glimpses of the land of Egypt - by W.H. Bartlett (1849) (14775173741).jpg|The most important cult center for Amunet<br>was the [[Precinct of Amun-Re|Temple of Amun]] at [[Karnak]]
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