AMON-RE, KING OF THE GODS
The symbolic character , occupying the lower part of plate no. 5, is very rarely reproduced on Egyptian monuments of all periods. It is taken, as well as its legend, and the various colors which cover the varied members of which it is composed, from a fragment of a manuscript on canvas belonging to M. Dubois.
The hieroglyphic legend, placed to the left of the character, is only an abbreviation of a whole legend, and which reads ⲁⲙⲛ ⲣⲏ-ⲥⲧⲛ ⲛⲛⲉⲛⲟⲩⲧⲉ and means Amon-Re, king of the gods . We have here, then, a new form devoted to the representation of the Demiurge or creator of the universe; but this image of the supreme god must be classified among those which, in terms of archaeology, have been called panthean figures , either because they present, united in a single being, the symbols particular to a large number of different divinities, or, which is more natural and which applies particularly to our engraving, because they offer the union of all the symbols and all the forms proper to one and the same divinity. Until then, no Egyptian panthean figure was known .
We find, in fact, in this one, the human head with the two long feathers, and the scepter, of the ordinary image of Amon; the ram's heads , the disk and the goat's horns of Amon-Cnouphis or Cneph; the right arm armed with the flagrum or scourge , and the phallus of the Amon-Generator; the scarab which forms his torso; the scepter composed of the ansate cross and what is called a nilometer, one emblem of divine life, the other of stability , relate to Phtha , the first created being, the first emanation of Amon-Cnouphis.
The four horizontal wings are those of the scarab, symbol of generation, of the world and of paternity; the inclined wings are those of the hawk, whose body is annexed to the scarab; a crocodile's tail is between the hawk and the tail of a lion, whose paws carry the entire character. This figure representing Amon-Cnouphis, the spirit which penetrates, traverses and vivifies the different parts of the universe, it was fitting to compose his symbolic image of the various classes of beings that his creative breath animates. We notice there, in fact, a sparrowhawk, a lion and a crocodile; that is to say, a type of the three classes of animals that populate the air, the earth and the water.
The two feathers of the headdress are surmounted by two lion-headed serpents, which release two jets of light, represented by a series of small triangles, which serve as a sort of frame for the figure of Panthea. These serpents undoubtedly relate to the four lion-headed goddesses, who also pour out light, ordinary companions of Amon-Re in several symbolic scenes. This will be discussed in the part of the Pantheon relating to sacred animals and the emblems of the gods.
Amon-Re is depicted in form A of our fifth plate, on a bas-relief from Thebes; it is an abridgment of the previous one.
A third figure, Panthea of Amon-Re , somewhat similar to the first, decorates the front part of the famous Egyptian torso in the Borgia Museum, which today belongs to propaganda; it bears the simple legend, Supreme Lord ; the human face of the god is flanked by several heads of different animals; we notice there that of a bull, a lion, a ram, a crocodile and a hawk. This reunion of beings so different in nature, to represent the demiurgic power, is explained by the idea that the Egyptians formed of God: "They considered him as the first cause of generation, the principle of the whole of nature, as a being prior to all things, and who includes all things in himself ."
The most common title of Egyptian kings and great figures was that of consecrated to Amon-Re, king of the gods , or of purified by Amon-Re, king of the gods . This was the protective divinity of the Pharaohs, the one who received their richest offerings, and to whom they dedicated the most beautiful monuments.
