(Amunet) ‘The Hidden’ (fem.), a Goddess belonging to the Hermopolitan Ogdoad but who, unlike the other Goddesses in the group, had an independent cult as consort of the God Amun. She is represented as a woman wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt and is distinguished thus from Amun’s other consort, Mut, who wears the double crown of Egypt united. A certain degree of convergence between Amaunet and Mut can be seen in the naming after Amaunet of a vulture amulet (Ritner 1993, 52), but Amaunet and Mut remain distinct, as can be seen from instances where they are pictured together with Amun in the same image. In a scene from Luxor temple depicting Amun’s annual procession to Luxor from Karnak at the festival of Opet, celebrating the union of Amun and Mut, on the outbound journey from Karnak to Luxor Amun is depicted accompanied by Mut, while on the journey back to Karnak he is depicted accompanied by Amaunet. In a fragmentary demotic cosmogony involving the Ogdoad, it is said that the Ogdoad transformed themselves, the four males coalescing into a single black bull, the four females into a black cow, this bull and cow being none other than Amun and Amaunet, who thus unite in themselves the potencies of the group as a whole (Sauneron and Yoyotte 1959, 58).
Ritner, Robert K. 1993. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago.
Sauneron, Serge and Jean Yoyotte. 1959. “La Naissance du Monde selon l’Égypte Ancienne.” Pp. 17-91 in La Naissance du Monde. Paris: Éditions du Seuil.
