Amen, the bygone lord of the Amazigh. Amen was one of the Principal gods among the pre-Islamic Amazigh. Yet despite his preeminent importance, like most of the pagan Amazigh religion, no indigenous myths of his survive. However, one can find sparse details of his that have survived the ages. Amen was likely the chief god of the pantheon, possibly serving as the creator god as well. He was associated with water, the sky, the wind and perhaps the sun as well. His primary trait however was his deep association with sheep, he was commonly depicted with ram iconography, sometimes just with the horns while other times he was depicted with a full ram’s head, occasionally even seen with the full body of a ram. This significance extended to sheep as well, as they were revered by the ancient Amazigh for their connection to Amen, being referred to under his name as well. Amen’s wife was most likely Ament, her potential role in Amazigh culture is unknown, but it’s possible she was associated with the earth or the underworld. Amen was also known to have two children, one in the war god Gurzil, and the other in the ancient mythical Libyan king Larbas. According to a romanized account, when Larbas’ army was crossing the Libyan desert they began to endure lethal dehydration. So in his time of need, Larbas called upon his father who sent him a divine ram. Larbas followed this ram until it stopped, when the ram stuck its hooves in the ground a large oasis sprang forth from beneath the earth, saving Larbas and his men.
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More commonly recognized under his Egyptian name Amun, Amen’s Amazigh ancestry is debated in English sources as his first recorded mention was in the Egyptian pyramid texts. At first, it was thought that Amun originated in Egypt, ultimately being adopted by the Libyan Amazigh. Despite this narrative still being spread in the modern day, it has been found that Amun likely originated from the Amazigh. Not only can the name Amun be traced back to the Amazigh language, but he was even associated with Libya in Egyptian inscriptions and was regularly depicted with Libyan motifs, Greek literature even attested to its origin in Libya. In all likelihood, Amen was probably indigenous to the Amazigh before spreading to the neighboring Egypt and becoming Amun.
Amen was an incredibly popular god in the ancient world, spreading across many cultures. Amen was introduced to the Kushites and Nubians possibly through Egypt, replacing their own god Apedemak as their chief god. Amen was worshipped in Greece as well, usually worshipped under the name Zeus-Ammon he was usually viewed as a form of Zeus, even appearing on Greek coinage. During Alexander the Great’s war against Egypt he came across Amen’s cult center in the Siwa Oasis. Allegedly, Amen’s oracle pronounced Alexander the Great as the son of Ammon and the rightful pharaoh of Egypt, leading to the successful conquest of Egypt. The legitimacy of this is disputed, as it was Alexander the Great’s own court historians who alleged this, with the actual nuances left unknown. Nonetheless, Alexander the Great primarily worshipped Ammon throughout his life. After his death, Alexander’s likeness was minted on Greek coins, being depicted with Ammon’s horns. These horns were associated with him so deeply that even his Arabic literary rendition called him “Dhul al-Qarnyan” translating to “the two horned one”. Interpretations of Ammon differed in Greece as in one myth, euhemeristic in nature, Ammon is the mortal king of Libya married to the Greek goddess Rhea. When Ammon meets Amalthea the two fall in love and have a child named Dionysus. The jealous Rhea wages war against Ammon with the Titans, but Ammon is able to fend them off with the help of Dionysus. Later on, Ammon would also be associated with Zeus’ Roman successor Jupiter, being known as Jupiter-Ammon. Amen even interacted with the Semitic people as well, mingling with the Phoenicians. From their interactions, Amen was conflated and fused with the likes of Baal and El, becoming Baal-Hammon, the chief god of Carthage. Baal-Hammon was also associated with horns similar to both his Semitic and Amazigh ancestors with his title of Baal Qarnaim, translating to “Lord of the Two Horns”. Baal-Hammon was also conflated with the Syrian Dagan.
As said previously, the Siwa Oasis was the home to Amen’s lone oracle and was the god’s major cult center. The Siwa Oasis wasn’t the location’s original name, with its current name coming from Arabic. The Egyptians called it the “Field of trees”, another name they gave it was “Sa on the fringe”. Other times it was referred to with the same name as Amen. The name Sa was likely the original ancient Amazigh name for Siwa, later coming to be known under the name Sali, and in modern Amazigh Isiwan. Historically existing on the very edge of Egypt, it’s always been mainly comprised of an indigenous Amazigh population. While Egypt exercised minor control over the Siwa Oasis, it was also linked with the nearby Amazigh Libyans.
Originally it was thought that the Egyptian Amun’s association with rams was a later purely Egyptian invention, however it was likely an indigenous aspect to Amen. The reverence for rams has long been known to be a staple of Amazigh and Libyan culture, with rock art tracing the worship of solar rams back to the Neolithic era. Amen’s name has been rendered multiple different ways across the ages, such as the Egyptian Amun and Imen, the Nubian Amani, the Greek Ammon, the Punic Hammon, and the Amazigh Amon, Aman, and Amen. His Egyptian name Amun is thought to mean “the hidden/invisible one”. In particular the Greeks attributed his name Ammon to the Greek ammos, meaning “sand” or “sandy”. All of these names are derived from their Amazigh root. Amen’s name means “lord” and “god” in the Turareg dialect, and is related to the universal Tamazight word Amman meaning “water”, emphasizing Amen’s association with water along with his link with Oasis’s. The Guanches of the Canary Islands directly descend from the Amazigh people, as such they also have ties to Amen. In the Guanche language, the word Aman means “lord”, likely deriving from the Amazigh Amen, and is even present in the name of the Guanche god Achamán, the two even share aspects roles as the chief primordial sun god.
Some have speculated that the Abrahamic phrase amen owes its origin to the Amazigh god, however this is likely a coincidence, as the two have historically been spelled differently across the two cultures.
