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In Egyptian mythology,
Amunet (also spelled Amonet, Amaunet, Amentet, Amentit, Imentet,
Imentit, and Ament) was originally the female form of the
originally androgynous god Amun. Amun/Amunet
was originally the deification of the primordial concept of
air, in the Ogdoad cosmogony, Amun's
name meaning (one who) is hidden, and Amunet's simply being
the female form. Like all females in the Ogdoad,
Amunet was depicted either as a snake or as a snake-headed
woman.
When Amun became regarded with greater
importance, and his identity increasingly overlapped with
that of Atum, Amaunet, as his female
form, became increasingly identified with Iusaaset, Atum's
shadow. By becoming identified as Iusaaset, Amaunet was regarded
as the mother of creation, and was seen as owning the tree
from which life emerged. The androgeneity of Amun/Amaunet
lead to Amaunet being said to be the mother who is father.
The name hidden one was also sometimes used to refer to the
underworld, and so Amaunet grew increasingly associated with
providing a welcome to the newly dead, since the tree she
was associated with was said to be near Heliopolis, the place
that bread was provided for the surrounding population, during
winter.
As Amun was increasingly identified
as a significant god, rather than mere concept, so Amaunet
became increasingly identified as a distinct female goddess,
eventually being said to be Amun's
wife.
As Amaunet still was the goddess of air, she was sometimes
depicted as a winged goddess, or as a woman with a hawk, or
ostrich feather, on her head. When she was later displaced
as Amun's consort by Mut,
she was said, as representing the air, to have become the
lesbian consort of Iabet, the moon itself, and was depicted
as such on tombs, coffins, and sarcophagi.
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