High Priests of Amun

Examples of High Priests of Amun in the following topics:

• The Third Intermediate Period

  • Even in Ramesses XI's day, the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt was losing its grip on power in the city of Thebes, where priests were becoming increasingly powerful.
  • The Amun priests of Thebes owned 2/3 of all the temple lands in Egypt, 90% of ships, and many other resources.
  • Consequently, the Amun priests were as powerful as the Pharaoh, if not more so.
  • Meanwhile, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes effectively ruled Middle and Upper Egypt in all but name.
  • During this time, however, this division was relatively insignificant, due to the fact that both priests and pharaohs came from the same family.

• The New Kingdom

  • This was possibly a result of the foreign rule of the Hyksos during the Second Intermediate Period
  • One of the best-known Eighteenth Dynasty pharaohs is Amenhotep IV (c. 1353-1336 BCE), who changed his name to Akhenaten in honor of Aten and whose exclusive worship of the deity is often interpreted as the first instance of monotheism.
  • Toward the end of this dynasty, the Hittites had expanded their influence into Phoenicia and Canaan, the outcome of which would be inherited by the rulers of the Nineteenth Dynasty.
  • Ramesses II had a large number of children, and he built a massive funerary complex for his sons in the Valley of the Kings.
  • The power of the last pharaoh of the dynasty, Ramesses XI, grew so weak that, in the south, the High Priests of Amun at Thebes became the de facto rulers of Upper Egypt.

• Ancient Egyptian Religion

  • The pharaoh was associated with Horus (and later Amun) and seen as the son of Ra.
  • Inhabitants of the cosmos included the gods, the spirits of deceased humans, and living humans, the most important of which was the pharaoh.
  • Most important of these was the daily journey of the sun god Ra.
  • These included the sun god Ra, the creator god Amun, and the mother goddess Isis.
  • Ritual duties were normally carried out by priests, or government officials serving in the role.

• Religion in the Inca Empire

  • Inti was also associated with the growth of crops and material abundance, especially in the high Andes where the Inca centered their power.
  • The high priest of Inti was called the Willaq Umu.
  • Each province also had a temple with male and female priests worshipping the Inti cult.
  • Becoming a priest was considered one of the most honorable positions in society.
  • Female priests were called mamakuna, or “the chosen women,” and they wove special cloth and brewed chicha for religious festivals.

• Japanese Painting and Sculpture in the Kamakura Period

  • The Sōtō school was further expanded by Keizan: Sōtō priests say that if Dogen is the father of Japanese Sōtō Zen, Keizan Jokin (1268-1325) is its mother.
  • Others say that Dōgen gave Sōtō Zen "high religious ideals" while Keizan ensured Sōtō's survival.
  • His most famous works include a pair of Kongō-rikishi colossal statues in the Tōdai-ji temple of Nara, along with the elaborate portraiture-like statues of Indian priests in Kōfuku-ji.
  • Kaikei was another famous sculptor of the time, a collaborator of Unkei, and a devout adherent of Pure Land sect of Buddhism.
  • He worked closely with the priest Chōgen (1121–1206) on the reconstruction of the Tōdai-ji temple in Nara.

• The Phoenicians

  • The Aramaic alphabet, a modified form of Phoenician, was the ancestor of modern Arabic script, while Hebrew script is a stylistic variant of the Aramaic script.
  • Though ancient boundaries of city-centered cultures fluctuated, the city of Tyre held the southernmost border of Phoenician territory.
  • The high point of Phoenician culture and sea power is usually placed c. 1200-800 BCE, though many of the most important Phoenician settlements had been established long before this period.
  • These societies rested on three power-bases: the king; the temple and its priests; and the councils of elders.
  • One of its kings, the priest Ithobaal (887–856 BCE), ruled Phoenicia as far north as Beirut and Cyprus.

• Ancient Egyptian Monuments

  • Priests assisted in this effort.
  • Hypostyle halls (covered rooms filled with columns) led to peristyle courts (open courts), where the public could meet with priests.
  • It includes the 79-foot high First Pylon, friezes, statues, and columns.
  • This view of the Temple of Karnak shows they hypostyle hall, with massive columns.
  • Shown here is the entrance pylon of Luxor Temple, one of the major New Kingdom temples.

• Fours Schools of Economic Thought: Classical, Marxian, Keynesian, and the Chicago School.

  • A Finnish priest and member of parliament, he published a book called The National Gain in 1765, in which he proposed ideas about the freedom of trade and industry, explored the relationship between the economy and society, and laid out the principles of liberalism.
  • This school focuses on the labor theory of value and what Marx considers to be the exploitation of labor by capital.
  • Keynes attempted to explain, in broad theoretical detail, why high labor-market unemployment might not be self-correcting due to low "effective demand," and why neither price flexibility nor monetary policy could be counted on to remedy the situation.
  • Ben Bernanke, current Chairman of the Federal Reserve, is among the significant public economists today that generally accepts Friedman's analysis of the causes of the Great Depression.
  • The Marxist school of economic thought comes from the work of German economist Karl Marx.

• Cities of the Indus Valley Civilization

  • The quality of urban planning suggests efficient municipal governments that placed a high priority on hygiene or religious ritual.
  • There is no conclusive evidence of palaces or temples (or even of kings, armies, or priests), and the largest structures may be granaries.
  • Archaeological records provide no immediate answers regarding a center of authority, or depictions of people in power in Harappan society.
  • The first is that there was a single state encompassing all the communities of the civilization, given the similarity in artifacts, the evidence of planned settlements, the standardized ratio of brick size, and the apparent establishment of settlements near sources of raw material.
  • This map shows a cluster of Indus Valley Civilization cities and excavation sites along the course of the Indus River in Pakistan.

• Education Policy

  • The year of 1910 also saw the first true high schools.
  • Board of Education made the desegregation of elementary and high schools a national priority, while the Pell Grant program helped poor minorities gain access to college.
  • In 2008, the high school graduation rate was 77%, below that of most developed countries.
  • In addition, the ratio of college-educated adults entering the workforce to general population (33%) is slightly below the mean of other developed countries (35%) and rate of participation of the labor force in continuing education is high.
  • Priest, 5 Cal.3d 584 (1971), were initially concerned with equity in funding, which was defined in terms of variations in spending across local school districts.