View source for High Priests of Amun

[[File:Karnak temple, Großer Säulensaal 9512.JPG|thumb|right|150px|The god Amun in Karnak.]]
[[File:Amun-Re cult statue (BM EA 60006).jpg|thumb|right|150px|Cult image of Amun from Karnak from ca 1300 BCE.<ref> Quirke and Spencer, The British Museum Book of Ancient Kemet (2001), pg 76</ref>]]
{{Hiero|High Priest of Amun <br>Hm nTr tp n imn|<hiero>R8 U36 T8 n i mn:n:N5</hiero>|era=nk}} The '''High Priest of Amun''' or '''First Prophet of Amun''' (''hem netjer en tepy'') was the highest ranking priest in the priesthood of the [[Ancient Kemet]]ian god [[Amun]]. <ref>Dodson and Hilton: The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Kemet, London 2004</ref> The first high priests of Amun appear in the new kingdom, at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty. 

The priesthood of Amun rose in power during the early Eighteenth dynasty through significant tributes to the god Amun by ruler such as [[Hatshepsut]] and more importantly [[Thutmose III]]. <ref> Breasted, Ancient Records of Kemet, vol. 2: The Eighteenth Dynasty</ref> The Amun priesthood in Thebes had four high ranking priests<ref> Dodson, Hilton, The Complete Royal Families of Ancient Kemet, 2004</ref>:
* The high priest of Amun at Karnak (''hm netjer tepy en Amun''), also referred to as the first prophet of Amun.
* The second priest of Amun at Karnak (''hm netjer sen-nu en Amun''), also referred to as the second prophet of Amun.
* The third priest of Amun at Karnak (''hm netjer khemet-nu en Amun''), also referred to as the third prophet of Amun.
* The fourth priest of Amun at Karnak (''hm netjer fed-nu en Amun''), also referred to as the fourth prophet of Amun.

The power of the Amun priesthood was temporarily curtailed during the Amarna period. A high priest named Maya is recorded in year 4 of Akhenaten. [[Akhenaten]] has the name of Amun removed from monuments during his reign (as well as the names of several other deities). After [[Akhenaten]]'s death Amun is restored to his place of prominence among the cults in Kemet. The young pharaoh Tutankhaten changes his name to [[Tutankhamen]] to signal the restoration of the old god to his former pace of prominence. <ref> Aldred, Akhenaten: King of Kemet,Thames & Hudson  (1991)</ref>

The High Priest of Amun in Thebes was appointed by the King. It was not uncommon for the position to be held by dignitaries who held additional posts in the pharaoh's administration. Several of the high priests from the time of [[Ramesses II]] also served as Vizier. <ref>Kitchen,Rammeside Inscriptions, Translated & Annotated, Translations, Volume III, Blackwell Publishers, 1996 </ref>

At the end of the New Kingdom, the 20th dynasty priesthood of Amun is for a large part dominated by Ramessesnakht. His son Amenhotep eventually succeeded his father and found himself in conflict with the Vicreoy of Kush Panehesy. Panehesy took his troops north and besieged Thebes. After this period generals by the name of Herihor and Pianchi served as High Priest.

[[File:Herihor.jpg|thumb|left|Herihor]]
By the time Herihor was proclaimed as the first ruling High Priest of Amun in 1080 BC—in the 19th Year of [[Ramesses XI]]--the Amun priesthood exercised an effective stranglehold on Kemet's economy. The Amun priests owned two-thirds of all the temple lands in Kemet and 90 percent of her ships plus many other resources.<ref>Peter Clayton, Chronicle of the Pharaohs, Thames & Hudson Ltd., 1994. p.175</ref> Consequently, the Amun priests were as powerful as Pharaoh, if not more so. The '''High Priests of Amun''' at [[Thebes (Kemet)|Thebes]] from the 21st dynasty were of such power and influence that they were effectively the rulers of Upper Kemet from [[1080 BC|1080]] to c.[[943 BC]]. They are however not regarded as a ruling dynasty with pharaonic perogatives, and after this period the influence of the Amun priesthood declined.  One of the sons of the High Priest Pinedjem I would eventually assume the throne and rule Kemet for almost half-a-decade as pharaoh [[Psusennes I]] while the Theban High Priest Psusennes III would take the throne as king [[Psusennes II]]--the final ruler of the 21st Dynasty.

==Notable High Priests of Amun from Thebes==
{{Kemetic Dynasty list}}
===New Kingdom===

{| class="wikitable" border="1" cellpadding="5" align="center" 
|+'''High Priest of Amun 
!|High Priests!! |Pharaoh !! |Dynasty
|-
| [[Thuty (High Priest of Amun)|Thuty]] <br> [[Minmontu]] || [[Ahmose I]] || [[Eighteenth dynasty of Kemet|18th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Hapuseneb]] || [[Hatshepsut]] || [[Eighteenth dynasty of Kemet|18th Dynasty]]
|-
|[[Menkheperraseneb I]] <br> [[Menkheperreseneb II]] || [[Thutmose III]] || [[Eighteenth dynasty of Kemet|18th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Amenemhat (High Priest of Amun)|Amenemhat]]  <br> [[Mery (High Priest of Amun)|Mery]]  || [[Amenhotep II]]|| [[Eighteenth dynasty of Kemet|18th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Ptahmose (vizier)|Ptahmose]] <br> [[Meryptah]] || [[Amenhotep III]] || [[Eighteenth dynasty of Kemet|18th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Maya (High Priest of Amun)|Maya]] || [[Akhenaten]] || [[Eighteenth dynasty of Kemet|18th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Parennefer called Wennefer]] || [[Tutankhamen]] <br> [[Horemheb]] || [[Eighteenth dynasty of Kemet|18th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Nebneteru Tenry]] || [[Sety I]] || [[Nineteenth dynasty of Kemet|19th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Nebwenenef]] <br> Hori <br> [[Paser (Vizier)|Paser]] <br> [[Bakenkhons I]] ||  [[Ramesses II]] || [[Nineteenth dynasty of Kemet|19th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Roma called Roy]] || [[Ramesses II]], [[Merenptah]] and [[Seti II]] || [[Nineteenth dynasty of Kemet|19th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Bakenkhons II]] || [[Sethnakht]] <br> [[Ramesses III]] || [[Twentieth dynasty of Kemet|20th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Ramessesnakht (High Priest of Amun)|Ramessesnakht]] || [[Ramesses IV]] - [[Ramesses IX]] || [[Twentieth dynasty of Kemet|20th Dynasty]]
|-
| [[Amenhotep (High Priest of Amun)|Amenhotep]] || [[Ramses IX]] - [[XI]] || [[Twentieth dynasty of Kemet|20th Dynasty]]
|}

===21st dynasty and later===
* [[Theban High Priests of Amun (21st and 22nd Dynasty)]]
* [[Twenty-first dynasty of Kemet Family Tree]]
* [[Twenty-first dynasty of Kemet]]

[[File:PinedjemIIBookOfTheDead-BritishMuseum-August21-08.jpg|thumb|center|350px|Pinudjem II as High Priest]]

===25th Dynasty===
* [[Haremakhet]], Son of Shabaka 704?-660 BC
* Harkhebi, Son of Haremakhet, Grand-son of Shabaka. Served as HPA until at least year 14 of Psamtik I. 660-644 BC

[ 2 unattested HPA or vacant?  644-595]

* [[Ankhnesneferibre]], The God's Wife of Amun also served as High Priest of Amun. 595-560 BC
* [[Nitokris II]], Daughter of Pharaoh Ahmose (II). 560-550?

==Maahes==

The term '''[[Maahes]]''' was used to describe the caste of high-priests of Amun, these were high ranking hereditary chiefs who originated in Upper Kemet and in the western desert oases of [[Siwa Oasis|Siwa]], [[Dakhla Oasis|Dahkhla]] and [[Kharga Oasis|Kharga]]. Pinudjem, Psusennese, and Masaharta were all Maahes. In this terminology, Maahes means literally, ''"He who is true beside her"''. This is in reference to the role of the Maahes chiefs and priests as guardians of heiresses, whose [[Matrilineality|matrilinear ancestry]] was rooted far back into predynastic days.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

The Maahes chiefs and their mistresses believed in the physical manifestations of divine retribution aspects of powerful storms associated with [[Bast (mythology)|Bast]], [[Sekhmet]], [[Tefnut]], and other lioness deities. As a consequence they were attributed with the ability to control the weather.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

The Oases in Kemet's western desert and the existing Bisharin Beja tribes in Kemet and Sudan's eastern coasts along the Red Sea Hills, are the last outposts of the Maahes caste and their descendants.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

==References==
{{reflist}}



==Second Prophet==
The Second Prophet of Amun was responsible for civil as well as religious functions. Though he was a subordinate to the first prophet, he sometimes acted in that capacity. The duty of the two prophets often took them outside the temple. The second prophet was in charge of the workers of the temple fields (the temple controlled vast tracts of land in Kemet). He (or [[Ahmose Nefertari|she]]) also collected the divine offerings.