holding a curved sword or spear. In later periods,
he was associated with the bull at Armant. This
explains the reason behind some representations
of this god with the head of a bull, especially in
areas such as Armnat and Medamud, where the
cult of the bull was the most dominant. Some of
the important pharaohs liked to compare them-
selves to the “eager bull” in the battlefields.
During the New Kingdom, the role of Montu in
war is clearly mentioned on some of the archaeolog-
ical documents such as the Stela of Thothmose III,
discovered at Gebel Berkel, which describes the king
as “a valiant Montu on the battlefield.” From the
4th century BC, black and white bull statues were
kept in the Montu temple at Armant. These “Buchis
Bulls” symbolized the twin souls of Re and Osiris.
Besides his main role as the god of war, Montu was
also known for being a protector of the happy home.
Like many other gods, he was identified with the
sun god Re in the form of Montu Re, while also
being identified with Atum in his solar guise. His
cult survived for a long period of time, and, as was
the case with many other Egyptian gods and god-
desses, he was identified with the Greek god Aries,
god of war. Montu has been depicted in the com-
pany of three consorts: Tjenet, Iunyt, and Rettawy.
He was also mentioned in some texts with “Seth,”
perhaps as a contrast between controlled and
uncontrolled power or to keep the balance between
the power of good and the power of evil.
Shaza Gamal IsmailSeealsoSekhmet
Further Readings
Bedford, D. (2002).The Ancient Gods Speak:A Guide
to the Egyptian Religion. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Bierbrier, M. (1999).Historical Dictionary of Ancient
Egypt. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
Pinch, G. (2002).Handbook of Egyptian Mythology.
Washington, DC: Library of Congress.
MOON
The moon is held to be the origin of life. Its seem-
ingly magical ability to undergo metamorphosis
from a thin sliver to a full orb, to disappear com-
pletely only to return and continue the process all
over again, made it a natural symbol for cycles of
life and the basis for the reckoning of time.
“Months” are typically counted from new moon to
new moon, with 13 months occurring in a year. The
predictability of this 29½-day cycle made the moon
the celestial body of choice to mark religious cere-
monies, with many being held at the new moon.
The moon’s cycle is linked to the seasons, agri-
cultural phenomena, and the menstrual cycle of a
woman because of her seemingly “magical” abil-
ity to cause blood to appear at intervals that
closely correspond to the moon’s cycle. For this
reason, the moon is considered to have feminine
attributes. Among the Akan, Bambuti, Dorobo,
Luo, and Sandawe, the moon is a feminine deity.
Other cultures perceive the moon as a companion
of God or the mother (or sister of the sun). In
some areas of the continent, women track their
pregnancy in terms of lunar months.
The connection between the moon and women
as the origin of life could factor into creation sto-
ries that hold the moon to be connected to life and
death. Among the San, the moon decreed that
people were to die and come back just as the
moon dies and returns, but the hare contradicted
the moon’s proclamation by saying people will die
and stay dead. The quarrel was settled by decree-
ing that men and women will die, but are to have
children, increasing the number of the San. In a
similar story from the Congo, a toad quarrels with
the moon over creating humans. The toad creates
humans first, but the moon is outraged, descends
to Earth, consumes the toad, creates humans who
are more intelligent and live longer, and ascends
back into the sky. In Zimbabwe, the first human
created was Mwuetsi, the moon. Tore, the creator
god of peoples of the DRC, also used the moon to
create the first man. In ancient Kemet, the origin
of human souls and the Nile River was the moon.
In addition, Hathor and Isis were identified with
the moon.
The moon was not always figured as feminine:
Khonsu and Djehuty of ancient Kemet were lunar
deities with masculine attributes. Heru, the con-
summate neter (god) of masculinity, was associ-
ated with the moon as the night version of the sun.
Perhaps the Nuer echo this when the say God
shines through the moon. The Zulu maintain the
moon has two wives.426 Moon