Montu was a deity represented by a falcon face, signifying in Egyptian religion the vigor and conquest of the pharaoh in battle. He was solely venerated and worshipped by the magnates of Egypt and in the government of Thebes, despite being a celestial omnipotence originating from the Delta.
He was predicted to be victorious when he came out of the womb, and he was given courage while he was in the egg. A bull with a steadfast heart as he walks through the sand, a pious king who comes out like Montu on the day of Montu, he was the god of war with the head of a falcon.
He was called the “lord of Thebes” although his main place of worship was 10 miles south in Hermonthis. In his hands he held various weapons, including the schimtar, bows and arrows, and knives.
Early in the history of Thebes, Montu was an important and prominent god. Later, when Amun became popular, Montu was relegated to the background and incorporated into the Theban cult of Amun. He was sometimes shown with the head of a bull during this period.
He was said to be the destructive element of the sun’s heat. It was also said that Montu killed the enemies of the sun from the bow of the sun’s night boat. During the Eleventh Dynasty, Montu was particularly powerful. Four kings in this period were named after him as Mentuhotep.
In all periods, Montu’s warrior aspect was evident. He was almost always seen carrying some kind of weapon and even killing the enemies of Egypt. In the famous account of the Battle of Kadesh, it is said that Ramses II saw the enemy and “was enraged with him like Montu, Lord of Thebes.”
1. Name
The name Montu, found in hieroglyphic figures, is basically written mntw, which translates as “Nomad.” Due to the problem of writing hieroglyphic vowels, it is often illustrated as Monthu, Mont, Ment, Montju, or Menthu.
2. Role and characteristics
The Egyptians believed that Montu would attack the enemies of Maat (i.e., truth and cosmic order), while inspiring glorious military exploits. It is possible that Montu-s and Atum-Ra symbolize the two kingdoms, respectively, of Upper and Lower Egypt. When they joined Horus, Montu’s epithet was “Horus of the Strong Arm.”
Because of the association of fierce bulls with strength and war, the Egyptians also believed that Montu manifested himself as a white bull with a black snout called Buchis (Hellenization of the original Bakha: a living bull venerated in Armant) – to the point that, in the late period (7th to 4th centuries BC), Montu was also depicted with a bull’s head. This special sacred bull had dozens of servants and wore valuable crowns and bibs.
In Egyptian art, Montu was depicted as a man with the head of a falcon or a bull, with the sun disk above his head (due to his conceptual link with Ra) and two feathers: the falcon as a symbol of the sky, the bull as a symbol of strength and war. He could also wield various weapons, such as a curved sword, a spear, a bow and arrows, or knives: this military iconography was widespread in the New Kingdom (16th-11th centuries BC).
Montu had several consorts, including the little-known Theban goddesses Tjenenyet and Iunit, and a female form of Ra, Raet-Tawy, and was also revered as one of the patrons of the city of Thebes and its fortresses. The rulers of the Eleventh Dynasty (c. 2134-1991 BC) chose Montu as their protective and dynastic deity, inserting references to him in their own names: for example, four pharaohs of the Eleventh Dynasty were called Mentuhotep, meaning “Montu (Mentu) is satisfied”:
The Greeks associated Montu with their god of war, Ares, although his assimilation to Apollo was not lost, probably due to the solar radiance that distinguished him.
3. Montu and the pharaohs at war
The cult of this military god enjoyed great prestige under the pharaohs of the Eleventh Dynasty, whose expansionist and military successes led, around 2055 BC, to the reunification of Egypt at the end of a period of chaos known as the First Intermediate Period, and to a new era of greatness for the country: the Middle Kingdom. 2055-1650 BC), a period in which Montu assumed the role of supreme god, only to be gradually supplanted by the other Theban god Amun, who was destined to become the most important deity in the Egyptian pantheon.
From the eleventh dynasty onwards, Montu was considered the symbol of the pharaohs as rulers, conquerors, and victors, as well as their inspiration on the battlefield. The armies were crowned with the insignia of the “four Montus” (Montu of Thebes, Armant, Medamud, and El-Tod: the main centers of worship of the god), all depicted trampling and piercing their enemies with a spear in a classic pugnacious pose.
A ceremonial battle axe, belonging to the funerary chest of Queen Ahhotep II, Great Royal Wife of the warlike Pharaoh Kamose (c. 1555-1550 BC), who lived between the 17th and 18th dynasties, depicts Montu as a proud winged griffin: an iconography clearly influenced by the same Syrian origin that inspired the Minoa.
The greatest general kings of Egypt called themselves “Mighty Bull,” “Son of Montu,” “Montu is with his strong/right arm” (Montuherkhepeshef: which was also the name of a son of Ramses II, one of Ramses III, and one of Ramses IX).
Thutmose III (c. 1479-1425 BC), “the Napoleon of Egypt,” was described in ancient times as a “Valiant Montu On The Battlefield.”An inscription by his son Amenhotep II (1427-1401 BC) recalls that the eighteen-year-old pharaoh was able to shoot arrows through copper targets while driving a war chariot, commenting that he had the skill and strength of Montu.
The latter’s grandson, Pharaoh Amenhotep III the Magnificent (c. 138) In the account of the Battle of Kadesh (c. 1274 BC), it is said that Ramses II the Great, who proudly called himself “Montu of the Two Lands,” saw the enemy and “was enraged against him like Montu, Lord of Thebes.”
His Majesty passed through the fortress of Tjaru, like Montu when he comes out. Every country trembled before him, fear was in their hearts. Good watch over life, prosperity, and health, in the tent of His Majesty, was in the highlands south of Kadesh. When His Majesty appeared like the rising of Re, he took on the adornments of his father, Montu.
4. Temples
Pharaoh Ptolemy IV Philopator (222-204 BC) worshipped Montu in the “Place of Truth” in various temples built for this deity.
Medamud
The Montu Temple complex at Medamud, ancient Medu, less than 5 kilometers northeast of present-day Luxor, was built by the great Pharaoh Senusret III (c. 1878-1839 BC) of the 12th Dynasty, probably on a pre-existing sacred site from the Old Kingdom (27th century BC).
The temple courtyard was used as a dwelling place for the living bull of Buchis, revered as an incarnation of Montu. The main entrance was to the northeast, while a sacred lake was probably on the west side of the sanctuary.
The building consisted of two adjoining sections, perhaps a temple to the north and a temple to the south (priests’ houses). It was built of mud bricks, while the innermost cell of the deity was built of cut stone. The temple complex at Medamud underwent major restoration and renovation during the New Kingdom, as well as in the Ptolemaic and Roman periods.
Armant
In Armant, the ancient Iuni, there was an impressive Temple of Montu at least since the Eleventh Dynasty, which may have originated in Armant. King Mentuhotep II is its first known builder, but the original complex was enlarged and embellished during the 12th Dynasty, the lesser-known 13th Dynasty (c. 1803-1649 BC), and later in the New Kingdom (especially under King Thutmose III).
Ramses II (1279-1213 BC) and his son Merneptah (1213-1203 BC) of the colossi and appendage statues of the 19th Dynasty. It was dismantled, except for a pylon, in the Late Period (7th and 4th centuries BC), but King Nectanebo II (360-342 BC), the last native pharaoh of Egypt, began building a new temple, which was continued by the Ptolemies.
In the 1st century BC, Cleopatra VII (51-30 BC) built a mammisi and a sacred lake there in honor of her son, the very young Ptolemy XV Caesarion. The building remained visible until 1861, when it was demolished to reuse its material in the construction of a sugar factory; however, engravings and previous studies (for example, the Napoleonic Description of Egypt) allow us to appreciate its appearance.
Only the remains of Thutmose III’s pylon can be seen, along with the ruins of two entrances, one of which was built under the 2nd-century Roman emperor, Pharaoh Antoninus Pius. The large complex at Armant also included the Bucheum, the necropolis of the sacred bulls of Buchis. The first burial of a Buchis in this special necropolis dates back to the reign of Nectanebo II (c. 340 BC), while the last took place during the reign of the emperor/pharaoh Diocletian (c. 300 AD).
Karnak and Uronarti
In the great temple complex of Karnak, north of the monumental temple of Amun, King Amenhotep III built a sacred enclosure for Montu, another temple that had been dedicated to him in the little-known fortress of Uronarti (near the Second Cataract of the Nile, specifically to the south of it) during the Middle Kingdom.
