66 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIII. 



the conjecture that she represented the deified no- 

 tion of the year. 



In her hand she holds the usual sceptre of the 

 Goddesses, and sometimes a palm-branch, with 

 the emblems of man in his early career of life, as 

 well as the figurative sign of the assemblies, which 

 marked fixed periods of time. 



The Deity of a month may very properly be 

 considered Thoth, or the Moon ; but the figures 

 representing some other divisions of time, as well 

 as the three seasons, are still unknown. 



Amunta, Amunt, or Tamun. 



This Goddess, who frequently occurs at Thebes, 

 has been considered a female Amun ; the only dif- 

 ference between her name and that of the Egyp- 

 tian Jupiter being the addition of the female sign, 

 or article t. She is also styled *' the President 

 of Thebes." She wears the crown of the Lower 

 Country, like the Goddess Neith, and she some- 

 times bears in either hand the sign of " water.^* 

 From her name she might be mistaken for the 

 west, JEfnenfy or the lower regions, A7nenti. But 

 the absence of the demonstrative signs indicating 

 either of them sufficiently contradicts this opinion : 

 and from her rank as second member of the second 

 Theban triad, composed of Amun-Generator, Ta- 

 mun, and Harka, it is evident that lier character 

 and office were very different from either of those 

 two. She may be one of the forms of the Egyp- 

 tian Minerva. 



