Draft:Amon Temple (Siwa)

• Comment: The lack of proper sources is the main problem of the article.
  Other minor issues:
  * Reviewing the sources in the article is difficult. They need proper formatting using {cite book}, {cite web}, {cite journal}, etc.
  * The source "Les cultes d'Amon hors de Thèbes. Recherches de géographie religieuse" only mentions the temple and should be deleted. "D'Hérodote à Alexandre. L'appropriation gréco-macédonienne d'Ammon de Siwa" is a good source, though.
  * The source from Strabo's Geographica should be 17.1.43.
  * Some parts of the article have a non-neutral point of view.
  * The category should be Egypt, not Libya.
  As a comment, the article in Arabic [1] has some sources that could prove useful. — Itzcuauhtli11 (talk) 04:27, 24 June 2025 (UTC)

• Comment: This was copied/translated from fr:Temple d'Amon (Siwa). — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 19:58, 26 June 2025 (UTC)

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This page is about the temple in Siwa. For other temples, see Temple of Amun.

The Temple of Amun located in Siwa stands to the northwest of the Aghurmi rock, the ancient capital of the oasis. Its oracle played a decisive role in the conquest of Ancient Egypt by Alexander the Great, who visited Siwa in order to have his power and reign over Egypt legitimized by the oracle of Amun.

The sanctuary lies at the crossroads of several cultures, notably Cyrene, Egypt, and the Mediterranean world. This is why the original identity of the deity worshipped in Siwa is difficult to define. It was probably a Libyan variant of Amun, worshipped in the oasis in criocéphalic form (ram-headed). When the Egyptians took control of the oasis, they interpreted the deity as a local form of their Theban Amun, who could indeed be represented in ram-headed form.

As part of its strategy of expansion toward the Mediterranean Sea, the Saite dynasty carried out additions and enlargements to a temple probably already built by Libyan dynasts. Amasis II is probably the pharaoh behind the construction of the temple in the Late Period.

Despite the destruction in 1970 of the houses that had hidden it, what remains of the Temple of Amun hardly allows one to imagine its former splendor.

Besides the consultation by Alexander — which would crystalize the oracle and its god in the narrative traditions surrounding Alexander's charismatic figure — the oracle was also consulted earlier by major political figures of the Greek world, such as the Athenian general Cimon, the Spartan Lysander, and Alcibiades.

The multicultural and marginal nature of this oracle, compared to mainland sanctuaries like Delphi (subject to greater political pressure), gave it a role in strategies of cultural mediation. It was also used as an anti-Persian model, since, according to tradition, Cambyses II had attempted to destroy the oracle during his domination of Egypt.

It is in this context that Alexander and the Greco-Macedonian elite used the oracle’s message as a tool of anti-Persian propaganda, thereby legitimizing Egypt’s alliance in the war against the Great King.

After Alexander, the oracle was still consulted by the conqueror himself, regarding the heroic and divine honors for the deceased Hephaestion, and later by the Rhodians to honor Ptolemy I after his assistance during the Siege of Rhodes in 305 BC.

After this, the oracle ceased to receive important visits and underwent no further development — a surprising fact, considering the major role it played in shaping the image of Alexander. Strabo attested to the oracle’s religious decline in the Hellenistic world by the 1st century BC.

Description

Its entrance is in Egyptian style, except for two columns in Doric style that evoke Greek architecture. Two rooms lead to the naos, which is also accessible via a narrow corridor used by the priest to deliver the oracle.

References

This page will be placed in the following categories if it is moved to the article namespace.

Categories:

• Ancient Libya