|
|
According to numerous sources
from the antiquity, such as Diodorus and Quintus Curtius, a
bezel of a ring was the Siwa oracle's original form. Then the
oracle` s form became a ram’s head which is the symbol of Amun.
The Greeks discovered the oracle of Amun in 637 BC when they
established Cyrene, the present Libya; after that, the Greek
religion absorbed the oracle and associated it with the Egypt's Amun. The legend says that Andromeda was cursed by this the
oracle of Amun: she was tied and eaten by a sea-serpent.
According to other legends, Hercules came to oracle before he
had the fight with Bursiris. Also, Perseus visited the oracle of
Amun before he killed Medusa. There was an intention of
destroying the oracle that came from Cambyses, the Egypt` s
ruler from 525 to 522 BC. His intention failed because the
Egyptian ruler lost his army in the Western Desert` s sand
storm. Pliny also believes that the dreaded sand storm was
caused by a miraculous and sacred stone from the temple, which
is said to have been touched by sacrilegious hands. Alexander
the Great also visited the oracle of Amun in 331 BC to find out
if he was Zeus son. Being the son of Zeus implied that he was
not only the Egyp's legitimate ruler but also the ruler of the
territories that Alexander the Great conquered. After he
captured Egypt, an oracle's manifestation with eighty priests
was held in the city. After he came to the Amun oracle,
Alexander the Great was represented with the ram` s horns, the
god Amun's symbolic. But it seems that this was not the only
time when Alexander visited the oracle of Amun, he may consulted
it with other occasions. |
|
