Montu

because of this god’s -ssociation with the successful king nebhepetre montuhotep i (or ii, same king), who ruled during egypt’s 11th dynasty, montu (mentu) achieved the rank of state god. montuhotep i reunited upper and lower egypt after the chaos of the first intermediate period. his -ssociation with montu is obvious from his name, which means, “montu is satisfied.” however, by the 12th dynasty, montu became subordinated to amun, another deity who probably originated in upper egypt, and would later be known as the “king of g-ds”. it was during this period that montu’s role in egyptian religion took on the true attributes of a war god.
actually, montu’s veneration as a war god can be traced originally to the story of sinuhe, where montu was praised by the tale’s hero after he defeated the “strong man” of retjenu. by the new kingdom, 18th dynasty pharaohs, some of whom followed a very military tradition, sought specifically to emulate montu. for example, the gebel barkal stele of tuthmosis iii, often referred to as the napoleon of egypt, describes the king as “a valiant montu on the battlefield”. later in the new kingdom, he became so personally identified with the ramesses ii that a cult statue bearing the king’s throne name, usermaare setepenre, with the epithet, “montu in the two lands”, was venerated in ramesses ii’s honor during his lifetime. when kings such as ramesses ii are referenced as “mighty bulls”, they are claiming the -ssociation with montu as his son. it should also be noted that montu had a connection with egyptian households and was probably considered a protector of the happy home. he was often cited in marriage doc-ments. one doc-ment from deir el-medina invokes the rage of a husband to his unfaithful wife with, “it is the abomination of montu!”