Expression of agreement or confirmation used in worship by Jews, Christians, and Muslims. The word derives from a Semitic root meaning “fixed” or “sure.” The Greek Old Testament usually translates it as “so be it”; in the English Bible it is often translated as “verily” or “truly.” By the 4th century BC, it was a common response to a doxology or other prayer in the Jewish temple liturgy. By the 2nd century AD, Christians had adopted it in the liturgy of the Eucharist, and in Christian worship a final amen now often sums up and confirms a prayer or hymn. Though less common in Islam, it is used after reading of the first sura.
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Egyptian deity revered as king of the gods. Amon may have originally been one of the eight deities of the Hermapolite creation myth. His cult spread to Thebes, where he became patron of the pharaohs by Mentuhotep I's reign (2008–1957 BCE) and was identified with the sun god Re. Represented as a human, a ram, or both, Amon-Re was worshiped with the goddess Mut and the youthful god Khons. Akhenaton directed his reforms against the cult of Amon, but with little success, and Amon's status was restored in the 14th–13th century BCE. In the New Kingdom, Amon came to be seen as one of a triad with Ptah and Re, and in the 11th–10th century BCE as a universal god who intervened in affairs of state by speaking through oracles.
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