Menthu |
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In Egyptian mythology, Menthu was a hawk-god, of war. Menthu's name is shown in Egyptian hieroglyphs to the right. It is technically transcribed as mntw. Because of the difficulty in transcribing Egyptian, it is often realised as Mentju, Montju, Menthu, Ment, Month,Montu,Mont or Minu'thi. Menthu was an ancient god, his name meaning nomad, originally a manifestation of the scorching effect of the sun, Ra, and as such often appeared under the epithet Menthu-Ra. The destructiveness of this characteristic lead to him gaining characteristics of a warrior, and eventually becoming a war-god. When Thebes gained prominence, and thus its patron god Amun became more significant, changing his wife to Mut, Menthu was chosen as the necessary child to satisfy Mut's strong maternal desire to adopt, since he represented strength, virility, and victory.
In art, he was pictured as a falcon-headed or bull-headed man who wore the sun-disc, with two plumes on his head. In his hands he would hold various weaponry, including scimitars, bows and arrows, and knives. Because of the association of raging bulls with strength and war, Menthu was also associated with a white bull with a black face, named Bakha. Egypt’s greatest general-kings called themselves Mighty Bulls, the sons of Menthu. In the famous narrative of the Battle of Kadesh, Rameses II was said to have seen the enemy and 'raged at them like Menthu, Lord of Thebes.
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