Greek name of an Egyptian oracle god, whose main sanctuary was at Siwa in the Libyan desert. Ammon became famous because Alexander the Great claimed to be his son. Ammon was an oracle god, whose oracle was situated in the Siwa oasis, some 500 kilometers west of Memphis, the capital of ancient Egypt. Originally, this was the place where the Libyan desert tribes worshiped a god who had the shape of a ram. He may have been related to Baal Hammon, a god venerated by the Semitic peoples (e.g., the Phoenicians and Carthaginians ). However, this is just a hypothesis, and we can not be really certain about the origin of this cult - as is nearly always the case when we discuss an aspect of ancient religion.
