| In Egyptian
mythology, Menthu was a hawk-god,
of war. Menthu's name 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.
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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.
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Because of the association of raging
bulls with strength and war, Menthu
was also said to manifest himself
in a white bull with a black face,
which was referred to as the 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".
In art, he was pictured as a falcon-headed
or bull-headed man who wore the
sun-disc, with two plumes on his
head, the falcon representing the
sky, and the bull representing strength
and war. In his hands he would hold
various weaponry, including scimitars,
bows and arrows, and knives.
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