Amun's name means 'the Hidden (or Invisible) One.

Amun's name means 'the Hidden (or Invisible) One'. His name is first mentioned as early as the 5th Dynasty in the Pyramid Texts as a local god of Thebes. His rise to prominence began at the start of the Middle Kingdom. An early 12th Dynasty inscription at the Karnak Temple Complex describes him as 'the king of the gods'. By the start of the New Kingdom, Amun had ascended to become the most important god in the Egyptian pantheon. His main sanctuary was Karnak.

As a creator god, he was amalgamated with Re, the sun god of Heliopolis, to create the deity Amun-Re. Amun was also combined with Min, the fertility god, to produce the deity Amun-Min. He was worshipped with his consort Mut (the vulture-mother goddess) and their child Khonsu (the god of the moon), forming a divine triad. Triads of deities were common in ancient Egypt. Renowned psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Carl Jung considered the arrangement of deities into triads an archetype in the history of religion, which in all likelihood formed the basis of the Christian Trinity.