Temple of Ammon-Zeus

Zeus Ammon was a joining together of three gods in one. Amun was originally a deity in Thebes, who was eventually seen as being one with the ancient sun-god Ra, the two becoming Amun-Ra. To the Greek colonists in Egypt, Amun-Ra was an aspect of Zeus, or 'Zeus Ammon'. As such, he was worshipped across the Greek world, even as far away as Sparta and some Libyan colonies. Alexander the Great was seen as the liberator of Egypt, and was heralded as the 'son of Amun' by the oracle of the Siwa oasis, due to his victory over the Achaemenids at the Battle of Issus in 333BC. He publicly acknowledged his own divine status and called Zeus Ammon his father, a useful bit of propaganda for any world conqueror. The tradition of divine descent was well established for Pharaohs, and Alexander’s Ptolemaic successors kept the claim as an aid to their own legitimacy.