Vulture crown
Vulture crown is a crown that the great royal wives and important priestesses in ancient Egypt wore. It was connected with the vulture goddess Nekhbet. It looked like a vulture with wings hanging down on the sides.[1]The crown was a symbol of protection. Sometimes the hat had another snake called the Uraeus on it too. This snake represented a goddess called Wadjet. [2]
History
changeIn the beginning, the vulture crown was only shown in pictures of goddesses.[3] But in the Fifth Dynasty, queens began to wear this crown all the time in their pictures.[4]
The reason why queens wore the vulture crown was because the vulture is a symbol of motherhood. In ancient Egyptian, the word for "mother" is written with a picture of a vulture called mwt.[5]
As Nekhbet was a goddess who protected people, the vulture crown was connected with her. This made sense because the king was seen as a Horus, and the queen's role was seen as a protector.[6]
One of the first queens to wear the vulture crown was Khentkaus Ii.[7] In the New Kingdom, the vulture on the top of the crown was sometimes changed by a snake called uraeus.[8]
References
change- ↑ Graves-Brown, Carolyn, Dancing for Hathor: Women in Ancient Egypt, Contiuum 2010, p. 131
- ↑ Capel, Anne K.; Markoe, Glenn, Mistress of the House, Mistress of Heaven: Women in Ancient Egypt, Hudson Hills Press with Cincinnati Art Museum 1996, p. 139
- ↑ Vassilika, Eleni, Ptolemaic Philae, Uitgeverij Peeters 1989, p. 93
- ↑ Redford, Donald B., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt: P-Z, Oxford Univ Pr (Sd) 2001, p. 106
- ↑ Lesko, Barbara S., The Great Goddesses of Egypt, OUP 1999, p. 66
- ↑ Benard, Elisabeth; Moon, Beverly, Goddesses Who Rule, Oxford University Press 2000, p. 216
- ↑ Budin, Stephanie Lynn, Images of Woman and Child from the Bronze Age: Reconsidering Fertility, Maternity, And Gender In The Ancient World, Cambridge University Press 2014, p. 47
- ↑ Fischer, Henry George, Egyptian Studies III Varia Nova, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1996, p. 116