Vulture crown
The vulture crown
Details
Country	Ancient Egypt

TheVulture crown was anancient Egyptian crown worn byGreat Royal Wives andfemalepharaohs. It was depicted as a headdress in the shape of a vulture draped over the head, with its wings hanging down on the sides.^[1] It was a symbol of protection associated with the vulture goddessNekhbet, who often wore this crown when depicted in a human form.^[2] These crowns were frequently worn by the Great Royal Wife, high ranking priestesses, and female pharaohs. These crowns were also sometimes equipped with theUraeus to symbolizeWadjet,^[3] representing both Upper (Nekhbet) andLower Egypt (Wadjet).

The vulture crown was initially only seen in depictions of goddesses.^[4] From theFifth Dynasty onwards, however, queens began to wear the headdress regularly as part of their iconography.^[5] The association of Nekhbet with the queen stemmed from the vulture's symbolism of motherhood; thehieroglyph for the vulture,mwt, was used to write the word for "mother".^[6] Because Nekhbet was a protector goddess, the queen's affiliation with her complemented the king's role as the embodiment of the falcon godHorus.^[7]

Khentkaus II was one of the first queens to wear the vulture headdress.^[8] In theNew Kingdom, the vulture's head on the crown was more frequently replaced by the uraeus.^[9]

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  A relief ofKhentkaus I sitting on the throne with a faint Vulture crown,Fifth Dynasty,Pyramid of Khentkaus I,Giza
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  Ankhesenpepi II wearing a vulture crown while her son, the pharaohPepi II, sits on her lap.Sixth Dynasty (ca. 2288-2224 BCE), Egyptian alabaster,Brooklyn Museum
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  Stela of queenNubkhaes of theThirteenth Dynasty in which she is depicted giving offerings toHathor andOsiris,Louvre Museum,Paris
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  Stela honoringTetisheri, grandmother ofAhmose I, fromAbydos.Eighteenth Dynasty, Egyptian Museum in Cairo
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  Sketch of a painting from a tomb inSheikh Abd el-Qurna depictingMerytre-Hatshepsut with her husbandThutmose III, Eighteenth Dynasty
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  Nefertari, wife ofRamesses II, wearing a vulture crown along with plumes and a sun disk,Nineteenth Dynasty (c. 1255 BCE),QV66,Valley of the Queens,Luxor
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  Nodjmet, wife of theHigh Priest of AmunHerihor, wearing a vulture crown.Book of the Dead of Nodjmet,Twenty-first Dynasty (c. 1064 BCE)
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  The goddessesWadjet andNekhbet wearing Vulture crowns along with theDeshret andHedjet respectively while crowningPtolemy XIII,Ptolemaic period,Temple of Edfu

• Egyptian artefact types
• Crowns (headgear)

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata