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46-584: The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet . She was one of the earliest Egyptian deities and was often depicted as a cobra, as she is the serpent goddess. The center of her cult was in Per-Wadjet , later called Buto by the Greeks. She became the patroness of the Nile Delta and the protector of all of Lower Egypt . The pharaohs wore the uraeus as a head ornament: either with the body of Wadjet atop

92-467: A mountain on Venus , is named for Nazit, an "Egyptian winged serpent goddess". According to Elizabeth Goldsmith, the Greek name for Nazit was Buto. Khepresh The khepresh ( ḫprš ) was an ancient Egyptian royal headdress . It is also known as the blue crown or war crown . New Kingdom pharaohs are often depicted wearing it in battle, but it was also frequently worn in ceremonies. While it

138-427: A headdress that is taller than the cap crown and more angular than later forms of the khepresh . This crown continued to evolve during the early Eighteenth Dynasty, attaining its best-known form in the reigns of Hatshepsut and Thutmose III . After Amenhotep III 's reign – and particularly during the 18th and 19th Dynasties – it came into fashion and was even adopted by some pharaohs as a primary crown. The crown

184-460: A powerful or dangerous goddess. Some historians are not sure that these bronze statues are of Wadjet, but instead of the goddess Sekhmet. At times she was depicted wearing the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. Wadjet was depicted many times in her cobra form alongside her Upper Egyptian counterpart Nekhbet, in her vulture form wearing the Red Crown on wall paintings or on the pharaoh's headdress. In

230-529: A protective group of deities. Colossal statues of the king wearing a Blue Crown are extremely rare; the typical royal statue also does not feature a Blue Crown. Also, depictions of the Blue Crown with its Uraeus does not decorate royal tombs until late in the Ramesside Period. The deity-on-earth king was thought to require extra protection in his mortal form, emphasizing the protective qualities of

276-474: A snake head of deep ultramarine lapis lazuli , the flared cobra hood of dark carnelian inlays, and inlays of turquoise. To mount it on the pharaoh 's crown, two loops in the rear-supporting tail of the cobra provide the attachment points. Besides the Uraeus being used as an ornament for statuary or as an adornment on the pharaoh, it also was used for jewellery and in amulets . However, another important use

322-472: A token of fertility and protection to those who had them. The name Wadjet is derived from the term for the symbol of her domain, Lower Egypt , the papyrus . Its hieroglyphs differ from those of the Green Crown or Deshret of Lower Egypt only by the determinative, which in the case of the crown was a picture of the Green Crown and, in the case of the goddess, a rearing cobra. The transliteration of

368-411: A visual observation is unknown. When Wadjet is depicted as a lion, she is usually seated in the bronze statues that represent her. She is in a relaxed position with her mouth closed and her arms at her side, which is very different from her other depictions as a snake rearing at enemies. An explanation for her depiction as a lion headed goddess may stem from the goddess Sekhmet through association as

414-471: A woman with a snake's head, a woman wearing the uraeus, or a lion headed goddess often wearing the uraeus. The uraeus originally had been her body alone, which wrapped around or was coiled upon the head of the pharaoh or another deity. In her snake form, she was depicted as striking and biting those who try to harm the King, which is why she is featured as a protective symbol on crown emblems and amulets. Wadjet

460-429: Is also depicted as an Egyptian cobra with large, colorful wings. She is shown in her signature green and blue colors on the snake hood and wing feathers, but she is also shown with vibrant red and gold colors that scale down to the snake's tail. Gold commonly represented the gods and goddesses eternal flesh, while red represented danger and fire to signify something as a threat. A decorative panel depicting Wadjet's cobras

506-536: Is as a cobra entwined around a papyrus stem, beginning in the Predynastic era (prior to 3100 B.C.) and it is thought to be the first image that shows a snake entwined around a staff symbol. This is a sacred image that appeared repeatedly in the later images and myths of cultures surrounding the Mediterranean Sea , called the caduceus , which may have had separate origins. Her image also rears up from

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552-491: Is as the hieroglyph . For Uraeus ornament as a mummy grave example, See: Djedptahiufankh , High Priest of 21st Dynasty, Shoshenq I . The simplest hieroglyph is the "Cobra" (the Uraeus); however there are subcategories, referring to: a goddess, a priestess, the goddess Menhit , the shrine of the goddess ( àter ), the goddess Isis, and lastly goddess: (Cobra (Uraeus) at base of deity (ntr)) . The Rosetta Stone uses

598-464: Is largely unconfirmed, mainly found through myth and word of mouth. In one myth, Wadjet was said to be Ra 's Daughter, where she was depicted as his seeing eye. Her job was to find Shu and Tefnut for him, to which she successfully did. Her father was very proud of her and honored her by commanding that she stay with him to protect him from enemies. She took her most recognizable form as a snake and struck any enemies that tried to hurt her father. She

644-544: Is shown below; sometimes two are shown in the sky of religious images. There is little consensus on which eye is truly tied to Wadjet as both have some importance to her. The main differences between her eyes are which side of the face they are on, left or right. The color of these eyes in amulets and ceramics are usually created in vibrant blue and green colors, which resemble the goddess's name of "the green one". The green Wadjet eye amulets found in Egyptian daily life provided

690-658: The Khepresh crown and adoring the god Min During the New Kingdom , pharaohs were shown with this crown in military circumstances. However, some scholars think that the crown was also meant to evoke the divine power of the pharaoh, and was thereby worn to religiously situate kings as manifestations of gods on earth. Images of the khepresh from the reign of Ahmose I , first king of the Eighteenth Dynasty , show

736-528: The Temple of Kom Ombo an engraving depicts surgical equipment among which is a set of Wadjet eyes denoting its uses as a medical item and Wadjet's role as a protector deity. Within the wider relief it contains a depiction of a Roman pharaoh offering the Wadjet Eyes to Haroeris and Senetneferet (meaning the good sister), his consort. While only the lower portion of the relief remains, its inscription describes

782-470: The Uraeus. The Uraeus was usually crafted from precious metals, most commonly gold and less frequently silver, and adorned with gemstones. The angelic seraphim , found in the Hebrew Bible and later Jewish , Christian , and Islamic traditions, are frequently associated with serpents and are thought to have derived from the concept of uraeus. Multiple-winged uraei amulets are well represented in

828-426: The circles or rings decorating ancient artistic representations of the khepresh may instead indicate the regular array of hexagonal holes in an open triaxial weave. As with many other royal crowns, a uraeus (cobra) was hooked to the front of the khepresh. The Blue Crown, or War Crown, was represented in hieroglyphs. The earliest known mention of the khepresh is on the stela Cairo JE 59635 [CG 20799] which dates to

874-597: The entire county was, "nebty (' Two Ladies ')". Wadjet, as the goddess of Lower Egypt, had a large temple at the ancient Imet (now Tell Nebesha ) in the Nile Delta. She was worshipped in the area as the "Lady of Imet". Later she was joined by Min and Horus to form a triad of deities. From the site of Tebtunis , in the Egyptian Faiyum , a temple is dedicated to Wadjet and was the site of ritual performance in her honor. According to ancient Greece, Wadjet

920-631: The entirety of Egypt. Along with her double crown, Wadjet is posed holding a Was-sceptre , a valued symbol of authority or divine power. All of these sacred items Wadjet is posed with help to provide protection over the royal family, and in this case, the royal family is of King Ramsses II and Queen consort Nefertari . Aside from Nefertari's tomb, Wadjet is also found in King Sety I 's Tomb, along with her sister Nekhbet . The two sisters are seen on each side of King Sety's name, providing full protection to him as he rules over Egypt. The unification of

966-533: The fiery eye of the goddess. In some mythological works, the eyes of Ra are said to be uraei. In 1919, after only a half-hour of excavation, the Qufti worker Hosni Ibrahim held in his hands the solid- gold Golden Uraeus of Senusret II . It had been decided to make a (follow-up) "complete clearance" of the El-Lahun Pyramid's rooms at Saqqara . The start in the rock-cut offering chamber, leading from

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1012-477: The head, or as a crown encircling the head; this indicated Wadjet's protection and reinforced the pharaoh's claim over the land. In whatever manner that the Uraeus was displayed upon the pharaoh's head, it was, in effect, part of the pharaoh's crown . The pharaoh was recognized only by wearing the Uraeus, which conveyed legitimacy to the ruler. There is evidence for this tradition even in the Old Kingdom during

1058-541: The heads of kings and pharaohs. Wadjet is occasionally depicted as other animal headed beings or depicted as other animals such as a lion, mongoose, Ichneumonidae . Notably the depiction of the mongoose serves as an antithesis to that of the cobra as it is a natural predator. While the Icheumon probably serves as a depiction of Wedjat's role in seeing for Horus. Many bronze statues of Wadjet are argued to contain Icheumon remains however confirmation on this being forensic or

1104-532: The hieroglyph usage is as adornments upon the hieroglyph for "shrine", and also for "buildings". Before the New Kingdom Period, the body of the Uraeus coiled around in circles behind its raised head on the Blue Crown . The king is most often depicted wearing the Blue Crown in combat and the aftermath of combat scenes. Additionally, the smaller scale king usually wore the Blue Crown when depicted in

1150-555: The joint protector and patron of all of Egypt. Scenes of the two sisters together as two cobras can be found in King Sety I 's tomb, located in the Valley of the Kings . The image of Wadjet with the sun disk is called the uraeus , and it was the emblem on the crown of the rulers of Lower Egypt. She was also the protector of kings and of women in childbirth, tasked with guarding them from enemies that could harm them. Wadjet's family history

1196-530: The king was found in the context of funerary rituals and could serve multiple purposes of both resurrection and coronation. This imagery is also found in King Pepy II 's funerary temple, which shows a damaged relief of Wadjet nursing the king. Wadjet's oracle was in the renowned temple in Per-Wadjet that was dedicated to her worship and gave the city its name. This oracle may have been the source for

1242-458: The king's divinity through suckling while he is in a child-like state. A similar portrayal of Wadjet as a nurse, found in the tomb of Tutankhamun on a pendant, instead depicts the King as fully grown and standing straight up while being breastfed. He is dressed in his traditional royal attire, using the Goddess's milk to help him be successful in his position of king. This pendant of Wadjet and

1288-421: The land of Israel. Wadjet B C D F G H I K M N P Q R S T U W Wadjet ( / ˈ w æ dʒ ə t / ; Ancient Egyptian : wꜢḏyt "Green One"), known to the Greek world as Uto ( / ˈ j uː t oʊ / ; Koinē Greek : Οὐτώ ) or Buto ( / ˈ b j uː t oʊ / ; Βουτώ ) among other renderings including Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo,

1334-461: The nurse of the infant god Horus . With the help of his mother Isis , they protected Horus from his treacherous uncle, Set , when they took refuge in the swamps of the Nile Delta . Wadjet and Nekhbet have been portrayed as nurses to the various kings in the afterlife, breastfeeding him in order to sustain his royal qualities. These two goddesses appear in the Pyramid Texts , maintaining

1380-435: The oracular tradition that spread to Greece from Egypt. From around the 4th dynasty onward, Wadjet was claimed as the patron goddess and protector of the whole of Lower Egypt . She became associated with Nekhbet , depicted as a white vulture , who held unified Egypt. After the unification the image of Nekhbet joined Wadjet on the crown, thereafter shown as part of the uraeus . The religious epithet for these patron deities of

1426-444: The pharaoh's desire for Haroeris to cleanse the eyes symbolizing the two halves of Egypt and in turn restore Egypt itself. Once again this denotes Wadjet's role as a protector and unifier of Egypt. Like many aspects of Egyptology, mass media tends to incorporate Egyptian influences into video games, movies and much more. Wadjet is no exception to this rule and is referenced in countless different forms of modern media. The Nazit Mons,

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1472-466: The plural of the last example, "3 × "god flag" with Cobra at each base of flag". The story of the Rosetta Stone has the king (the priests of the king) listing his reasons for being honored, and in return, "The Gods and Goddesses (plural)" reward him. The last two-thirds of the Rosetta Stone relates how he will be honored, including erecting the Rosetta Stone, for all to read. Another example of

1518-508: The reign of pharaoh Neferhotep III , during the Second Intermediate Period . In this and other examples from the same era, the word is written with a determinative that represents the cap crown, a lower and less elaborate type of crown. The earliest known depiction of the khepresh is on the stela Cairo CG 20517 which dates to the reign of Snaaib , during the Second Intermediate Period . The stela shows him wearing

1564-477: The relief shown in the gallery, which is on the wall of the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut at Luxor , there are two images of Wadjet: one of her as the Uraeus with her head through an ankh and another where she precedes a Horus hawk wearing the pschent , representing the pharaoh whom she protects. Wadjet was associated with the Nile Delta region and was more associated with the world of the living. She

1610-452: The sisters shows Sety I's control over all of Egypt, not just of Lower or Upper Egypt. Wadjet, as mentioned above, is often depicted as a winged cobra. These wings serving a dual purpose as a protective embrace and being capable of creating the breath of life often connected to the image of the Ankh that she is often depicted with. Both of these uses are vital in surviving the afterlife. From

1656-408: The staff of the "flagpoles" that are used to indicate deities, as seen in the hieroglyph for "uraeus" and for "goddess" in other places. Similar to her sister, Nekhbet, Wadjet can also be found in the form of a vulture. It is less common to find her in this form as her cobra form is more popular in order to represent protection. However some reliefs do depict Wadjet in her avian form hovering over

1702-414: The third millennium BCE. Several goddesses associated with or being considered aspects of Wadjet are depicted wearing the uraeus as well. At the time of the unification of Egypt, the image of Nekhbet , the goddess who was represented as a white vulture and held the same position as the patron of Upper Egypt , joined the image of Wadjet on the Uraeus that would encircle the crown of the pharaohs who ruled

1748-471: The tomb, on the south, immediately revealed in the turnover of the six inches of debris, the Golden Uraeus crown ornament. Before Tutankhamun 's tomb was found in 1922, this Golden Uraeus was the only ornament ever known to be worn by an entombed pharaoh, and it was thought that it was passed to the next pharaoh. The Golden Uraeus is of solid gold, 6.7 cm (2.6 in), black eyes of granite ,

1794-528: The unified Egypt. The importance of their separate cults kept them from becoming merged as with so many Egyptian deities. Together, they were known as the Nebty or the Two Ladies , who became the joint protectors and patrons of the unified Egypt. Later, the pharaohs were seen as a manifestation of the sun god Ra , and so it also was believed that the Uraeus protected them by spitting fire on their enemies from

1840-467: The various eyes that Wadjet is associated with (Wedjat-eye) refers to the name the "Intact-one". Wadjet's name ends with a T, signifying her being a feminine presence rather than a male presence that some claim she is. Other names for Wadjet include: Wedjat, Wadjit, Wadjyt, Uto, Buto, Uatchet, and Edjo. Wadjet was said to be the matron and protector of Lower Egypt in her cobra form, and upon unification with her sister Nekhbet , Goddess of Upper Egypt ,

1886-463: Was also in charge of carrying out Ra's orders. This myth is represented by triadic seals, amulets, and more, depicting the family of gods together, including Ra as the father, Wadjet as the daughter, and Seth as Ra's bodyguard. A clear example of these three gods being tied together was found on a Triad amulet in Tel Azekah, closer to Jerusalem, Israel . In another myth, Wadjet was said to be

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1932-484: Was closely linked to pharaohs as a protective deity. Wadjet is found in several different burial sites of both Kings and Queens in order to symbolize protection. Notably, she is found in Queen consort Nefertari 's tomb in a rearing position wearing a double crown, or Pschent . The Pschent depicts the unity of Lower and Upper Egypt into one. These crowns are usually found in the tombs of royalty in order to show control over

1978-484: Was found in the Maru-Aten Temple in a darker colored granite. This darkened material helps historians infer that a yellow quartzite color was present, representing the color of the sun and the eternal flesh. Later Wadjet often was shown coiled upon the head of Ra ; in order to act as his protector, this image of her became the uraeus symbol used on the royal crowns as well. Another early depiction of Wadjet

2024-485: Was once called the war crown by many, modern historians refrain from characterizing it thus. No original example of a khepresh has yet been found. Based on ancient artistic representations, some Egyptologists have speculated that the khepresh was made of leather or stiffened cloth covered with a precise arrangement of hundreds of sequins, discs, bosses, or rings. Given that the deshret (red crown) and hedjet (white crown) were apparently woven of some sort of plant fiber,

2070-565: Was originally the ancient Egyptian local goddess of the city of Dep or Buto in Lower Egypt , which was an important site in prehistoric Egypt . Wadjet's worship originally started in the Predynastic period, but evolved over time from a local goddess to a patron goddess. Wadjet was closely associated in ancient Egyptian religion with the Eye of Ra and the Eye of Horus symbols, each powerful protective deities. The hieroglyph for her eye

2116-460: Was present in their mythology as well. Known as Buto, Uto, Leto or Latona, the goddess was one of the focal points for the town of Buto, as mentioned above. The Egyptian word wꜣḏ signifies blue and green. It is also the name for the well-known "Eye of the Moon". Wadjet was usually depicted as an Egyptian cobra , a venomous snake common to the region. In later times, she was often depicted simply as

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