Regalia and Symbols of Egyptian Kings and Queens

Crowns and headdresses of kings------2Crowns and headdresses of queens---3Appearance and clothing of kings------4Clothing and jewelry of queens and

other royal women--------- 5Egyptian sphinxes-------------------------- 6Important symbols I------------------------- 7Important symbols II------------------------ 8Pose and gesture---------------------------- 9Hieroglyphics---------------------------------- 10Cartouches------------------------------------- 11

Creative ArtsColumbia Secondary School

Spring Term, 2009

Instructor Lisa Peterslisapeters@columbiasecondary.org

Course title: Egyptian Art

Contents:

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Crowns and headdresses of Kings

Crown of Lower Egypt, Red Crown, hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt,

White Crown, deshret

Double Crown of Upper and Lower Egypt; represents the union of Lower andUpper Egypt

Blue Crown, knepresh. During coronations, various types of crowns were placed on the king's head. Among them, the “blue crown” was probably made from a leather helmet with metal disks sewn onto it--was probably painted blue, hence the Egyptologist's term "blue crown."

Uraeus. (Plural Uraei or Uraeuses, from the Greek οὐραῖος, from Egyptian jʿr.t (iaret) "rearing cobra") is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian spitting cobra (asp, serpent, snake). It was used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity, and divine authority. The pharaoh was recognized only by wearing the uraeus, which gave legitimacy to him. Pharaohs were often seen as a manifestation of the sun-god Re. In some mythological works, the eyes of Re are said to be uraei. The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet, one of the earliest of Egyptian deities, who often was depicted as a cobra. , It was believed that the Uraeus protected the king by spitting fire on his enemies from the fiery eye of the goddess. The center of Wadjet’s 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, so her image was worn by the pharaohs as a head ornament, first as the body of Wadjet atop the head or as a crown encircling the head, always remaining in effect part of their crown, indicating her protection and as a claim over the land.

Nemes. (Pleated Cloth) Headdress. The nemes is the pleated linen headcloth worn by pharaohs. It covered the whole crown and back of the head and nape of the neck (sometimes also extending a little way down the back) and had two large flaps which hung down behind the ears and in front of both shoulders. It was sometimes combined with the double crown, as it is on the statues of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel. The pharaoh’s false beard was attached to the Nemes by straps.

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Vulture Headdress. The crown worn most frequently by Egyptian queens consisted of the head, wings, and tail of a vulture. Nekhbet, depicted as the Egyptian white vulture, was the patron of the city of Nekheb. Vultures were thought to exist only as females, as the ancient Egyptians did not know that the males and females of the species were identical in appearance. In art, Nekhbet was depicted as the white vulture (representing purification), always seen on the front of pharaoh’s double crown along with Wadjet. Nekhbet usually was depicted hovering, with her wings spread above the royal image, clutching a shen symbol (see below, representing infinity, all, or everything), frequently in both of her claws. As patron of the pharaoh, she was sometimes seen to be the mother of the divine aspect of the pharaoh, and it was in this capacity that she was Mother of Mothers.

Horns and sun disk of Hathor. Queens are often shown with a headdress combining the horns of a cow with a sun disc. The horns are symbolic of the cow goddess Hathor, a mother goddess, associated with love, fertility, sexuality, music, and dance. (Hathor is sometimes represented anthropomorphically as a cow, or as a woman with cow’s ears. When in human form, Hathor’s headdress, like that depicted on the heads of queens, could be one of cow’s horns with a solar disc, or a falcon on a perch.) The sun disk is also connected with Hathor as she was also a sky goddess. She was often regarded as a vast cow that straddled the heavens, with her four legs, marking her four cardinal points. As such she was considered a personification of the Milky Way, her flowing milk emanating as from the udders of a heavenly cow as well as creating the waterway of the heavens sailed upon by Re (leading the Egyptians to describe it as The Nile in the Sky). Due to this, Hathor was identified as responsible for the yearly inundation of the Nile. Another consequence of this name is that she was seen as a herald of imminent birth, as when the amniotic sac breaks, indicating that a child is due to be born. (Along with Isis, Hathor is considered the mother of Horus, and her name means house of Horus).

Crowns and headdresses of Queens

Vulture bracelet of Queen Ahotep. 18th dynasty. Material: gold, inlaid with lapis lazui, Egyptian Museum, Cairo,

Plumed Crown. Queen’s crown typical of New Kingdom. Combines two tall falcon feathers with the sun disk and horns of Hathor.

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Appearance and clothing of Kings

False beards. Beards were considered divine attributes. Pharaohs thus wore false beards as symbols of divine association and kingship. Made from closely plaited hair, the false beards, long, straight, and tubular in form, were compared to lapis lazuli, a precious stone linked with the Sun God Re. Pharaohs shaved their facial hair to create the “perfect” appearance that made them appear godlike, and thus they could not grow natural beards. False beards enhanced their divine nature without compromising their seeming physical flawlessness. The false beards were attached by straps to the pharaoh’s Nemes headdress.

Kilts. Kings wore ornate, pleated triangular kilts shendyt. These distinguished them from commoners who wore plain kilts.

Bull’s Tails. Worn by pharaohs as sign of strength. The cult of the Apis bull started at the very beginning of Egyptian history, probably as a fertility god connected to grain and the herds. In a funerary context, the Apis was a protector of the deceased, and linked to the pharaoh. This animal was chosen because it symbolized the king’s courageous heart, great strength, virility, and fighting spirit. The Apis bull was considered to be a manifestation of the pharaoh, as bulls were symbols of strength and fertility, qualities which are closely linked with kingship ("strong bull of his mother Hathor “ was a common title for gods and pharaohs). The symbol resembling an ankh that the markings of an Apis bull would have created on his head when depicted with his mother's sun disk.

Necklace of King Psusennes. 21st dynasty. Material: gold and lapis lazuli. Made of six rows of rings. strung together on a cord and held by a flat clasp that is decorated on both sides with a winged scarab, and the cartouches of Psusennes with a papyriform column between two friezes of uraei with sun disks. Fourteen tassels made of simple gold chains and ornamented with small bell-like flowers hang from the clasp to enliven the necklace and give it a sense of movement.. Egyptian Mus., Cairo

Diadem of Sat-Hathor-Yunet, worn by King Amenemhat III, 12th dynasty. A diadem is an ornamental jeweled headdress signifying sovereignty. Materials: gold, green faience, Carnelian, Lapis Lazuli. Usually fitted on a wig with long braids, each one of which was clasped in little gold rings. Both the gold cloisonne rosettes and the uraeus are ornamented with lapis lazuli, carnelian and green faience. The uraeus head is of lapis lazuli, while its eyes are of garnet set in gold rims. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Jewelry for Kings

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Clothing and jewelry of queens and other royal women Collar of Princess Neferuptah. 12th Dynasty. Found in the princess’s tomb. Made of gold, feldspar, and carnelian. This " wesekh " (wide) collar is made of a network of tubular beads of feldspar and carnelian arranged in six rows alternating with files of little gold beads. Teardrop-shaped pieces inlaid with feldspar and carnelian border the lowest row. The two falcon heads fasten the collar and are hammered gold leaf worked in repoussé. The counterpoise is well matched to the design of the collar. Because of its protective value, the wesekh collar was a favourite ornament of gods, kings and private individuals alike, hence, this collar accompanied princess Neferuptah in her sarcophagus. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Bead bracelets of Queen Ahotep. 18th Dynasty. Material: gold, Semi-precious stones. The bracelet on the left consists of 18 rows of beads strung together with gold thread that form alternating bands of gold, lapis lazuli, carnelian and turquoise. The seven gold bands are rigid and comprise rows of beads welded one to the other, through which the gold threads pass. It is decorated with hieroglyphs of polished gold set in lapis lazuli. Among the insets is the text: " the perfect god, lord of the two lands Ahmose, given life forever ". The second bracelet is one of an identical pair. In this case, thirty rows of beads follow the same procedure but in a different design. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Anklet of Queen Mereret. 12th dynasty. Material: gold and amethyst. Formed of amethyst beads connected to leopard's claws. Egyptian Mus., Cairo

Bracelet of Queen Ahotep. 18th dynasty. Material: gold and lapis lazuli. The bracelet consists of half cylinders bordered by a flat rim, while the scenes and hieroglyphs which adorn it, are cut in gold by a chisel. The representations in this ornamental piece recognize the king as the legitimate descendant of divine pharaohs. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Queens’ Dresses: The fashion was for long, very thin, close-fitting linen garments that covered the length of the body almost down to the ankles and cling without folds or creases.

Examples of Jewelry

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Egyptian sphinxes

Spinxes. Sphinxes in ancient Egypt were zoomorphic figures, usually depicted as a recumbent lioness or lion with a human head, but occasionally with the head of a falcon, hawk, or ram. The figure is associated with the solar deity Sekhmet, who was the fierce war deity and protector of the pharaohs. Sphinxes were often described as Sekhmet's children. Because of their strength and ferocity, their imposing manes and awesome roar, lions were associated with kingship since prehistoric times; as divine guardians against evil they also symbolized in cosmic myths that place on the horizon where the sun is reborn every morning. While the Egyptians viewed the standing sphinx as a conqueror, the crouching sphinx was a guardian of sacred places. Thus pairs of sphinxes flanked avenues or entrances to important buildings.

Sphinx of Tuthmosis III. 18th Dynasty Material:Gray Granite . The booty and tributes gained from the expansion campaigns of Tuthmosis III enhanced building activities during his reign. This sphinx has features of the monarch: the feline eyes, the arched nose, the full cheeks and delicate mouth. He wears a striped nemes headdress. The hybrid alliance between man and lion is artistically successful even though the lion's body has prominent musculature and stylized ribs. Egyptian Museum, Cairo.

Sphinx of Amenhotep III, possibly from a Model of a Temple, Sphinx, Amenhotep III, ca. 1390–1352 B.C.; New Kingdom. Thebes, Karnak possibly; Upper Egypt; Thebes. Material: Faience, remains of an alabaster tenon. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Sphinx of King Senwosret III, Sphinx, ca. 1878–1840 B.C.; Middle Kingdom. Thebes. L. 28 3/4 in. (73 cm). This sphinx was carved from a single block of beautifully grained anorthosite gneiss from quarries in Nubia. The sculptor used the pattern in the stone to mask the rather awkward transition from animal body to human head with the headdress and the stylized pattern representing the lion's mane. The face is that of King Senwosret. He wears a nemes headdress surmounted by a cobra. The cobra's hood and head were either carved separately or they were repaired in antiquity, for there is an ancient dowel hole drilled into the neck.

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Udjat; Wedjat; Eye of Horus; Eye of Re. Symbol of protection, healing, and royalty connected to the deities Re, Wadjet, and Re. In the story of Re, the Sun God’s eye acts separately from the God himself. Sent by Re, it first becomes the ferocious female force Sekmet (lion), sent to destroy mankind, and then is transformed into the goddess of healing Hathor. The Eye was also identified with the cobra goddess Wadjet (Uraeus; cobra), represented as the spitting snake on the royal headdress. As linked with Horus, the eye is in the part of Horus’s story in which the god’s eyes are gouged out by the evil god Set, but then Horus’s vision is restored by Re. As connected to all three gods, the Udjat is a symbol of healing, strength, wholeness, and perfection. It was believed that the eye could enable mummies to see. Each part of the Eye of Horus represented a mathematical fraction in writing, with the fractions together adding up to one, or a whole.

Ankh. Representing the “breath of life,” “eternal life,” the universe, power, life-giving air, and water, the ankh is among the most frequently depicted symbols in Egyptian visual culture. Its form is the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that reads “life,” a tri-literal sign for the consonants ˁ-n-ḫ. The ankh appears frequently in Egyptian tomb paintings, often at the fingertips of a god or goddess in images that represent the deities of the afterlife conferring the gift of life on the dead person's mummy; this is also thought to symbolize the act of conception. Additionally, ankhs were often carried as amulets, either alone, or in connection with hieroglyphs symbolizing "strength" Djed, and "health." Mirrors of beaten metal were made in the shape of an ankh for decorative reasons or to symbolize a perceived view into another world. Pharaohs are often shown with ankhs to reveal their immortality. The holding of the ankh to one’s lips was thought to promote eternal life.

Important symbols I

Lotus. Symbol of the sun god and the pharaohs. Symbol of Lower Egypt. Like the sun that sets in the evening and rises in the morning, the lotus flower blooms in the day and closes each night. In one version of the creation myth, the sun first rose out of a giant lotus flower that bloomed on the primordial mound. The lotus thus became a symbol of rebirth, the renewal of life and the promise of everlasting life.

Papyrus. Water plant, that symbolizes the primeval marshes of the creation story from which the earth rose in a mound. Symbol of Upper Egypt. The heraldic plant of Lower Egypt, it was used to decorate columns in temples built by the pharaohs. Papyrus was also used for paper.

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Important symbols II

Crook and Flail. Scepters of the Pharaoh, commonly held against the chest. The flail, a rod with three attached beaded strands, symbolizes the Pharaoh's role as provider of food for his people. The crook, a cane with a hooked handle, symbolized the pharaoh’s role as the shepherd of his people. Both crook and flail also serve to link the Pharaoh with Osiris, the god of the dead. The Egyptians at times used flails to punish enemy captives or slaves. Because of this flails were considered a sign of power.

Maat (shown by the feature in the figure’s headdress) represents truth, justice, morality ,and balance. Gods are often seen standing on this symbol, as if standing on a foundation of Maat. It was the pharaoh’s job to uphold Maat. When a pharaoh died, Maat was lost and the world was flung into chaos. Only the coronation of a new pharaoh could restore Maat .

Sema. This hieroglyphic symbol is a rendering of the lungs attached to the windpipe. It represents the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. The Sema is sometimes shown bound with the lotus and the papyrus to further express unification.

Palm Branch. The Egyptians would put a notch in a palm branch to mark the passing of a year in the life of a pharaoh. The palm branch symbolized the measure of time.

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Scarabs. Dung beetles place their eggs in dung and roll the dung into balls to be heated by the sun. This reminded ancient Egyptians of the movement of the sun across the sky, and they connected the beetle with the life-giving powers of the sun and the sun god Re. They believed that all dung beetles were male (which is untrue), thus further associating them with Re, who spread his seed to create the earth. Since the Egyptians thought that life was centered in the heart, wearing a scarab amulet (a small stone sculpture of a dung beetle) was supposed to protect the heart. After death, the scarab was supposed to protect the dead person's soul from being eaten by Ammit the Devourer--a dreadful part-lion, part-hippo, part-crocodile who guarded scales of justice in the Egyptian afterworld. Today, people continue to see scarabs as good luck, and they wear them near their hearts. Scarabs are often inscribed with prayers that are supposed to protect those who wore them.

Bee and Sedge (Reed). The Egyptian word nsw (he who belongs to the reed) is a symbol for Upper Egypt, and the word bit (he who belongs to the bee) is a symbol for Lower Egypt. When placed together, they represent the domain of the pharaoh, ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt.

Shen Ring. The circular shen ring represents the concept of eternity, having no beginning and no end. It is associated with the solar disk, the serpent that bites its tail, and divine birds that are often shown holding the sign in their claws.

Important symbols IIIDjed-pillar. The Djed symbol is a pillar-like ancient Egyptian symbol representing stability. It has been interpreted as the backbone of the God of the Dead, Osiris.

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Poses of major figures were usually relatively motionless, limited to standing, walking, sitting, and kneeling. A number of arm and hand gestures were used to explain in greater detail what the figure was doing.

The following are commonly used poses and gestures:

               

     worshiping

both arms extended

forward with hands upraised

                 

            presenting,

offering both arms extended

forward with an object held in one or both

hands

                 

                         

ready to receive

offerings seated with one

or both arms resting on one's lap, palms down

                 

                       

summoning one arm extended

forward with the palm

open

                 

                protecting

both arms extended out to the sides with

the palms facing forward

                 

                 rejoicing both arms

extended out to the sides with palms turned away from the

body

                 

                         

praising crouched on one knee, one arm raised and the

other held against the chest with clenched fist

                 

                            

mourning arms raised with

palms turned toward the face

Poses of less important people such as farmers, fishermen, herdsmen, soldiers, and craftsmen were more active.

Pose and gesture

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Hieroglyphics

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A cartouche is a royal sign. It consists of an oblong enclosure with a horizontal line at one end. The text enclosed identifies a royal name by letter and symtbol.

Draw your own cartouche at the right, using the hieroglyphic chart on page 10.

Cartouches