Headdresses in Ancient Egypt served as powerful symbols, communicating authority and identifying deities, rulers, and their roles in religious ceremonies. Each crown held its own significance and symbolic meaning, worn by different Pharaohs or deities.
The Egyptian civilization used a number of different crowns throughout its existence. Some were used to show authority, while others were used for religious ceremonies.
Since childhood, art historians have been fascinated by the art and culture of ancient Egypt, particularly the vast variety of headdresses worn by the ruling class.
The meaning and protocol of crown wearing was firmly established from depictions of the earliest pharaohs of Egypt such as Narmer (ca. 3150-3100 BCE). This custom continued until the Greek and Roman periods (ca. 332 BCE-600s CE).
Narmer Palette
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In early Egypt, one significant and important characteristic of the many crowns, was the color white. The color symbolized kingship or nisut in the early periods and Upper Egypt.
Crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt
The Hedjet was worn by rulers of Upper Egypt - the Nile valley south of Memphis and up to the first cataract near modern Aswan.
Seti I, wearing the Nemes headdress, kneels before the enthroned Osiris, god of the underworld. Osiris wears the Hedjet crown while his sister-wife, Isis, embraces him.
This scene shows Pharaoh Ahmose, first ruler of Egypt’s New Kingdom, and comes from his temple at Abydos excavated by the Egypt Exploration Society in 1906-7.
This crown was worn by rulers of Lower Egypt - the area around the Nile delta in the north of the country. Sometimes gods and goddesses are shown wearing the Red crown to associate them with the role of the king and the rulers divine right to rule the land of Egypt.
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This crown is a combination of both the Deshret and Hedjet crowns symbolising the unification of Lower and Upper Egypt under a single ruler.
Pschent Crown
The pharaoh often wore a crown that combined the shapes of the hedjet and deshret into one enormous headgear for ceremonial and religious occasions. The Double Crown is known as the pschent. As a symbol, it emphasizes that the pharaoh rules both Upper and Lower Egypt.
The uraeus (serpent) diadem on the forehead is also a symbol of the pharaoh’s divine kingship. The serpent was a symbol of the ancient goddess Wadjet, who was the protector of Lower Egypt, so it is positioned on the part of the pschent that is the crown of Lower Egypt.
Other Significant Headwear
Left: Horus was the Ancient Egyptian god of kingship and is shown here as a falcon wearing the Pschent crown symbolising his divine right to rule Egypt through the Pharaoh.
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The Khepresh crown was often worn by pharaohs when going into war and many scenes of battle shown them wearing it.
The Nemes is not really a crown, but a striped headcloth worn by the rulers of Egypt. The boy king, Tutankhamun, is famously depicted wearing the nemes headdress in his golden mask.
Nemes Headdress
Like most art from ancient Egypt, it dates back to the Old Kingdom (ca. 2650-2152 BCE). Striped or goffered linen was affixed to a band across the forehead. Each side of the linen was cut into rounded, starched tapers called “lappets,” which hung forward on the shoulders.
The nemes was reserved only for royalty, and gods were often depicted wearing it. Hatshepsut was one of only four women to rule Egypt alone as pharaoh.
Not all Pharaohs were men. Here, the female Pharaoh Hatshepsut wears the nemes headdress and royal beard but is depicted as a sphinx (a human-headed lion)!
The Cap crown is most commonly associated with the Dynasty 25 Kushite Pharaohs, who are frequently depicted wearing the crown with two uraei. In that era, the crown was referred to as a sdn.
Tutankhamun's crown consisted of a band of gold wrapped around the Pharaoh's temples that secured a linen skullcap, which had mostly decayed by the time of the tomb's excavation. The gold band was itself kept in place by a ribbon tied into a bow at the back of the head.
Still remaining and mounted on the skullcap are four uraei made of gold beads and red and blue glass beads. In the center of each Uraeus is a gold cartouche containing the name of the Aten.
The “round wig” was fashionable during the New Kingdom for pharaohs and upper-crust people alike. Wigs were worn in ancient Egypt since the Old Kingdom. They were routinely made from human hair stiffened with beeswax, available only to the nobility.
People of more humble origins wore wigs made of linen fibers and animal fur. Over his wig, the pharaoh Amenhotep III (ca. 1386-1353 BCE) wears the seshed diadem, consisting of a gold circlet containing the uraeus serpent.
No crowns of the pharaohs have been found by archaeologists. This could be because they were passed down from one ruler to the next, or possibly because they were made out of delicate materials.
Symbols of the Two Lands: the Crowns of Egypt
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