Crowns of Ancient Egypt, An Introduction

Many people think in terms of a having a single crown that was worn as a symbol of his office. However, in ancient Egypt, there were a number of different types of crowns, mostly worn by gods, kings and queens and sometimes their children. Sometimes, as in the case of the Red and White crowns, they could also be combined to form a special symbolism, such as in this case, the unity of Upper and Lower Egypt under one ruler. They played a dominant role in the composition of the royal and the divine image. Gods and kings were never represented without one, because they indicated important aspects of both royalty, divinity, and of Egypt itself.

According to the ancient Egyptians, and specifically the Book of the Dead, the original wearer of the crowns of Egypt was Osiris:

"Glory be to thee, O Osiris Un-Nefer, thou great god in Abtu (Abydos), King of Eternity, Lord of Everlastingness, God whose existence is millions of years, eldest son of Nut, begotten by Geb, the Ancestor-Chief, Lord of the Crowns of the South and the North, Lord of the High White Crown "

For kings, the number and variation of crowns grew over time. However, various gods were frequently associated with a single crown, such as Selket. The basic headdress of her crown did sometimes change, but almost certainly it was surmounted by a scorpion. At the same time though, because the identities of various gods were sometimes merged with others, a certain crown primarily worn by one god might also be depicted crowning another. Specifically, whether king or god, the crowns worn by them always impart upon the wearer aspects symbolized by the nature of the crown.

Form and Composition

So much of ancient Egypt has survived into this present day, but apart from circlets and kerchiefs, no real ancient Egyptian crowns have survived. hence, their actual size and the material from which they were made is uncertain, even though we do have many examples of statuary and reliefs that depict gods and royalty wearing them. As in most cultures, crowns mark the wearer as distinct from the average human being. This is usually achieved by optically "enhancing" the wearer, making him or her appear taller, and by using precious material, such as gold, silver and gemstones. Egyptian crowns are generally represented as very tall, sometimes so tall that they could hardly have been worn, and indeed, such elements as high feathers are represented in token from at a much smaller scale on some surviving royal headdresses. This fact emphasizes the emblematic significance of items of regalia, which functioned virtually as hieroglyphs, with their combinations forming "sentences" that could be read and altered by varying their constituent elements. This view is supported by cases of posthumously altered headdresses in representations of royal personae.

Royal regalia, and in particular crowns, often link their wearer with the superhuman sphere, and the height of Egyptian crowns itself points toward the heavenly or divine. Therefore, the crown of Queen Hatshepsut can be stated to "pierce the sky" during her coronation before the god Amun. Bestowed on the ruler by the gods in texts and representations, in ancient Egypt crowns symbolize the connection of earthly and divine rule. Most crowns can be said to belong to the sun god Re, or some other deity, but bestowed by them on the king. Adornment with precious materials (or their colors), in particular the shimmer of gold and silver, provides a further link with gods who are associated with radiance. Solar or stellar disks can be added to a crown-type as well as one or more cobra-form uraeus snakes, which represent the fire and blinding radiance issuing from the sun god's "eye". the solar disk, to consume potential enemies. Crowns themselves are often equated with the eyes of Re or Horus. Typically, only one uraeus adorns the forehead of the ruler. In the Early Dynastic Period and the Old Kingdom, it appears exclusively with kerchiefs (nms) and headbands, but never on tall crowns. From the 6th Dynasty onward, royal women too may wear a uraeus. A few uraei of gold, some of them inlaid, survive from Middle and New Kingdom tombs. The distinctive shape of the uraeus, like that of crowns in general, at different periods can provide important evidence in dating uninscribed artifacts. For example, a double uraeus, one usually wearing the Red Crown and the other the White Crown, is attested for royal women from the reign of Ahmose on. A variation is the (sometimes double) uraeus augmented by a vulture head, referring to the goddess Wadjet and Nekhbet. Another examples includes the plain Kushite cap, which is distinctive of rulers of the 25th Dynasty and their Napatean and Meroitic successors. Depending on the context, the uraeus can also bear the head of a gazelle (especially for subsidiary royal women) or an ibis. Ptolemaic queens may even wear a triple uraeus. A further increase in the number of cobras is attested from the reign of Amenhotep III on, when a kalathos of uraei as a crown base is attested. Akhenaten is the first king to display a circlet of uraei, also worn by gods, around some of his crowns. The radiance conveyed by disks and uraei likens the wearer to the gods, and the increase of their number on crowns seems to correspond with periods of intensified solar cult activity, developing in particular during he Amarna period. Plants or parts of animals may also be incorporated into crowns, including feathers (of falcons or ostriches) and horns (of rams, cattle or gazelles). These features appear to associate the wearer with the qualities of the specific god who was manifest in a given animal. Thus, the curved ram's horn, a symbol of Amun, which occurs at the side of royal headdresses from the time of Amenhotep I, identifies the ruler with this god and imbues him with divine qualities. Plant ornaments are confined mostly to the crowns of queens and princesses, and seem to evoke beauty and youth or rejuvenation. Exceptions are the central element of the atef-crown and the occasional presence of the ished-fruit on the same crown, and the "wire" or curl" of the Red Crown. Religious and Political Significance. The large number of crowns attested for a single ruler, such as Hatshepsut, with nine different types and the same number of basic headdresses, is attested in depictions from the Old Kingdom on. They reflect different aspects of kingship. The political and religious significance of crowns for the image of the king can be inferred from the fact that different headdresses were favored in different periods. Thus, some types of crown do not appear in the Amarna period, as an example. Akhenaten's queen Nefertiti wore crowns confined to the king in other periods, such as the cap crown, and new crown types were invented for her, apparently to symbolize her expanded role Some texts suggest a metaphorical use of the royal crowns to embody the office of kingship, or even the political or geographical notation of the kingdom. Such was the Double Crown, symbolizing the rule of both Upper and Lower Egypt. Funerary Crowns Funerary literature from the period of the Pyramid and Coffin Texts on provides that crowns are an important role to play int he rites of passage that transform the deceased into an inhabitant of the sky. Endowing him with divine attributes such as radiance, they both lien the dead king to the gods of the sky and impart to him authority over them. They symbolize ascent to the sky and rebirth, as is shown by representations of crowns in the object-friezes on coffins and beneath the bier, and also by the practice of placing crown-amulets on mummies. This symbolism relates to the range of meaning of the Egyptian term h'w, which can be rendered as "arisings" and "manifestations", as well as "crowns". The same root is used in the term of accession to the throne. Crowns were also used in the temple ritual evoking the rebirth of deities, and crown models are known to have been kept in temple crypts.

Temples of Egypt by Monroe Edgar

Writing an introduction to ancient Egypt temples is considerably more difficult then examining any specific structure, for a number of different reasons. First of all, the term "temple" is misleading, and secondly, the term covers a huge variety of different structures that evolved over such a vast period of time that many people have a difficulty comprehending just how long a time this period spans

The Ramessuem on the West Bank at Luxor (Ancient Thebes)

For example, think of the Roman Coliseum (in Rome). It is almost 2,000 years old, and most of us would think of it as very ancient. Yet, when the Romans first came to Egypt, they were awe struck by Egyptian temples, some of which at that time were already more ancient to the Romans, then the Roman Coliseum is to us. So we must consider the effect that these temples had on the ancient Egyptians. Imagine the feelings of old tradition and holiness felt by a young priest when he first enters St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. How must a young Egyptian priest felt as he strolled the courts of the much more temple of Heliopolis, which was much more ancient to him then St. Peter's would be to a young priest of today.

Webster's New World Dictionary defines temple as "1. a building for the worship of god or gods, and 2. A large building for some special purpose". For the second definition, they provide the example, "a temple of art". Neither of these definitions fit the ancient Egyptian temple very well, and yet, almost every religious structure in Egypt outside of the various types of tombs are almost always referred to as temples.

Certainly some of these "temple" structures do embrace both of Webster's definitions. In fact, it is difficult to imagine most any large, ancient building not falling under the second definition, including palaces and governmental buildings. However, our modern readers are more likely to think in terms of the first definition, that of a temple being a place of worship. However, this definition is simply too limited to fit even the structures that many modern Egyptologists better define as a "god's mansion". Even these temples sometimes had many other functions, acting sometimes as fortresses, administrative centers and even concrete expression of propaganda or royal retreats. However, it is difficult to define some other religious structures that are called temples as houses of worship or "god's mansions". They may have other political or all together different purposes.

It was the ancient Egyptian temple that received endowments. It was the mortuary temple and the cult of the dead king that funded the entire pyramid complex of the early kings, for example. Temples owned land, livestock and received donations, sometimes including the spoils of war, in order to support often large populations of priests, workers, and sometimes even an entire support town

The Temple of Karnak at Luxor

The Temple of Karnak today remains the worlds largest religious structure, but what is perhaps even more interesting is that it might not have been, or indeed was probably not Egypt's largest temple. Certainly the Temple of Ptah in Memphis, though for the most part completely gone today, may have been larger. It was older, and located in what was often the capital of Egypt, and more often the administrative center of the ancient country. Other temples in the Nile Delta might have been just as large as Karnak, if not larger.
Sites such as Karnak, Dendera and Kom Ombo would most likely fall under the category of "god's mansion". They were more than religious "temples" however. While the god may certainly have been worshiped in these temples, it was also his symbolic home, if not considered his physical residence, and the functions of the temple were as much to serve his or her symbolic physical needs as they were for the god's worship. There was probably little or no "preaching" as such, or carrying the message of the god to the people by priests associated with these "temples". Rather the efforts were directed inward, towards the care of the gods.
Also, though we often make a very specific distention between mortuary temples of kings, for example, and temples such as Karnak, they were actually very similar. Kings were considered gods, and after their death, they required a "mansion" and the same attention as other gods. Both regular and mortuary temples served to keep the name of the king or god alive.

Temple of Dendera

The real distinction, religiously, seems to be in regards to structures that might not so easily be defined as "god's mansions". Nefertari's temple at Abu Simbel was certainly dedicated to the goddess Hathor, it would seem. But this also seems to be a situation where a "god's mansion" was built as much for political as for religious purposes. These great monuments at Abu Simbel, consisting of her temple, and the larger temple of her husband, Ramesses II, were not just temples. They were also reminders of Egypt's greatness to her southern neighbors. Other structures hardly fit within the "god's mansion" category at all. For example, Sed-festival Temples that celebrated the king's jubilees seem to have had a completely different purpose than "god's mansions", and ka Temples provided a residence not to the dead king, but for his soul.

Nevertheless, for convenience, we will refer to most religious structures other than tombs as temples in the remainder of this reference.
Dynastic era temples may be found throughout Egypt, though the ones that have survived time are mostly in the south. They were built for many different forms of worship, as well as other purposes. Some were major temples dedicated to major deities, while others were dedicated to a number of different deities. Some were mortuary temples, where the temple was dedicated to the deified dead king, and where he was worshiped and cared for by his cult. There were also valley temples, which were often no more than monumental gateways connected to the king's mortuary chapel by a causeway. There were all manner of specialized temples, such as Sed-festival temples, ka temples, sun temples, coronation temples and others.

Many of Egypt's temples became complex systems of buildings, added to by generations of pharaohs over sometimes thousands of years. Such temples include those of Luxor and Karnak, but others long destroyed, such as the Temple of Ptah. In fact, there are any number of northern temples, though long gone, that would have rivaled the southern temples that we most often visit today.
Most Temples had some sort of organized structure that evolved into a traditional, if somewhat varied floor plan. For example, the mortuary temple of 5th Dynasty kings invariably had an outer section and an inner sanctuary. The outer section would consist of an entrance corridor, followed by an open columned courtyard. Often, the pillars were inscribed with the king's name and title, and the northern columns would have scenes oriented to northern Egypt's symbolic gods, with a similar arrangement on the southern columns. Various additional minor chambers might also exist within the outer section, including, for example, an entrance vestibule or a guard station. Between the outer temple and the inner section there was usually a transverse corridor, and in the center of the long, west wall a doorway lead to the inner sanctuary of which the front section consists of a chapel with five niches for statues. Behind the chapel would be an offering hall, notable for a false door on the west wall that faces the pyramid, and before the door, an offering altar. Within the inner sanctuary there might also be additional rooms, such as vestibules and antechambers. Associated with both the outer and inner sections of the temple would be storage and other annexes to one side or both of the main temple components.

Non-mortuary temples often also had courtyards, chapels, offering halls, vestibules, antechambers, just like the mortuary temples. They tend to vary considerably in their style and elements, though temples built for specific gods tended to be more uniform (though not always). One of the major differences between mortuary temples and others was that the non-mortuary temples were very often added to, built upon and even usurped by various kings. Though in rare cases a mortuary temples, such as that of Djoser at Saqqara, became places of high holiness, and were built upon by later kings, most mortuary temples were never added to or usurped. They therefore most often were much more simple than major non-mortuary temples.
Latter temples took the form of fortresses, with massive entrance pylons and enclosure walls, huge courtyards, columned or pillared halls and inner sanctuaries.