Everything about The Uraeus totally explained
The
Uraeus (plural
Uraei or
Uraeuses, from the Greek, from Egyptian "rearing cobra") is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian spitting
cobra (
asp,
serpent, or
snake), used as a symbol of
sovereignty,
royalty,
deity, and divine authority in
ancient Egypt.
The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess
Wadjet, one of the earliest of Egyptian deities, who often was depicted as a
cobra. 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, 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. 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 the third millennium B.C. Several goddesses associated with, or being considered aspects of Wadjet are depicted wearing the uraeus also.
At the time of the unification of Egypt, the image of
Nekhbet, 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 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 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
Re, and so it also was believed that the Uraeus protected them by spitting fire on their enemies from the fiery eye of the goddess. In some mythological works, the
eyes of Ra are said to be uraei.
Wadjets existed long before the rise of this cult when they originated as the eye of Wadjet as cobra and are the name of the symbols also called the Eye of the Moon,
Eye of Hathor, the
Eye of Horus, and the
Eye of Ra—depending upon the dates of the references to the symbols.
As the Uraeus was seen as a royal symbol,
Horus and
Set also were depicted wearing one. In early mythology, Horus would have been the name given to any king as part of the many titles taken, being identified as the son of the goddess. According to the later mythology of Re, the first uraeus was said to have been created by the goddess
Isis who formed it from the dust of the earth and the spittle of the then current sun deity. In this version of the mythology, the uraeus was the instrument with which Isis gained the throne of Egypt for Osiris. Isis is associated with, and may be considered an aspect of Wadjet.
Another name for this is the term "Totaf" found also in the Bible.
In
1920, after only a half-hour excavation, the Qufti worker Hosni Ibrahim held in his hands the solid
gold Golden Uraeus of Sesostris 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 the tomb, on the south, immediately revealed in the turnover of the six inches of debris, the Golden Uraeus, crown ornament.
Prior to the 1922 find of
Tutankhamun's tomb, 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, black eyes of
granite, a snake head of deep "ultramarine"
lapis lazuli, the flared cobra hood of dark
carnelian inlays, and also inlays of turquoise. For mounting on the
pharaoh's crown, two loops in the rear-supporting
tail of the cobra, provide the attachment points. See Reeves Ref, pg. 157 (
1920). See Hagen Ref, pg. 202.
Beside the Uraeus being used as an ornament for "Statuary", or as an adornment on the pharaoh, it also was used for
jewelery and in
amulets. However another important use is as the
Hieroglyph.
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 the plural of the last example, "3 x
"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 (2/3) of the Rosetta Stone relates how he'll be honored, including erecting the Rosetta Stone, for all to read.
Another example of the hieroglyph usage, is as adornments upon the hieroglyph for
"shrine", and also for
buildings. See the Budge Ref.
Further Information
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