The Pshent Crown

The ancient artifact that I’ve chosen for this assignment is very symbolic and had a huge impact on changing the Egyptian society. Long ago, the country of Egypt was separated into two states, Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt. They were finally united during the Predynastic period by King Menes. The rulers of Upper Egypt wore a tall white crown called the Hedjet, while the rulers of Lower Egypt wore a red crown called the Deshret.

In about 3100 BCE, political action by the two powerful leaders of the north and south of Egypt resulted in war. The ruler of Upper Egypt was victorious, as the leader, King Menes, emerged the two powerful civilizations. Once the two nations were united, so were their crowns. The rulers of the united Egypt wore a crown that was the combination of the both of the kingdoms, called the Pshent. This is the artifact that represents the united, glorious and powerful civilization that we learn and study from today.

The Deshret was worn by the ruler of Lower Egypt; the crown contains a curly red wire sticking out at the front, which represents the proboscis (nose) of a honey bee. Wadjet was the goddess that represented all of Lower Egypt. She was well-known as the snake-woman, as she was often symbolized by the Egyptian venomous cobra. There are Deshrets that have not been discovered, so the material is still a mystery, but reeds, leather, copper and cloth are scientifically hypothesized.

The Hedjet was worn by the ruler of Upper Egypt; the crown contains a small golden cobra popping out at the front. Nekhbet, sister of Wadjet, was known as the protector, or goddess of Lower Egypt. She was represented by the Egyptian white vulture, who they thought could only be female at the time. Some believed that she had the head of a white vulture, which happens to look a lot like the Hedjet crown. This explains why Nekhbet was known for wearing the Hedjet crown in many paintings. Also, Horus, the falcon god was carved wearing the white crown in the famous Egyptian shield, the “Narmer Palette”.

The Pshent crown was worn by the ruler of all of Egypt; the crown is an obvious mixture of both the Hedjet and the Deshret, it contains all the significant details that both of the crowns have. The ancient Egyptians also called the crown Sekhemti. Although the crown was attributed to King Menes, the first one to wear this crown was Pharaoh Djet, according to a rock carving. The two goddesses were served to protect the king, Nekhbet of the south, and Wadjet of the north. Once the two nations became unified, the two goddesses or sisters were no longer divided. They were both known as the “two ladies” that were the guardians of the combined Egypt.

I strongly believe that the Pshent crown is the most symbolic artifact to represent ancient Egypt because it was worn by all of the rulers of Egypt overall, it was the crown that represented all of ancient Egypt for an extremely long period of time. The crown has so much history behind it into forming the entire civilization itself, I don’t believe that there are any other artifacts that can amount to how much significance the crown has with ancient Egypt.