Nekhbet- Egyptian GodDeity"She of Nekheb"
Also known as: Nekhebet, Nechbet, and nḫb.t
Titles & Epithets
Domains
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Description
The Egyptians believed vultures were all female, conceiving by the wind alone — making Nekhbet the perfect symbol of divine motherhood. The vulture goddess of Upper Egypt suckled the pharaoh, sheltered him with her wings, and destroyed anyone who threatened him.
Mythology & Lore
She of Nekheb
Her city was Nekheb, modern el-Kab, one of Egypt's oldest settlements, occupied from prehistoric times through the Roman period. Her image appears on the Narmer Palette around 3100 BCE, a vulture hovering above the king in one of the earliest records of Egyptian kingship. With Wadjet, the cobra goddess of Lower Egypt, she formed the Two Ladies. Every pharaoh bore their paired name, the vulture and the cobra together on the royal brow.
Wings
In the birth colonnade at Deir el-Bahari, Nekhbet hovers with outstretched wings over the divine conception of Hatshepsut. In battle reliefs, she flies above the charging pharaoh, talons grasping the shen ring of eternity. Queens wore the vulture crown, a cap shaped like spread wings with the bird's head projecting above the forehead.