Nekhbet (; also spelt Nekhebit) is an early predynastic local goddess in

Egyptian mythology Egyptian mythology is the collection of myths from ancient Egypt, which describe the actions of the Egyptian gods as a means of understanding the world around them. The beliefs that these myths express are an important part of ancient Egyp ...

, who was the patron of the city of

Nekheb El Kab (or better Elkab) is an Upper Egyptian site on the east bank of the Nile at the mouth of the Wadi Hillal about south of Luxor (ancient Thebes). El Kab was called Nekheb in the Egyptian language ( , Late Coptic: ), a name that refers to ...

(her name meaning ''of Nekheb''). Ultimately, she became the patron of

Upper Egypt Upper Egypt ( ar, صعيد مصر ', shortened to , , locally: ; ) is the southern portion of Egypt and is composed of the lands on both sides of the Nile that extend upriver from Lower Egypt in the north to Nubia in the south. In ancient E ...

and one of the two patron deities for all of Ancient Egypt when it was unified.Wilkinson, Richard H. (2003). ''The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt''. Thames & Hudson. pp. 213–214

Mythology

One of Egypt's earliest temples was the shrine of Nekhbet at Nekheb (also referred to as El Kab). It was the companion city to

Nekhen Nekhen ( egy, nḫn, ); in grc, Ἱεράκων πόλις Hierakonpolis ( either: City of the Hawk, or City of the Falcon, a reference to Horus or ''Hierakōn polis'' "Hawk City" in arz, الكوم الأحمر, el-Kōm el-Aḥmar, lit=the ...

, the religious and political capital of Upper Egypt, at the end of the Predynastic period (c. 3200–3100 BC) and probably, also during the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC). The original settlement on the Nekhen site dates from

Naqada Naqada (Egyptian Arabic: ; Coptic language: ; Ancient Greek: ) is a town on the west bank of the Nile in Qena Governorate, Egypt, situated ca. 20 km north of Luxor. It includes the villages of Tukh, Khatara, Danfiq, and Zawayda. Acco ...

I or the late Badarian cultures. At its height, from about 3400 BC, Nekhen had at least 5,000 and possibly as many as 10,000 inhabitants. Nekhbet was the

tutelary deity A tutelary () (also tutelar) is a deity or a spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of "tutelary" expresses the concept of safety an ...

of Upper Egypt. Nekhbet and her Lower Egyptian counterpart

Wadjet Wadjet (; egy, wꜢḏyt "Green One"), known to the Greek world as Uto (; grc-koi, Οὐτώ) or Buto (; ) among other renderings including Wedjat, Uadjet, and Udjo, was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep. It became part ...

often appeared together as the " Two Ladies". One of the titles of each ruler was the ''Nebty'' name, which began with the hieroglyphs for '' /heof the Two Ladies...''. In art, Nekhbet was depicted as a vulture.

Alan Gardiner Sir Alan Henderson Gardiner, (29 March 1879 – 19 December 1963) was an English Egyptologist, linguist, philologist, and independent scholar. He is regarded as one of the premier Egyptologists of the early and mid-20th century. Personal life G ...

identified the species that was used in divine iconography as a

griffon vulture The Eurasian griffon vulture (''Gyps fulvus'') is a large Old World vulture in the bird of prey family Accipitridae. It may also be known as the Griffon vulture, though it may be used for the genus as a whole. It is not to be confused with Rü ...

. Arielle P. Kozloff, however, argues that the vultures in New Kingdom art, with their blue-tipped beaks and loose skin, better resemble the lappet-faced vulture. In New Kingdom times, the vulture appeared alongside the

uraeus The Uraeus (), or Ouraeus (Ancient Greek: , ; Egyptian: ', "rearing cobra"), ''(plural: Uraei)'' is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian cobra, used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt. Sym ...

on the headdresses with which kings were buried. The uraeus and vulture are traditionally interpreted as Wadjet and Nekhbet, but Edna R. Russmann has suggested that in this context they represent

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...

and Nephthys, two major funerary goddesses, instead.Robins, Gay, Review of ''The Animal World of the Pharaohs'' and ''Choice Cuts: Meat Production in Ancient Egypt''. ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', vol. 119, no. 1, (January–March 1999) Nekhbet usually was depicted hovering, with her wings spread above the royal image, clutching a shen symbol (representing eternal encircling protection), frequently in her claws.

Gallery

File:Egypt.Nekhbet.01.jpg, Nekhbet holding a staff and

Shen ring __NOTOC__ Shen may refer to: * Shen (Chinese religion) (神), a central word in Chinese philosophy, religion, and traditional Chinese medicine; term for god or spirit * Shen (clam-monster) (蜃), a shapeshifting Chinese dragon believed to create mi ...

File:Relief from the Temple of Nekhbet at El Kab.jpg, Relief from the Temple of Nekhbet at El Kab File:Medinet Habu Ramses III31c.jpg, Paintings of Nekhbet on the ceiling of the

mortuary temple of Ramesses III The Temple of Ramesses III at Medinet Habu was an important New Kingdom period temple structure in the West Bank of Luxor in Egypt. Aside from its size and architectural and artistic importance, the mortuary temple is probably best known as the s ...

at Medinet Habu File:Tête de déesse vautour (Oxford Ashmolean Museum).jpg,

Granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

statue of Nekhbet from Sanam in

Lower Nubia Lower Nubia is the northernmost part of Nubia, roughly contiguous with the modern Lake Nasser, which submerged the historical region in the 1960s with the construction of the Aswan High Dam. Many ancient Lower Nubian monuments, and all its modern p ...

, Twenty-fifth Dynasty, Ashmolean Museum File:Temple of Deir Al Bahri Hatshepsut 2b.jpg, Nekhbet with outstretched wings below a row of uraei, from the

mortuary temple of Hatshepsut The mortuary temple of Hatshepsut ( Egyptian: ''Ḏsr-ḏsrw'' meaning "Holy of Holies") is a mortuary temple built during the reign of Pharaoh Hatshepsut of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt. Located opposite the city of Luxor, it is considered ...

, Deir el-Bahari File:Flickr - schmuela - Horus sphinx and Nekhbet.jpg, Nekhbet next to

Haremakhet Haremakhet (also Horemakhet or, in Greek, Harmakhis) was an ancient Egyptian prince and High Priest of Amun during the 25th Dynasty. Biography A son of pharaoh Shabaka and possibly of his queen Tabaktenamun, he was appointed by his father as t ...

on a column

In popular culture

*Nekhbet is a bird-like monster in '' Final Fantasy XII''. *Nekhbet appears in

Rick Riordan Richard Russell Riordan Junior (; born June 5, 1964) is an American author, best known for writing the ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'' series. Riordan's books have been translated into forty-two languages and sold more than thirty million co ...

's ''

The Throne of Fire ''The Throne of Fire'' is a 2011 fantasy adventure novel written by American author Rick Riordan. It is the second novel in '' The Kane Chronicles'' series, which tells of the adventures of modern-day fourteen-year-old Carter Kane and his twelve- ...

'' as a minor antagonist. *Nekhbet is the name of a pet vulture in the

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

'' Tenshi ni Narumon''.

Mythology

Gallery

In popular culture

References

Further reading