| Pschent | |
|---|---|
 Pschent, the double crown of Egypt | |
| Details | |
| Country | Ancient Egypt |
| Predecessors | Deshret Hedjet |
The pschent (/pskʰént/; Greek ψχέντ) was the double crown worn by rulers in ancient Egypt. The ancient Egyptians generally referred to it as Pa-sekhemty (pꜣ-sḫm.ty), the Two Powerful Ones, from which the Greek term is derived.[1] It combined the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt and the Red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt.
The Pschent represented the pharaoh's power over all of unified Egypt.[2] It bore two animal emblems: an Egyptian cobra, known as the uraeus, ready to strike, which symbolized the Lower Egyptian goddess Wadjet; and a vulture representing the Upper Egyptian tutelary goddess Nekhbet. These were fastened to the front of the Pschent and referred to as the Two Ladies.
- ^ Griffith, Francis Llewellyn, A Collection of Hieroglyphs: A Contribution to the History of Egyptian Writing, the Egypt Exploration Fund 1898, p.56
- ^ Dunand, Françoise; Christiane Zivie-Coche, Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE, Cornell University Press 2004, pp.32f.