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A Diadem for Tut
The vulture goddess Nekhbet owed her importance to King Menes'
conquest of Lower Egypt in predynastic times as well as his simultaneous
adoption of her as a goddess whom he held in favor. In them thar
days, it was not uncommon for a king to pick a god, rather than
the other way around. And King Menes' patron goddess of the time
was the cobra-goddess Wadjet, who was responsible for the unification
of Lower and Upper Egypt back in 3100 B.C. And so, together, the
cobra and the vulture became the symbols of unification and the
guardian deities of the kings of Egypt. And that's why they sit
together so proudly on the crowns of the ancient kings.
Dear old Tutankhamen wore his diadem over a wig. Interesting thing
about the vulture and the cobra, however, is that this jewelry was
not fastened permanently to the crown, but was rather removable, and
fitted into the diadem by means of tongues in slots. So...if Tut
wanted to change crowns...and keep his symbolic goddesses around,
all he had to do was slip them off of this one and onto that one.
This way one set of gods covered all head-gear. Neat...no?
The Egyptians wore high class jewelry, and Tut was no exception.
His vulture had black obsidian eyes and was made of solid gold.
The cobra's head and hood were inlaid with lapis and carnelian
and glass and faience. His headband was adorned with carnelian
rondels. The rest of the crown had, in various places, red
chalcedony, turquoise, and glass cloisonne work.
He was well protected by his gods, old Tut was, and in addition
to wearing his diadem, he also often wore circlets of flowers in
his hair, usually blue lotus, which, while fresh, not only kept his
coif in place, but also surrounded him with a fresh and sweet
smelling aroma. Clearly, Chanel had not yet made an appearance,
and flowers was what were used instead.
The diadem, which you can all view from my home page, at the
graphic link associated with Tidbits on the table menu, is only
one of the many fascinating and beautiful bits of jewelry of Tut's
time. I will, every once in a while, scan another piece and show
it to you. I hope you like it.