The uraeus is one of the symbols with the greatest visual force and meaning in the world of Ancient Egypt. For this reason, you will certainly encounter it during your visits throughout the country, especially in museums and temples. In this post, we explain what it looks like, what it sought to evoke, and where you will find some of the most iconic examples.
Description of the uraeus
The uraeus is the classic serpent that pharaohs have on their forehead in their portraits. To be more precise, it is the Egyptian cobra (Naja haje), a species typical of the country. It is represented in an upright position, that characteristic pose it assumes when a snake charmer plays his flute: it rises and appears to move hypnotized by it, although what it actually does is respond to the stimulus or vibrations of the waves.
This spectacular position, with its head raised and the upper part of its body widened and flattened, is what appears on the pharaohs’ diadems, without showing its tongue or fearsome teeth, which it uses to inject its venom. In fact, it was probably a specimen of this cobra that caused Cleopatra’s death when she resorted to suicide.
Meaning of the uraeus
The uraeus is much more than a simple representation of an Egyptian cobra. In reality, it is a reference to the goddess Wadjet, also called the serpent goddess, who was in turn the divinity associated with the fertility of the land or the heat of the sun. But above all, the protector of Lower Egypt and, in general, of all pharaohs: her presence on the forehead was an unmistakable way of invoking her strength and protection. She was also the daughter of the god Anubis and wife of Hapi-Meth, and was responsible for nursing the god Horus, who is precisely another divinity closely associated with the pharaohs, as he was considered the first pharaoh of Egypt.
This is why the uraeus also appears on many white crowns or crowns of Lower Egypt (Hedjet), associated with this territory that encompassed the Nile Delta. In many cases, pharaohs who wished to represent themselves as legitimate monarchs of this territory wore it on their heads.
Where to see a uraeus
As it is a powerful symbol associated with the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, you will have no difficulty encountering uraei during your visits. Probably the most famous is that of Tutankhamun’s mask, for all that it represents: it is one of the great attractions of the new Grand Egyptian Museum of Giza and has contributed to endowing this funerary work of art for the young pharaoh of the 18th dynasty with a certain mysticism.
But in general, most sculptural portraits of pharaohs will include a uraeus, as it was almost indispensable in their iconography as supreme monarch. We find it, for example, in busts of Amenhotep III or in the many statues in honor of Ramesses II. Precisely, the largest preserved uraeus may well be that of the colossal statue of this pharaoh at the Open Air Museum of Mit Rahina, in Memphis, where it remains lying down.
But with a little observation, you will find these uraei in numerous wall decorations of tombs and temples, always on heads in profile, as that was the convention for representations of the human body in Ancient Egypt. For example, in the spectacular polychrome reliefs of the funerary temple of Seti I in Abydos.
Furthermore, the hieroglyphic drawing that refers to the goddess Wadjet is precisely an upright cobra, so it may also appear in temple reliefs, papyrus scrolls in museums, and other spaces.
