Uraeus Definition
Ancient Egyptian Uraeus, Uraei or Uraeuses is the stylized, upright form of an
Egyptian cobra (serpent, or snake), used as a symbol of sovereignty,
royalty, deity and divine authority in ancient Egypt.
The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet. She was one of the
earliest Egyptian deities and who often was depicted as a cobra. The
center of her cult was in Per-Wadjet, later called Buto by the Greeks.
Uraeus Symbolism
She became the patroness of the Nile Delta and the protector of all of Lower Egypt. The pharaohs wore the Uraeus as a head ornament: either with the body of Wadjet atop the head, or as a crown encircling the head; this indicated Wadjet's protection and reinforced the pharaoh's claim over the land.
Several goddesses associated with or being considered aspects of Wadjet
are depicted wearing the Uraeus also. At the time of the unification of
Egypt, the image of Nekhbet, who was represented as a white vulture and
held the same position as the patron of Upper Egypt, joined the image of
Wadjet on the Uraeus that would encircle the crown of the pharaohs who
ruled the unified Egypt.
The importance of their separate cults kept them from becoming merged as with so many Egyptian deities. Together, they were known as The Two Ladies, who became the joint protectors and patrons of the unified Egypt.
The importance of their separate cults kept them from becoming merged as with so many Egyptian deities. Together, they were known as The Two Ladies, who became the joint protectors and patrons of the unified Egypt.
Later, the pharaohs were seen as a manifestation of the sun god Ra, and
so it also was believed that the Uraeus protected them by spitting fire
on their enemies from the fiery eye of the goddess. In some mythological
works, the eyes of Ra are said to be uraei.
Wadjets existed long before the rise of this cult when they originated
as the eye of Wadjet as cobra and are the name of the symbols also
called the Eye of the Moon, Eye of Hathor, the Eye of Horus, and the Eye
of Ra depending upon the dates of the references to the symbols.
As the Uraeus was seen as a royal symbol, the deities Horus and Set were
also depicted wearing the symbol on their crowns. In early ancient
Egyptian mythology, Horus would have been the name given to any king as
part of the many titles taken, being identified as the son of the
goddess.
According to the later mythology of Re, the first Uraeus was said to
have been created by the goddess Isis, who formed it from the dust of
the earth and the spittle of the then-current sun deity. In
this version of the mythology, the Uraeus was the instrument with which
Isis gained the throne of Egypt for Osiris. Isis is associated with and
may be considered an aspect of Wadjet.