Regalia of the Pharaoh

The Regalia of the pharaoh are the symbolic objects of the royalty of Ancient Egypt (crowns, headdresses, scepters). In use between 3150 and 30 B.C., these attributes are specific to the pharaohs but also to certain gods such as Atum, Ra, Osiris or Horus. In Egyptian mythology, these powerful gods are indeed considered as the original holders of the royal power and as the first rulers of the Nile valley.

Pharaoh Amenhotep III and his regalia, the headdress, the pschent, the false beard and the uraeus.

Successor of the gods, the pharaoh never appears bareheaded in public because of his sacrosanct function. In Egyptian iconography, the royal attributes appear from the dawn of civilization. Already under the first dynasty of Egypt, the white crown of Upper Egypt, in the shape of an elongated mitre, is very commonly worn by the sovereigns. It is the same for the red crown of Lower Egypt, in the shape of mortar, as well as for the double-crown pschent. The latter is sometimes adapted to the nemes headdress, a pleated and striped cloth. Later, the blue khepresh headdress was quite common during the New Kingdom. A powerful symbol of protection, the snake-uraeus inevitably girdled the royal forehead on all occasions.

Scepters are other symbols of domination. The crosier-heqa and the flagellum-nekhekh, with their pastoral aspects, show that the pharaoh is the shepherd of his people, guiding and protecting them.

Other attributes include the bull's tail attached to the back of the loincloth, the ceremonial beard, the sandals, and the case-mekes.

Bibliographic sources
  • Marie-Ange Bonhême and Annie Forgeau, Pharaon : Les secrets du Pouvoir, Paris, Armand Colin, 1988, 349 p. (ISBN 978-2-200-37120-3)
  • Yvonne Bonnamy and Ashraf Sadek, Dictionnaire des hiéroglyphes : hiéroglyphes-français, Arles, Actes Sud, 2010, 986 p. (ISBN 978-2-7427-8922-1, BNF 42204095)
  • Jean-Pierre Corteggiani (ill. Laïla Ménassa), L'Égypte ancienne et ses dieux, dictionnaire illustré, Paris, éditions Fayard, 2007, 588 p. (ISBN 978-2-213-62739-7)
  • Christiane Desroches Noblecourt, Toutânkhamon, vie et mort d'un pharaon, Paris, Pygmalion, 1963 (reprint 1988), 248 p. (ISBN 978-2-85704-012-5)
  • Isabelle Franco, Nouveau dictionnaire de mythologie égyptienne, Paris, Pygmalion, 1999, 319 p. (ISBN 978-2-85704-583-0)
  • Nicolas-Christophe Grimal, Les termes de la propagande royale égyptienne de la XIXe dynastie à la conquête d'Alexandre, Paris, Imprimerie Nationale / Diffusion de Boccard, 1986, 764 p. (ISSN 0398-3595)
  • Philippe Huet and Marie Huet, L'animal dans l'Égypte ancienne, Saint-Claude-de-Diray, Éditions Hesse, 2013, 157 p. (ISBN 978-2-35706-026-5)
  • Jean Leclant (directeur), Dictionnaire de l'Antiquité, Paris, PUF, 2005 (reprint 2011), 2389 p. (ISBN 978-2-13-058985-3)
  • Bernadette Menu (pref. Charles de Lespinay and Raymond Verdier), Égypte pharaonique : Nouvelles recherches sur l'histoire juridique, économique et sociale de l'ancienne Égypte, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2004, 391 p. (ISBN 978-2-7475-7706-9).
  • Claude Obsomer, Ramsès II, Paris, Pygmalion, 2012, 558 p. (ISBN 9782756405889)
  • Jean Vercoutter, À la recherche de l’Égypte oubliée, Paris, Gallimard, coll. « Découvertes Gallimard / Archéologie » (no 1), 2007, 160 p. (ISBN 978-2-07-034246-4)
  • Pascal Vernus and Jean Yoyotte, Dictionnaire des pharaons, Paris, Éditions Noêsis, 1988 (reprint 1998), 226 p. (ISBN 978-2-7028-2001-8)
  • Toby A.H. Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, London, Routledge, 1999, 413 p. (ISBN 978-0-415-18633-9).
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