Deshret
Encyclopedia
Kemet
Kemet may refer to:* Km , km.t the name of ancient Egypt in Egyptian* Kemetism, revivals of the ancient Egyptian religion* Kmt , an academic journal of ancient Egypt- See also :* Kama* Kami* Kemi* Km...
, the fertile Nile river basin. The end has a curly wire on it, that represents the proboscis of a honey bee. Deshret or DSRT also represents the insect known as the honeybee. When combined with the Hedjet
Hedjet
Hedjet is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. The crown was white and, after the unification of Egypt, it was combined with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, with the delta to form the Pschent, the Double Crown of Egypt...
(White Crown) of Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
, it forms the Pschent
Pschent
The Pschent was the name of the Double Crown of Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians generally referred to it as sekhemti , the Two Powerful Ones. It combined the Red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt and the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt....
(Double Crown), in ancient Egyptian called the Sekhemti.
The Red Crown in Egyptian language
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
eventually was used as the vertical letter 'n' . The original language "n" hieroglyph from the Predynastic Period, and the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom is the name given to the period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement – the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley .The term itself was...
was the horizontal letter n, (N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)
N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)
The ancient Egyptian ripple of water is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. It is used on a famous cartouche of Pharaoh Den of the First dynasty....
).
Significance
In mythology, the earth deity GebGeb
Geb was the Egyptian god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis. It was believed in ancient Egypt that Geb's laughter was earthquakes and that he allowed crops to grow. The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward,...
, original ruler of Egypt, invested Horus
Horus
Horus is one of the oldest and most significant deities in the Ancient Egyptian religion, who was worshipped from at least the late Predynastic period through to Greco-Roman times. Different forms of Horus are recorded in history and these are treated as distinct gods by Egyptologists...
with the rule over Lower Egypt. The Egyptian pharaohs, who saw themselves as successors of Horus, wore it to symbolize their authority over Lower Egypt.
Other deities wore the deshret too, or were identified with it, such as the protective serpent goddess Wadjet
Wadjet
In Egyptian mythology, Wadjet, or the Green One , was originally the ancient local goddess of the city of Dep , which became part of the city that the Egyptians named Per-Wadjet, House of...
and the creator-goddess of Sais, Neith
Neith
In Egyptian mythology, Neith was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the patron deity of Sais, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt and attested as early as the First Dynasty...
, who often is shown wearing the Red Crown.
The Red Crown would later be combined with the White Crown
Hedjet
Hedjet is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. The crown was white and, after the unification of Egypt, it was combined with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, with the delta to form the Pschent, the Double Crown of Egypt...
of Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt is the strip of land, on both sides of the Nile valley, that extends from the cataract boundaries of modern-day Aswan north to the area between El-Ayait and Zawyet Dahshur . The northern section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Sohag is sometimes known as Middle Egypt...
to form the Double Crown
Pschent
The Pschent was the name of the Double Crown of Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians generally referred to it as sekhemti , the Two Powerful Ones. It combined the Red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt and the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt....
, symbolizing the rule over the whole country, "The Two Lands" as the Egyptians expressed it.
As concerns deshret, the Red Land which comprised the deserts and foreign lands surrounding Egypt, Seth
Set (mythology)
Set was in Ancient Egyptian religion, a god of the desert, storms, and foreigners. In later myths he was also the god of darkness, and chaos...
was its lord. It was considered a region of chaos, without law and full of dangers.
The word deseret, mentioned in connection with the Jaredites in the Book of Mormon
Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...
, is purported to mean honeybee. Most LDS scholars see the similarity of this word to deshret as evidence of a connection.
Records of the Red Crown
No Red Crown has survived, and it is unknown how it was constructed and what materials were used. CopperCopper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
, reeds, cloth, and leather have been suggested, but this is purely speculative.
The Red Crown frequently is mentioned in texts and depicted in reliefs and statues. An early example is the depiction of the victorious pharaoh of the South wearing the deshret on the Narmer Palette
Narmer Palette
The Narmer Palette, also known as the Great ierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, containing some of the earliest hieroglyphic inscriptions ever found. It is thought by some to depict the unification of...
. A label from the reign of Djer
Djer
Djer was the second or third pharaoh of the first dynasty of Egypt, which dates from approximately 3100 BC. Some scholars, however, debate whether the first pharaoh, Menes or Narmer, and Hor-Aha might have been different rulers. If they were separate rulers, this would make Djer the third pharaoh...
records a royal visit to the shrine of the Deshret which may have been located at Buto in the Nile delta.
The fact that no crown has ever been found buried with any of the pharaohs, even in relatively intact tombs, might suggest that it was passed from one regent to the next, much as in present day monarchies.
Vertical "n", the Red Crown
- For the vertical n article: See N-red crown (n hieroglyph)N-red crown (n hieroglyph)The ancient Egyptian Red Crown, the Deshret crown, is one of the oldest Egyptian hieroglyphs. As an iconographic element, it is used on the famous Narmer Palette of Pharaoh Narmer as the "Red Crown of the Delta", the Delta being Lower Egypt....
The original letter "n" in Egyptian language
Egyptian language
Egyptian is the oldest known indigenous language of Egypt and a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. Written records of the Egyptian language have been dated from about 3400 BC, making it one of the oldest recorded languages known. Egyptian was spoken until the late 17th century AD in the...
hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs
Egyptian hieroglyphs were a formal writing system used by the ancient Egyptians that combined logographic and alphabetic elements. Egyptians used cursive hieroglyphs for religious literature on papyrus and wood...
, was the horizontal water ripple, N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)
N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)
The ancient Egyptian ripple of water is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. It is used on a famous cartouche of Pharaoh Den of the First dynasty....
. It was used as the phonogram
Phonogram (linguistics)
A phonogram is a grapheme which represents a phoneme or combination of phonemes, such as the letters of the Latin alphabet or the Japanese kana...
for 'n', as well as the preposition, "to", "for"; (many prepositions can be commonly used for any other, dependent on context). Eventually, a vertical 'n' was introduced into the language, probably for a dual reason, the beauty, or significance of the actual 'crown of a pharaoh', (note: it makes up one form of the word-phrase "Behold!" with the 'reed' hieroglyph), and the fact that the hieroglyph was in a vertical form, thus satisfying the purpose of creating the vertical hieroglyph. In running lines of text, transition to next words, or parts of sentence structures, can lie in the hieroglyph block
Quadrat (hieroglyph block)
A quadrat block is a virtual rectangle or square in Egyptian hieroglyphic text.The glyphs can be variable in number within the virtual block, though they are often proportioned according to variable standardized rules of scribal methods.The definition for the block in Illustrated Hieroglyphics...
s, at beginning, middle, or end. The horizontal 'n' easily can be at the top, middle, or bottom of a block, leaving the remaining block space for the rest of the block. The vertical 'n' simply allows for two other possibilities, such as emblaming or stabalizing wounds.
A vertical 'n' can be used for emphasis reasons as one possibility. It could be a segue
Segue
A segue is a smooth transition from one topic or section to the next.-In music:In music, segue is a direction to the performer. It means continue without a pause. It comes from the Italian "it follows". The term attacca is also used in classical music.For written music it implies a transition...
form, or could introduce, or end lines of text. The second use would simply be the complexity of the story being told, and the use of either the vertical or horizontal, as a simpler means to write with flexibility in the choice of completing, starting, or transitioning hieroglyphic blocks of text.
See also
- Deshret - Red Crown of Lower Egypt
- HedjetHedjetHedjet is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. The crown was white and, after the unification of Egypt, it was combined with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, with the delta to form the Pschent, the Double Crown of Egypt...
- White Crown of Upper Egypt - PschentPschentThe Pschent was the name of the Double Crown of Ancient Egypt. The Ancient Egyptians generally referred to it as sekhemti , the Two Powerful Ones. It combined the Red Deshret Crown of Lower Egypt and the White Hedjet Crown of Upper Egypt....
- Double Crown of Lower & Upper Egypt - AtefAtefAtef is the specific feathered white crown of the Egyptian Deity Osiris. It combines the Hedjet, the crown of Upper Egypt, with red ostrich feathers for the Osiris cult. The feathers are identified as ostrich from their curl or curve at the upper ends, with a slight flare toward the base. They are...
- HedjetHedjetHedjet is the formal name for the White Crown of pharaonic Upper Egypt. The crown was white and, after the unification of Egypt, it was combined with the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, with the delta to form the Pschent, the Double Crown of Egypt...
Crown with feathers identified with OsirisOsirisOsiris is an Egyptian god, usually identified as the god of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead. He is classically depicted as a green-skinned man with a pharaoh's beard, partially mummy-wrapped at the legs, wearing a distinctive crown with two large ostrich feathers at either side, and... - KhepreshKhepreshThe Khepresh was an ancient Egyptian royal headdress. It is also known as the blue crown or war crown. New Kingdom pharaohs are often shown wearing it in battle, but it was also frequently worn in ceremonies...
- Blue or War Crown also called Royal Crown - UraeusUraeusThe Uraeus is the stylized, upright form of an Egyptian spitting cobra , used as a symbol of sovereignty, royalty, deity, and divine authority in ancient Egypt.The Uraeus is a symbol for the goddess Wadjet, who was one of the earliest Egyptian deities and who...
- Rearing Cobra
- N-red crown (n hieroglyph)N-red crown (n hieroglyph)The ancient Egyptian Red Crown, the Deshret crown, is one of the oldest Egyptian hieroglyphs. As an iconographic element, it is used on the famous Narmer Palette of Pharaoh Narmer as the "Red Crown of the Delta", the Delta being Lower Egypt....
- N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)The ancient Egyptian ripple of water is one of the oldest language hieroglyphs from Ancient Egypt. It is used on a famous cartouche of Pharaoh Den of the First dynasty....