Nekhbet, or alternatively Nekhebet, was an early predynastic goddess depicted as a griffon vulture who was initially the patron deity of the city of Nekheb (El Kab), hence her name meaning ‘She of Nekheb,’ on the east bank of the Nile and eventually became the guardian of the entire Upper Egypt.

Just like Horus, she was also often shown to grasp the Shen (Spheres), standing for eternal protection, in her claws hovering with her wings spread, many times over a royal image, while later she would often appear together with her counterpart Wadjet of Lower Egypt as the Two Ladies (Nebty), the two guardians of Egypt once unified.

Thereby, the two guardian goddesses appeared in a combined, double uraeus as a vulture (Nekhbet) and a cobra (Wadjet) respectively on top of the crown or headdress of the Pharaoh representing union while they oversaw the keeping of the laws, protected both the rulers and the land as well as promoting peace thereover.

Nekhbet was often called as ‘Hedget,’ namely the White Crown of Upper Egypt, and would also take the shape of a woman, or a woman with the head of a vulture, wearing the White Crown further holding a lotus flower (rebirth), wreathed with a cobra, along with an ankh (symbol/key of life). As a vulture, she could also be seen bearing Ma’at’s Feather, representing truth.

The shrine of Nekhbet at Nekheb was among the earliest known temples across the entire Egypt as the city was a companion to Nekhen, standing on the west bank of the Nile, which shaped the political and religious capital of Upper Egypt towards the end of the Predynastic Era (pre c. 3150 BC) and likely into the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3150 – 2686 BC).

Nekheb actually carried the exonym Eileithyiapolis, spelling ‘the city of goddess Eileithyia,’ among the Helenes (or Hellenes) et al which means that they identified Eileithyia, associated particularly with the island of Crete, with Nekhbet as the latter was also held as a (originally royal) mother goddess, occasionally depicted as a wet-nurse suckling the Pharaoh himself, as well as protector of (initially royal) pregnant women, childbirth and children.

Sometimes, Nekhbet appeared as consort to god Hapi, since a patron of Upper Egypt himself, but was also associated with Horus, whose cult centre was Nekhen for that matter, alongside whom she fought in the shape of a winged cobra against Seth. But she was also linked with Mut, a mother goddess in her own right, as well as bovine goddess Hathor, divine mother of both Horus and Ra.

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The above pictured pendant in the shape of Nekhbet is part of Tutankhamun’s treasure which was found in the tomb of the famous Egyptian Pharaoh (ruled between roughly 1332 and 1323 BC), suspended from his very neck, in the Valley of the Kings by Howard Carter in 1922.