Nekhbet was the vulture-goddess of ancient Egypt — the protective patron of Upper Egypt and the pharaoh, who spread her great wings over the king as his guardian, and who, with the cobra-goddess Wadjet, formed the “Two Ladies” that represented and protected the unified land. The mother-vulture of royal protection, she sheltered the king beneath her outstretched wings.
The Vulture of Upper Egypt
Nekhbet (Egyptian Nekhbet, from the city of Nekheb) was depicted as a vulture — specifically the white or griffon vulture — or as a woman wearing the White Crown of Upper Egypt and a vulture headdress. She was one of the most ancient Egyptian goddesses and the patron deity of Upper Egypt (the southern Nile valley). With the cobra-goddess Wadjet, the patron of Lower Egypt, she formed the “Two Ladies” (Nebty) — the pair of goddesses who together symbolised the union of Upper and Lower Egypt and jointly protected the pharaoh who ruled the Two Lands. The pharaoh's very titulary included a “Two Ladies” name, placing the king under the protection of both goddesses.
The Protective Wings
The vulture was, to the Egyptians, a powerful symbol of protective motherhood — for the mother vulture was seen spreading her great wings over her young to shelter them. So Nekhbet was the great protective mother-goddess who spread her enormous wings over the pharaoh, sheltering and guarding the king. She was frequently depicted as a vulture hovering protectively above the pharaoh's head with wings outstretched, often clutching the shen ring (a symbol of eternity and protection) in her talons. This image of the protective vulture-goddess sheltering the king beneath her wings was one of the most powerful symbols of divine royal protection in Egyptian art.
The Mother and Nurse of the King
Nekhbet was a mother-goddess and the divine nurse of the pharaoh. She was sometimes depicted suckling the royal child, the divine mother who nourished and raised the king, and she was associated with motherhood and childbirth more broadly. As the protective mother of the pharaoh, she watched over the king from birth, through his reign, and into the afterlife, her wings always spread in protection. She was also connected, like the other fierce protective goddesses, with the Eye of Ra and the defence of the king and the cosmic order against enemies and chaos — the vulture being a fierce as well as a nurturing creature.
The Sheltering Wings of Egypt
Nekhbet endures as one of the most ancient and important protective goddesses of Egypt — the vulture-goddess of Upper Egypt, one of the Two Ladies who protected the unified land, the great mother who spread her wings over the pharaoh as his guardian and nurse. She embodies the Egyptian vision of royal power as sheltered beneath the protective wings of the divine mother, and of the vulture — the bird of death turned into the symbol of protective motherhood — as the eternal guardian of the king; and she stands, with the cobra Wadjet, as the two goddesses who together watched over Egypt and its pharaoh.
The great mother-vulture who spreads her wings over the pharaoh to shelter him — the protective guardian of Upper Egypt and the king, holding the ring of eternity in her talons.