Why does one god wear two crowns at once?
Horus’s crown joins two distinct forms: the tall white crown of Upper Egypt and the red crown of Lower Egypt, with its curling projection. Together they express the union of the Two Lands and Horus’s authority over the whole country. The living king was associated with Horus, so this divine image also speaks about the office a human ruler occupied. This placed his kingship within a sacred order, linking human rule with the authority of the god. On the wall of Ramesses I’s tomb, the falcon-headed god stands beside the king. Above his watchful eyes, a whole country becomes something you can recognise at a glance.
Two lands meet above a falcon’s eyes. Was the crown meant to transform the man wearing it—or everyone looking at him?
Image: Horus beside Ramesses I, original wall painting in tomb KV16, 19th Dynasty. Photo: Diego Delso, https://t.co/IkhyE1Ae3f / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0; square crop, shared under the same licence.
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