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Deshret, from ancient Egyptian, was the formal name for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the Fertile Crescent Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
 and for the desert Red Land on either side of Kemet
Kemet

Kemet may refer to:* km.t, the native Egyptian language name of Egypt#Etymology * The Egyptian hieroglyphs kmt * r n km.t, the native term for the Egyptian language...
, the fertile Nile river basin. The end has a curly wire on it.

ythology, the earth deity Geb
Geb

Geb was the egyptian mythology god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis . The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward, ...
, original ruler of Egypt, invested Horus with the rule over Lower Egypt.






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Deshret
Deshret, from ancient Egyptian, was the formal name for the Red Crown of Lower Egypt
Lower Egypt

Lower Egypt is the northern-most section of Egypt. It refers to the Fertile Crescent Nile Delta region, which stretches from the area between El-Aiyat and Zawyet Dahshur, south of modern-day Cairo, and the Mediterranean Sea....
 and for the desert Red Land on either side of Kemet
Kemet

Kemet may refer to:* km.t, the native Egyptian language name of Egypt#Etymology * The Egyptian hieroglyphs kmt * r n km.t, the native term for the Egyptian language...
, the fertile Nile river basin. The end has a curly wire on it.

Significance

In mythology, the earth deity Geb
Geb

Geb was the egyptian mythology god of the Earth and a member of the Ennead of Heliopolis . The name was pronounced as such from the Greek period onward, ...
, original ruler of Egypt, invested Horus 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 Wadjet, and the Greeks called Buto, a city that was an important site in the Predynastic era of Ancient Egypt and the cultural developmen...
 and the creator-goddess of Sais, Neith
Neith

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Neith was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the patron Deities#Egyptian mythology of Sais, Egypt, 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 Pharaoh Upper Egypt. The crown was white and, after the unification of Ancient Egypt, it was combined with the Deshret of Lower Egypt, with the Nile Delta to form the Pschent, the Double Crown of Egypt....
 of Upper Egypt
Upper Egypt

File:Ancient Egypt map-en.svgUpper Egypt is a narrow strip of land that extends from the Cataracts of the Nile section of Upper Egypt, between El-Ayait and Asyut 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....
, 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)

In Ancient Egyptian religion, Set is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, Storms, Darkness, and Chaos. Because of the developments in the Egyptian language over the 3,000 years that Set was worshipped, by the Greek period, the t in Seth was pronounced so indistinguishably from th that the Greeks spelled it a...
 was its lord. It was considered a region of chaos, without law and full of dangers.

Records of the Red Crown

No Red Crown has survived, and it is unknown how it was constructed and what materials were used. 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 Hierakonpolis Palette or the Palette of Narmer, is a significant Egyptian archeological find, dating from about the 31st century BC, and containing some of the earliest Egyptian hieroglyphsic inscriptions ever found....
. A label from the reign of Djer
Djer

Djer is the second or third pharaoh of the first dynasty of Egypt, which dates from approximately 3100 B.C. Djer's Horus name means "Horus who succours"....
 records a royal visit to the shrine of the Deshret which may have been located at Buto in the Nile delta.

See also

  • Hedjet
    Hedjet

    Hedjet is the formal name for the White Crown of Pharaoh Upper Egypt. The crown was white and, after the unification of Ancient Egypt, it was combined with the Deshret of Lower Egypt, with the Nile Delta to form the Pschent, the Double Crown of Egypt....
  • Khepresh
    Khepresh

    The Khepresh was an ancient Egyptian royal headdress. It is also known as the War Crown. New Kingdom pharaohs are often shown wearing it in battle, but it was also frequently worn in ceremonies....
  • 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....