Atef is the specific feathered white crown of the
ancient Egyptian deity
Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural fo ...
Osiris. It combines the
Hedjet, the white crown of
Upper Egypt, with curly
ostrich feathers on each side of the crown 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 the same feather as (singly) worn by
Maat. They may be compared with the falcon tail feathers in
two-feather crowns such as those of
Amun
Amun (; also ''Amon'', ''Ammon'', ''Amen''; egy, jmn, reconstructed as (Old Egyptian and early Middle Egyptian) → (later Middle Egyptian) → (Late Egyptian), cop, Ⲁⲙⲟⲩⲛ, Amoun) romanized: ʾmn) was a major ancient Egyptian ...
, which are more narrow and straight without curve.
The Atef crown identifies Osiris in ancient Egyptian painting.
Osiris wears the Atef crown as a symbol of the ruler of the
underworld. The tall bulbous white piece in the center of the crown is between two ostrich feathers. The feathers represent truth and
justice.
The Atef crown is similar, save for the feathers, to the plain white crown (
Hedjet) first recorded in the
Predynastic Period
Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt span the period from the earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period around 3100 BC, starting with the first Pharaoh, Narmer for some Egyptologists, Hor-Aha for others, with th ...
and worn as a symbol for
pharaonic Upper Egypt.
See also
*
Atef crown (hieroglyph)
The total number of distinct Egyptian hieroglyphs increased over time from several hundred in the Middle Kingdom to several thousand during the Ptolemaic Kingdom.
In 1928/1929 Alan Gardiner published an overview of hieroglyphs, Gardiner's sign ...
*
Deshret – Red Crown of Lower Egypt
*
Hedjet – White Crown of Upper Egypt
*
Hemhem crown
Hemhem crown was an ancient Egyptian ceremonial headgear, in the form of an ornate triple atef with corkscrew sheep horns and usually two uraei. The Egyptian word "hemhem" means "to shout", "cry out", possibly indicating that the hemhem crown re ...
– triple Atef
*
Khepresh
The khepresh (''ḫprš'') was an ancient Egyptian royal headdress. It is also known as the blue crown or war crown. New Kingdom pharaohs are often depicted wearing it in battle, but it was also frequently worn in ceremonies. While it was once c ...
– Blue or War Crown also called Royal Crown
*
N-red crown (n hieroglyph)
*
N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)
*
Pschent – Double Crown of Lower & Upper Egypt
*
Shuti hieroglyph (two-feather adornment)
The ancient Egyptian Shuti, a ''two-feather adornment'' for crowns, is part of a series of hieroglyphs for "crowns"; usage as a hieroglyph is not as common as the actual crown represented in Egyptian art, and artworks.
One popular use of the '' ...
References
* Budge. ''An Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary,''
E.A.Wallace Budge, (Dover Publications), c 1978, (c 1920), Dover edition, 1978. (In two volumes) (softcover, )
Crowns (headgear)
Egyptian mythology
Osiris
{{Egyptian-myth-stub