Werethekau

Werethekau is the reason a crown works. Egyptian kingship is not merely symbolised by the regalia; the regalia are charged, and the charge is a goddess — 'great of magic', the cobra at the brow who is both an ornament and a weapon. She turns up at coronations, nursing the king, and on funerary equipment. Her name is also used as an epithet of several other goddesses, which is the usual Egyptian ambiguity: a quality strong enough to be a god in its own right can also be predicated of any god who has enough of it.

Domains

• magic
• kingship

Relations

• counterpart of: HekaBuilt on the same word as Heka, the god of magic already in the registry: he is the force itself, she is the quantity of it that sits in a crown.Reference treatment of Werethekau and of heka, the magical power her name is built on. (secondary)

Sources

• Werethekau, 'Great of Magic', is the Egyptian goddess personifying the magical power of the royal crowns and the uraeus, shown lion-headed or as a cobra and present at the coronation.: Reference treatments of Werethekau, her name, her crown-magic and her royal role. (secondary)