Cobra Head from Decorative Panel (Uraeus)
Carved around 1345 – 1347 BCE
Purchased from the Egypt Exploration Society in 1922
Accession # 7043-5
Cobras represented Wadjet, one of the protective goddesses connected to kingship. Many objects like this one from the Maru-Aten temple in Akhenaten’s capital city are symbols of the sun, royalty, and nature. This cobra head was one of many identical carvings that were set into wall decorations in the temple.
The dark color of this granite would have stood out against the background of yellow quartzite—a color that connects to the bright golden disk of the sun.
The cobra heads were set into sun disk decorations. This picture shows more of the fragments that were uncovered, giving an idea of how they would have looked originally.
Photograph: Courtesy of the Egypt Exploration Society, 1922.
