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{{Short description|Ancient Egyptian double crown}}
{{Infobox crown|name=Pschent|color=#C13C1B|image=Double crown.svg|caption=Pschent, the double crown of Egypt|nation=[[Ancient Egypt]]|predecessors=[[Deshret]]<br/>[[Hedjet]]}}
The '''pschent''' (/pskʰént/; [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] ''[[wikt:ψχέντ|ψχέντ]]'') was the double [[Crown (headgear)|crown]] worn by rulers in [[ancient Egypt]]. The ancient Egyptians generally referred to it as '''Pa-sekhemty''' (''pꜣ-sḫm.ty''), the Two Powerful Ones, from which the Greek term is derived.<ref>Griffith, Francis Llewellyn, ''A Collection of Hieroglyphs: A Contribution to the History of Egyptian Writing'', the Egypt Exploration Fund 1898, p.56</ref> It combined the [[Hedjet|White Hedjet Crown]] of [[Upper Egypt]] and the [[Deshret|Red Deshret Crown]] of [[Lower Egypt]].

The Pschent represented the [[pharaoh]]'s power over all of unified Egypt.<ref>[[Dunand, Françoise]]; Christiane Zivie-Coche, ''Gods and Men in Egypt: 3000 BCE to 395 CE'', Cornell University Press 2004, pp.32f.</ref> It bore two animal emblems:  an [[Egyptian cobra]], known as the [[uraeus]], ready to strike, which symbolized the Lower Egyptian [[ancient Egyptian deities|goddess]] [[Wadjet]]; and a [[vulture]] representing the Upper Egyptian tutelary goddess [[Nekhbet]]. These were fastened to the front of the Pschent and referred to as the ''[[Two Ladies]]''.

==History==
{{Hiero|Pschent<br />"Double Crown"|<hiero>S5-.-S6</hiero>|align=right|era=egypt}}
The invention of the Pschent is generally attributed to the [[First Dynasty of Egypt|First Dynasty]] pharaoh [[Menes]], but the first one known to wear a Double Crown was the First Dynasty pharaoh [[Djet]]: a rock inscription shows his [[Horus]] wearing it.<ref>Wilkinson, Toby A. H., ''Early Dynastic Egypt'',  Routledge 1999, p.196</ref>

The king list on the [[Palermo Stone]], which begins with the names of [[Lower Egypt]]ian pharaohs (nowadays thought to have been mythological demigods), shown wearing the Red Crown, marks the unification of the country by giving the Pschent to all First Dynasty and later pharaohs.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Trigger |first1=B. G.|chapter=The rise of civilization in Egypt|editor1-last=Clark |editor1-first=J. Desmond  |title=The Cambridge History of Africa. Volume 1, From the Earliest Times to c.500 BC|year=1982 |location=Cambridge |publisher=Cambridge University Press |publication-date=1982 |page=521 |doi=10.1017/CHOL9780521222150.008 |isbn=9781139054553}}</ref> The Cairo fragment, on the other hand, shows these prehistoric rulers wearing the Pschent.<ref>Kemp, Barry John, ''Ancient Egypt: Anatomy Of A Civilization'', Routledge 2006, p.92</ref>

==Archaeology==
As is the case with the Deshret and the Hedjet Crowns, no Pschent is currently known to have survived. It is known only from statuary, depictions, inscriptions, and ancient tales.

==Mythology==
Among the deities sometimes depicted wearing the Double Crown are Horus<ref>Zandee, Jan, ''Studies in Egyptian Religion: Dedicated to Professor Jan Zandee'', Brill 1982, p.74</ref> and [[Atum]] or Ra both representing the pharaoh or having a special relationship to the pharaoh.<ref>''The New Encyclopædia Britannica'', Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. 2005, p. 689</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Pharaoh with double crown.svg|modern drawing of a pharaoh with a double crown
Den label.jpg|Fragment of an ivory label showing pharaoh [[Den (pharaoh)|Den]] wearing the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt. Discovered in the tomb of Den at [[Umm El Qa'ab]], now in the [[Egyptian Museum]]
Edfu Tempel 42.jpg|Pharaoh Ptolemy VIII between the goddesses Wadjet (symbolizing  lower Egypt) and Nekhbet (symbolizing upper Egypt). Bas-relief on wall of Temple of Edfu, Egypt
Ring with engraved portrait of Ptolemy VI Philometor (3rd–2nd century BCE) - 20080315.jpg|Ring of [[Ptolemy VI Philometor]] wearing the Pschent Double Crown, 3rd to 2nd Century BC. [[Ptolemaic dynasty|Ptolemaic rulers]] wore the Pschent in Egypt only and wore the Greek [[diadem]] in the other territories
GD-EG-Louxor-116.JPG|Statue head [[Senusret III]] wearing a pschent
Horus as falcon-E 10659-IMG 0533-gradient.jpg|Horus falcon with Double Crown
Granite head of Amenhotep III.jpg|[[Colossal red granite statue of Amenhotep III|Statue of Amenhotep III]] wearing a pschent  
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Atef]] – Hedjet Crown with feathers identified with [[Osiris]]
* [[Khepresh]] – Blue or War Crown also called Royal Crown
* [[N-red crown (n hieroglyph)]]
* [[N-water ripple (n hieroglyph)]]
* [[Uraeus]] – Rearing Cobra

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Pschent|lcfirst=yes}}
* {{Wiktionary-inline}}

{{Ancient Egyptian religion footer}}

[[Category:Crowns (headgear)]]
[[Category:Egyptian artefact types]]
[[Category:Wadjet]]