In Egyptian mythology, Nekhbet (also spelt Nechbet, and Nekhebit) was an early, predynastic, local goddess who was the patron of the city of Nekheb, her name meaning of Nekheb. She was seen as a goddess who had chosen to adopt the city, and consequently depicted as a vulture, a creature that the Egyptians thought only existed as females, having to adopt children. The priestesses of Nekhbet were called muu (mothers), and wore robes of vulture feathers.

Later, like Wadjet, she became patron of the pharaohs, in her case becoming the personification of Upper Egypt, and thus said to be the wife of Hapy, the god of the nile. Egypt’s oldest oracle was the shrine of Nekhbet at Nekheb, the original necropolis or city of the dead.

In art, Nekhbet was depicted as the white vulture (representing purification), always seen on the front of pharaoh’s double crown. Nekhbet was usually depicted hovering with her wings spread above the royal image, clutching an ankh in her claws. As patron of the pharaoh, she was sometimes seen to be the mother of the divine aspect of the pharaoh, and it was in this capacity that she was Mother of Mothers, and the Great White Cow of Nekheb (depicted as having very large breasts).

In some texts of the Book of the Dead, Nekhbet is referred to as Father of Fathers, Mother of Mothers, who hath existed from the Beginning, and is Creatrix of this World.

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