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The ceiling of the pronaos has a central panel with decoration on it. This was interpreted by Aldred
as the goddesses of upper and lower Egypt. He mentions that the goddess of upper Egypt has
‘mistakenly’ been given a cobra’s head. The cobra’s are facing the doorway into the second
chamber. The remaining parts of the ceiling were according to Aldred decorated as the day and
night skies. This is said to be common in Egyptian temples.
The cobra was associated with the goddess of Lower Egypt, Wadjit, the vulture was associated with
the goddess of Upper Egypt, Nekhbet (Aldred 1978, 37; Blackman 1911, 20; Altenmüller et al., 449;
Baines et al. 1991, 40).
The first figure, the figure on top, has a vultures head and is wearing the red crown of Lower Egypt.
The figure below seems to have the head of a cobra and is wearing either the white crown of
Upper Egypt or the Atef crown, which was a ceremonial crown that could be worn by royalty. The
white vulture was the animal associated with the goddess associated with Upper Egypt, nehkmet.
The cobra was associated with Wadjit, the goddess associated with Lower Egypt.
In figure 14 the vulture-headed figure and the snake-headed figure can be seen with sketches of
the general design of, on the left, the red crown of Lower Egypt and, on the right, the Atef crown
(upper picture) and below the White crown of Upper Egypt.
Fig. 32 Detailed pictures of vulture and snake heads on ceiling panel (Aldred 1978, 36)
The wings can either be interpreted as representing a white vulture. It could also represent the ba,
part of the soul of an individual. Humans had a ba according to ancient Egyptian religion which was
the part of the soul that would move on to the afterlife. The gods also had a ba form. The ba was
depicted as a bird. It could therefore also be a representation of the goddesses in ba form
(Altenmüller 2007, 425).