Nemes

For other uses, see Nemes (disambiguation).

The golden mask from the mummy of Tutankhamun wearing the nemes headdress.

The nemes was the striped headcloth worn by pharaohs in ancient Egypt.^[1] It covered the whole crown and back of the head and nape of the neck (sometimes also extending a little way down the back) and had two large flaps which hung down behind the ears and in front of both shoulders.^[2] It was sometimes combined with the double crown,^[3] as it is on the statues of Ramesses II at Abu Simbel. The earliest depiction of the nemes, along with a uraeus, is the ivory label of Den from the 1st Dynasty. The Nemes was also worn because the ancient Egyptian pharaohs were not allowed to let their hair be seen by "commoners", or the poorer people of Egypt.

Nemes in hieroglyphs

Gallery

• Statue from Abu Simbel, wearing the double crown, the uraeus, and the nemes.

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  The Younger Memnon, wearing only the nemes and uraeus (the crown may have been lost)

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  The nemes in colour and in profile

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  Roman emperor Augustus depicted as an Egyptian pharaoh wearing the nemes

References

• Katheryn A. Bard, Encyclopedia of the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt, Routledge 1999
• Max Pol Fouchet, Rescued Treasures of Egypt, McGraw-Hill 1965
• Toby A. H. Wilkinson, Early Dynastic Egypt, Routledge 1999
• Watson Early Mills, Roger Aubrey Bullard, Mercer Dictionary of the Bible, Mercer University Press 1990
• Bruce Graham Trigger, Ancient Egypt: A Social History, Cambridge University Press 1983
• Fragment of a basalt Egyptian-style statue of Ptolemy I

Footnotes

1. ^ Bard, op.cit., p.412
2. ^ Mills & Bullard, op.cit., p.679
3. ^ Fouchet, op.cit., p.208