Two of the 46 vulture figures on the central section of the ceiling (central bay) of Khnum at Esna. At the top, the Upper-Egyptian goddess Nekhbet with the head of a vulture, below, the Lower-Egyptian goddess Wadjet with the head of a cobra.
Two of the 46 vulture figures on the central section of the ceiling (central bay) of Khnum at Esna. At the top, the Upper-Egyptian goddess Nekhbet with the head of a vulture, below, the Lower-Egyptian goddess Wadjet with the head of a cobra. In the Temple of Khnum at Esna, Upper Egypt, German and Egyptian researchers have uncovered a series of vibrantly-colored ceiling frescoes. The relief images in the central section of the ceiling, Professor Christian Leitz from the University of Tübingen reports, make up a total of 46 depictions of the Upper-Egyptian vulture goddess Nekhbet and the Lower-Egyptian serpent goddess Wadjet. Both are depicted as vultures with outspread wings. While Nekhbet bears the head of a vulture and the white crown of Upper Egypt, Wadjet can be recognized by the Lower-Egyptian crown topped with a cobra. Researchers from the Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Tübingen and the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (led by Dr. Hisham el-Leithy) have been working since 2018 to uncover the reliefs, painting and inscriptions in the temple and once more reveal their original colors.
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