Much of the symbolism of ancient Egypt referred to the union of the Two Lands , the Nile Valley (Upper Egypt) and its Delta (Lower Egypt), whose establishment marked the onset of the Old Kingdom (c.3100 BC).

 

Each Land had its own deity - the Delta had Wadjet , the cobra goddess, while the Valley had Nekhbet , the vulture goddess. With union, however, their images were combined with the sun-disc of the god Re to form the winged sun-disc , which often appeared on the lintels of temple doors. Another common image was that of the Nile-god, Hapy , binding together the heraldic plants of the Two Lands, the papyrus of the Delta and the lotus of the Valley.

Much the same process can be observed in the evolution of pharaonic crowns . At state rituals, the pharaoh customarily wore first the White Crown of Upper Egypt and then the Red Crown of Lower Egypt, although by the time of the New Kingdom (c.1570 BC) these were often subsumed into the Combined Crown . Pharaonic crowns also featured the uraeus or fire-spitting cobra, an incarnation of Wadjet believed to be a guardian of the kings.

Another image that referred to the act of union (an act which had to be repeated at the onset of the Middle and New Kingdoms) was the Djed column , a symbol of steadfastness. Additional symbols of royal authority included the crook (or staff) and the flail (or scourge), which are often shown crossed over the chest - in the so-called Osiride position - on pharaonic statues. A ubiquitous motif was the ankh , symbolizing breath or life, which pharaohs are often depicted receiving from gods in tombs or funerary texts.

However, the archetypal symbol of kingship was the cartouche , an oval formed by a loop of rope, enclosing the hieroglyphs of the pharaoh's nomen and prenomen . Traditionally a pharaoh's title consisted of five names: four adopted on accession to the throne (Horus name, Nebty name, Golden Horus name and prenomen) and a birth name (nomen), roughly corresponding to a family name. The prenomen was introduced by a group of hieroglyphs meaning "He who belongs to the sedge and the bee" and was nearly always compounded with the name of Re, the sun-god. The nomen - the name by which pharaohs are known to posterity - was likewise introduced by an epithet, "Son of Re".