---
node: garment_pschent
type: garment
slug: pschent
title: "Pschent"
lead: "The pschent is the Double Crown of ancient Egypt, the tall White Crown of Upper Egypt set inside the Red Crown of Lower Egypt. Worn by the king, it proclaimed his rule over the two united lands."
published: 2026-08-10
updated: 2026-08-10
image_file: pschent.jpg
image_source: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diorite_Head_of_Statue_of_Pharaoh_Amenhotep_III_wearing_the_Double_Crown_(Pschent)_of_Egypt,_New_Kingdom,_18th_Dynasty,_c._1360_BC_(28672873061).jpg"
image_author: "Gary Todd from Xinzheng, China"
image_license: "CC0"
---

## Overview

A pschent (the Egyptians called it sekhemty, the Two Powerful Ones) combines the conical white hedjet of the south with the flat, chair-backed red deshret of the north, fronted by the cobra and vulture of the two protecting goddesses. It is a symbol of union above all.

## How it is worn

It is worn on the head at coronations and great state occasions as the emblem of a single kingship over Upper and Lower Egypt, either alone or over a headcloth. Its two colours and two guardian animals stated the union in a single object.

## History

The double crown appears from the Early Dynastic Period, when the joining of the Two Lands was the founding act of the Egyptian state, and it remained a central royal emblem for three thousand years. Individual White and Red crowns were also worn to stress rule over one land.