Dšrt, w3dt,
and nt
The Red Crown is attested under various names in the Pyramid and
Coffin Texts. The most prominent ones are dšrt, “Red One”, w3dt,
“Green” or “Fresh (-gleaming) One”, and nt, which most likely means “Neith-crown”.
. . .
No functional differentiation can be observed among the three principal
names of the Red Crown when they are used to describe an item of insignia worn
by gods of the deceased. (Katja Goebs, Crowns
in Egyptian Funerary Literature: Royalty, Rebirth, and Destruction [Oxford:
Griffith Institute, 2008], 155)
Dšrt, w3dt, or nt expressing the royalty of the deceased
As has been mentioned, the Red Crown is not typically associated with
royalty in funerary literature. Some texts suggest that it may have indicated a
certain status, but the information that can be obtained does not go far beyond
this general point. Thus, CT 992 (VII, 2031) mentions the nt as
the reward (jsw) of the deceased who wishes to become the secretary (jrj-md3t)
of Thoth, but the context is destroyed; RE-Atum features a little later in this
text.
CT 745 (VI,
374n) mentions a “son who wears his father’s Red Crown, which has power as a
god” (s3 pw wts dšrt jt-f sḫmt m. ntr). The further
context is again destroyed, although the deceased seems to be named wr-ḫk3w
earlier in the spell (VI, 375k), suggesting a symbolism the solar creation (see
3.5.4.4-3.5.4.5).
The Pyramid Texts contain only one reference to the dšrt that
places it in a clearly royal context. This is PT 468 §901a, where this
headdress appears in conjunction with its counterpart, the White Crown. Both
are identified as the Eye(s) of Horus, but are also personified as the two
tutelary goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt (see also 3.1 for this spell). As
the two snakes on the brow of the deceased they instill respect for him among
the gods and are active in raising him up to the sky. The two crowns play a
similar role in promoting the deceased as a celestial being in PT 470, where
they are explicitly called his “mothers” (see 3.2). (Katja Goebs, Crowns
in Egyptian Funerary Literature: Royalty, Rebirth, and Destruction [Oxford:
Griffith Institute, 2008], 165)
