by FianaSidhe

The Goddess Nekhbet is an early Egyptian goddess/protectress of Upper (southern) Egypt and especially of it's rulers. She and her counterpart Wadjet, the Cobra Goddess of Lower Egypt, represented the union of the two lands. Nekhbet is a Mother Goddess, as well as a Goddess of the sun and moon. She is also a goddess of fertility and a protectress of children and childbirth. She was said to be present at the birth of gods and kings, and was known as the guardian of infant kings.

Nekhbet was often depicted as a women with the head or headdress of a vulture and wearing a white crown, or as a vulture with her wings outspread, holding a symbol of eternity in her talons and hovering over the Pharaoh. She was called the mother of the king. Nekhbet was associated with the Egyptian Goddesses Hathor, Heset and Mut, and was said to be the wife of Hapi, the God of the Nile. The Greeks identified her with Eiliethyia, a Goddess of childbirth and protectress of children.