Cleopatra’s Egyptian Symbols

Searching for facts on Cleopatra's Egyptian symbol? Read on to decipher the meaning of Cleopatra's Egyptian symbols...

One of the most dominating and well known female pharaohs from Egypt was Queen Cleopatra. She was the most iconic person in her lineage to give due importance to Egyptian beliefs and symbolism as part of the religion.

Cleopatra’s Egyptian Symbols Representing Her as Isis

She has often been depicted as the goddess Isis who was her patron goddess and often her son Caesarian is depicted as Horus in the Dandera Temple. Queen Cleopatra considered herself to be connected to the image of the cow which represented the goddess Isis and her patronage of motherhood, magic and fertility and for this reason she has often been pictured wearing the crown that Isis was known to wear.

Many of the frescoes depicting Queen Cleopatra and her son Cesarean show a reflection of the divine goddess Isis and her son Horus. This establishes a comparison between the two pairs of mother and son. Queen Cleopatra continuously wore the symbolic outfits and crowns which were worn by Isis in order to establish her incarnation as Isis amongst the people.

Cleopatra’s Egyptian Symbols for the Crown

Most of the images created for Queen Cleopatra show her wearing the Ankh and the winged solar disk which was worn by the Horus of Edfu during battles with Seth. It was thought that this crown symbolized the transformation of Horus of Edfu during the battle into the Sun disc which could fly on the huge wings. Apart from this, other elements utilized by Isis and Horus were used to portray Queen Cleopatra and her son Caesarian.

Another symbol which depicted her status as the Queen was the Uraeus. This is the cobra element utilized to symbolize the Lower Egypt. It is related to the kingdom as well as the king who rules Lower Egypt. It has multiple representations and is believed to represent the sun and other deities of Egyptian origin.

The eye of Re or Ra which is considered to be a fiery source is also represented by the cobra and on this you can see the famed solar disk with wings on either side being supported by two Uraeus on each end. From the time of the Middle Kingdom, the Uraeus was incorporated into the crowns worn by royalty.

The main reason it was utilized as a symbol to safeguard the Queen was that the ancient Egyptians believed that the cobra or Uraeus would spew fire on to any threatening person or enemy force.

Cleopatra’s Egyptian Symbol – Personal Emblem

The symbol adopted by Queen Cleopatra was the trio of Uraeui or the three cobras. This was adopted by Queen Cleopatra as her personal crest making it a vital symbol associated with her.

There are two basic descriptions of her selection of the three Uraei. One states that the three cobras reflect the three Kings in her life who were Caesar and Mark Antony of Rome, and Auletes. Researchers have reason to believe that by simply depicting the three Kings as her protectors, Queen Cleopatra’s Egyptian symbol of the three Uraei actually denoted her as the Queen of Kings.

Another analysis believes that the three Uraei actually are the geographical regions of Egypt consisting of Upper Egypt, Lower Egypt and Rome. It was Queen Cleopatra’s desire and ambition during her life to have a joint empire between Egypt and Rome and rule over both of them.



jenny says:

I think that the eye of Cleopatra is really cool!!!! I am very interested in the Egyptian myths too.