Why have no crowns of the pharaohs ever been found?

Question

I know tombs were robbed but no crowns survive.
King Tus tomb was undisturbed and still no crowns were found?

Answer 1

Some answers are just plain wrong here because they interpret 'crown' as a golden circle worn as headgear. In fact the laurel wreath used in classical Rome was a crown, let alone the ornate headgear the pharaohs wore which can be seen on their tomb paintings and statues.

Perhaps the crown was passed on from one ruler to the next as suggested by others. They certainly existed.

Answer 2

Unlike European traditions, Pharaohs didn't wear crowns. The crown or even the circlet harkens back to Judeo-Christian lore of halos for divine beings. (the shiny metal band around the head, the area of enlightenment, symbolizes this)

Or, historians believe the crown tradition is a Roman thing. Think of Julius Caesar. What do you see? That green leafy thing bound around his head, right? The Grass Crown, or Blockade Crown; (in Latin, corona obsidionalis or corona graminea) was the highest and rarest of all military decorations. It was presented only to a general, or commander who broke the blockade of a beleaguered Roman army.

As you can see, every culture has their own holy headgear. In Egypt, priests work hats that were tall and oblong (kind of like bowling pins) while the rulers wore whatever they thought was stylin'. Rameses II wore a headdress similar to the hood of a cobra while Amenemopet wore a hat that had a large bronze disc encricled by feathers (a symbol of Horus).

So where is the "crowns"? Grave robbed, put in a museum, or melted down by merchants to be made into something else (remember, the pyramids of Giza used to have fine white walls, but locals chipped that away to make their own houses, so recycling isn't out of the question there)

Answer 3

First, Tutankhamen's tomb was not entirely undisturbed. The tomb was entered by robbers not long after his burial, but it appears that they were caught as not a great deal was missing, though a few items were disturbed, and it is clear that the tomb was resealed by the chief of the necropolis.

The most likely explanation for the absence of the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt (red and white crowns), as well as separate depictons of the other common royal crowns, such as the blue war crown, the atef crown, or a nemes headdress (though one is depicted on Tut's coffins) is that they were part of the formal royal regalia and part of the office of king, rather than a personal possession of an individual who happened to be king. The crowns symbolized the two parts of the country being united under the office of the king, and for this reason may have been maintained and passed from king to king for as long as a particular crown lasted. This is borne out by various religious text that discuss the crowns.
There is also the possibility that Tutankhamun's burial was an anomaly in not including the formal crowns. As no other roughly contemporary intact burial of an Egyptian king exists and the only other semi-intact burials of Egyptian kings date to the much later Saite period, we have no way of knowing for sure why the crowns were not included or whether it was typical for them not be included. Given the somewhat unusual political situation immediately preceeding Tutankhamun's succession to the throne and the unusual political situation following his demise, during which a commoner took the throne of Egypt, there is the slight possibility that the crowns were not included because Tut's successor, Aye, hoped that they would legitimize his own reign by being linked to the last legitimate ruler of the old royal family.

Another potential explanation may lie in Egyptian theology. The underworld was ruled by Osiris. Egyptian cosmology insisted that there was only one king (nsyt), ever, on earth. In texts discussing other "kings" of other countries, including diplomatic correspondence with countries as or more powerful than Egypt, a different Egyptian term is used to refer to those kings. Even during the Intermediate periods when Egypt was fragmented into essentially petty kingdoms, it was quite rare for anyone to declare themselves "king" without having unified a large portion of the country and especially if a member of the old legitimate royal family was around, no matter how weak in actuality that supposed "king" was.The same situation may have held for the underworld, where Osiris ruled. It may have been considered inappropriate for more than one "king" to be in the Underworld, and as the deceased "became" Osiris, it's also possible that it was thought that the formal regalia would prove unnecessary. The complexities of Egyptian religious thought make it difficult to elaborate on this theory here, but it is worth bearing in mind.

Answer 4

I don't think they wore crowns. They had those groovy wigs and headdresses.

But maybe when a king died they took the headdress and passed it on to the next one, or reworked it or something. Maybe the crown was a symbol that didn't 'belong' to anyone in particular. Like Queen Elizabeth wears the crown of England, but she sure won't be taking it to the grave with her.

Answer 5

Because like in many other ancient cultures the crown used to pass from one pharaoh to the next.

Answer 6

because they never wore any as crowns and tiaras weren't invented then. only the romans had crowns and these were known as laurels or wreaths they were either natural or makde from gold leaf and these were worn by roman emperors..
any way the egyptian phoroahs and queens they had wigs because they were bald they just had masks wigs and ornamnetaql head dresses.etc some of which were found buried with then in their tombs including their jewloery necklaces and robes.

Answer 7

Egyptian pharoahs didn't wear crowns. They wore headdresses, kind of like the Native American cheifs.

Answer 8

the pharoahs didnt wear crowns. headdresses were the fashion in those days.

Answer 9

I think they weren't buried with their crowns. Kings and queens nowadays aren't buried with them either, right?

Answer 10

At my house