Kara Cooney on Ancient/Now

Egyptian crowns almost certainly didn’t follow the king into death. Instead, they were talismanic representations of the kingship on earth. The crowns were old—divinities in their own right—I think made out of taxidermied animal parts from the bull or lion (listen to the podcast on the was scepter for more on that topic!). They had to be constructed, enlivened, and they outlasted the bodily king. No king could take such a precious thing with them into the grave.