Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone,
I was hoping someone might be able to help me clear something up. Do any of you know what species of cobra is normally depicted with the pharohs in egyptology? Is it the egyptian cobra, or the banded egyptian cobra? I'm having trouble getting a solid answer from all the internet webpages, and thought some of you keepers might know. I appreciate any insight you might be able to offer.

thanks for your time,
carole

More than likely, the answer to your question is Naja haje the(Egyptian Cobra). Naja annulifera the ,(Snouted or Banded Cobra), doesn't occur in Egypt, but in the past was a subspecies of N. haje. One thing to note, during the reigns of the many Pharaohs all cobras within their kingdoms, (which extended outside of Egypt), were probably considered one of the same. In the event that maybe an Egyptologist frequents these forums, maybe he or she could shed some additional light with regard to this interesting historical subject matter.

Cheers,

Derek K.

np

The desert horned adder, Cerastes cerastes, seems to be what is depicted as the letter 'F'. I'm pretty sure there aren't any other horned vipers in the area.