Nekhbet was frequently portrayed as spreading her wings over the pharaoh while grasping in her claw the cartouche symbol or other emblems. She also appeared as a woman, often with a vulture's head, wearing a white crown, and was sometimes depicted suckling the pharaoh. The centre of Nekhbet's cult was El-Kāb (Greek: Eileithyiaspolis), but her principal epithet made her the goddess of Hierakonpolis (or Nekhen), the ancient town opposite El-Kāb, on the west bank of the Nile River.