The ancient Egyptians had a deep connection with nature, and the hippopotamus held a significant place in their culture. Revered and feared, hippos were both respected and endowed with positive qualities, but they were also recognized as a hazard. This duality is reflected in their art, religion, and daily life.
Taweret, the protective goddess of childbirth and fertility
The Hippo Goddess Taweret
One of the most popular household deities worshipped by the ancient Egyptians was the goddess Taweret. She is depicted as a bipedal female hippopotamus with feline attributes, pendulous female human breasts, the limbs and paws of a lion, and the back and tail of a Nile crocodile. The name "Taweret" means "she who is great" or simply "great one", a common pacificatory address to dangerous deities.
Taweret was common among domestic households as the protector of motherhood and fertility. The representation of her as a mixture of such powerful animals was to show Taweret as the "protector of motherhood and pregnancy". The Egyptians observed the Egyptian hippos' fierce protection of their young and used this to represent Egyptian mothers' own fiery fight for their children.
Images of Taweret would appear on beds, stools, headrests, and amulets. Worship of Taweret was practiced mainly at home or in domestic shrines, rather than large temples. Figurines and amulets of Taweret were extremely common, and the statuettes are thought to have “been given as gifts, kept in household shrines, or dedicated at local temples in hope of, or thanks for, a successful birth”. Her image also adorned objects associated with birth and caregiving, such as magical wands, feeding cups, and birthing bricks.
Read also: The Ride-Sharing Revolution
After birth, children would be placed upon a couch of bricks. These birthing bricks would have been adorned with the images of various childbearing and protective images. The baby would have been placed onto the bricks as a “way to protect and aid the mother and baby at the time of birth through divine images”.
Other Hippopotamus Goddesses
From her ideological conception, Taweret was closely grouped with (and is often indistinguishable from) several other protective hippopotamus goddesses: Ipet, Reret, and Hedjet. Some scholars even interpret these goddesses as aspects of the same deity, considering their universally shared role as protective household goddesses.
- Ipet: Her name ("the Nurse") demonstrates her connection to birth, child rearing, and general caretaking.
- Reret: Her name ("the Sow") is derived from the Egyptians' classification of hippopotami as water pigs.
- Hedjet: Her name ("the White One").
The Male Hippo: A Symbol of Chaos
The ancient Egyptians had a wary relationship to hippopotami and that is reflected in the stark distinction they made between the males and females. Ancient Egyptians had plenty of reason to fear the hippopotamus, in modern times hippos are the world’s deadliest large land mammal, killing an estimated 500 people per year in Africa.
As a result of this, the male hippopotamus was regarded by the ancient Egyptians as a nuisance and an embodiment of destructive force. Therefore, hippopotamus hunts were organized as early as the prehistoric period to protect crops, and as a bonus provided a supply of ivory. A tomb scene motif that became popular in the Old Kingdom (ca. 2649-2130 B.C.) continuing to the New Kingdom (ca.1550-107 BCE) was to depict this hunt.
From the New Kingdom on the hippo was connected to the god Seth, the murder of the god Osiris, and later an evil character who was defeated by the son of Osiris, Horus. The scenes of Horus, the embodiment of earthly kingship, can be seen harpooning and attaching chains to Seth in the guise of a hippopotamus at the Temple of Edfu.
Read also: Species of Rabbits in Africa
Horus harpooning Seth in the shape of a hippopotamus
This hunt may have also influenced the ancient Egyptians to create a ceremony in which kings would ritually kill a hippo as again the symbolic overthrowing of Seth and chaos. Found in the tomb of Tutankhamun was a gilded statue showing the king standing on a wooden papyrus boat, poised with a spear and a bronze coiled chain in his hand.
Hippopotamus Hunts
One of the most significant hippo representations in ancient Egypt are depictions of Nile hippopotamus hunting. Hippos were hunted for a variety of reasons. The most common reason was for their meat, skin, and fat. In addition to nutritional value, the Egyptians would hunt them for their ivory. The ivory would be used to construct carvings and figurines.
These Egyptian hippo hunts were depicted as early as the Predynastic Period and were prevalent for the next three thousand years and beyond. One of these hunts is beautifully depicted on the exterior of a Predynastic bowl. The bowl, dated to around 3700 BC, depicts a “man harpooning two hippos, one large and one smaller”. In these hunting scenes, it was common for a hunter to be “on a small boat, with their arms backward, holding a harpoon about to be thrown at the hippo”. Egyptian hippos were depicted in these scenes with their mouths wide open. When hippos are threatened they open their mouths allowing for hunters to strike the animals where they are most vulnerable.
Blue Faience Hippos
The most famous and recognizable of hippo symbolism comes from the Middle Kingdom blue hippo faiences. Faiences were a form of figurines that are recognized for their sophisticated craftsmanship. Egyptians faiences were made from a self-glazing ceramic “composed of a body of crushed quartz with copper added to produce a deep blue color”.
Read also: Discovering Egypt's Mountains
The hippo faiences were produced solely as grave goods and were “believed to have traveled through the afterlife with the tomb occupant”. There are nearly one hundred different hippo faiences found in museums around the world. The bodies of these faience hippos were decorated with beautiful scenes of “densely packed river plants, such as closed and open lotus flowers and lotus leaves”.
The decoration of these Egyptian hippos was meant to represent their natural habitat. However, all of these plants were also symbolic of growth and life. When placed into tombs the hippos were meant to supply the deceased with regenerative power and to guarantee his or her rebirth. In order to prevent the hippos from magically coming alive the “the legs of many such statuettes were broken off deliberately, thus eliminating the animal’s destructive potential”.
One of these faiences was found amongst the wrappings of Reniseneb, a Middle Kingdom mummy. This famous standing hippo faience was found nestled against the mummy’s back.
William the Hippo, Metropolitan Museum of Art
William the Hippo
The most famous of the blue hippo faiences is "William," which is now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection. William is dated to roughly 1961-1878 BC and was found at a tomb in Meir. William also has the classic lotus decorations: his back features “open lotus flowers and closed lotus buds along his body”. William’s legs were also snapped off: three were restored and one is still intact.
William is only one of several objects associated with the tomb of "The Steward, Senbi", which were acquired by the Metropolitan Museum in 1917. As Nicholson writes, animal figures were common during this period and "hippopotamus figurines, usually decorated with aquatic plants, probably symbolized the revitalizing properties of the Nile".
In the early twentieth century, Captain H. M. Raleigh and his family owned a photograph of the hippopotamus, and began to refer to him as William. Raleigh published an article about the hippo for the magazine Punch on March 18, 1931, in which he wrote, "He is described on the back of the frame as "Hippopotamus with Lotus Flowers, Buds and Leaves, XII Dynasty (about 1950 BC), Series VII, Number i, Egyptian Faience;" but to us he is simply William." The article was reprinted in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Bulletin in June 1931, and the name stuck.
In 1936 the Met released a book entitled, William and his Friends: A Group of Notable Creatures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since then, William has continued to appear in some museum logos and merchandise for both children and adults. The Met first began selling cast reproductions of William in the 1950s, which today are manufactured.
Here's a table summarizing the key aspects of William the Hippo:
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Name | William |
| Material | Egyptian faience (powdered quartz covered with a vitreous coating) |
| Origin | Tomb of "The Steward, Senbi" at Meir, Egypt |
| Period | Middle Kingdom, XII Dynasty (circa 1950 BC) |
| Current Location | Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City |
| Significance | Informal mascot of the museum, symbolizes revitalizing properties of the Nile |
Conclusion
The hippopotamus in ancient Egypt was a complex symbol, representing both the life-giving and destructive forces of nature. Whether revered as the goddess Taweret, hunted as a manifestation of chaos, or immortalized in blue faience figurines, the hippo played an integral role in the religious, artistic, and daily life of the ancient Egyptians.
Art History Minute: William the Hippo || Ancient Egypt
Popular articles:
tags: #Egypt
