Statuette of Taweret |
"Taweret (Egyptian 'the great [female] one'), along with her counterparts, is attested since Old Kingdom times. She is the most commonly encountered form of the Egyptian hippopotamus goddesses and ha[s] a number of mythological associations. [...] Taweret appears to have been one of the most popular of Egyptian household deities." (Wilkinson, _Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt_, page 186) "Protector of women in childbirth, she holds before her the hieroglyphic sign for sa, 'protection'.
(From info card)
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"In two- and three-dimensional representational works, the sa sign is commonly found as an attribute of a number of zoomorphic, apotropaic deities - especially the god Bes, the lion in its protective role, and the hippopotamus deity Taweret..." (Wilkinson, _Reading Egyptian Art_, page 197)
Photos ©Joan Ann Lansberry, 2014
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