Statuette of Taweret

Statuette of Taweret
Egyptian Late Period, 760–332 B.C.E.
Faience, H x W x : 12.5 x 3.75 x 3.5 cm (4 15/16 x 1 1/2 x 1 3/8 in.)
Gift of Horace L. Mayer 1964, MFA #64.2252


"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)



"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


Four Taweret Statues @ the Met