Pectoral with goddesses Hatmehyet, Taweret, and a possibly pregnant woman Glazed faience, lower right hand corner restored, H: 8/7; W: 8.1 cm By Exchange with the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1950, OIM 18286 Two small faience Taweret: OIM 17485;17524 Bronze statuette of Bes standing: OIM 11177 On Circular Platform, Wears Crown (Feathers Missing), Right Hand Held In Air, Fist Closed, Left Hand Forward, Holds Hawk, Tail Reaches To The Platform Amulet of Bes (Akhmin?): OIM 186 Glazed, Plain Back, Suspension Loop On Head, Strung with about 60-70 Globular Red Beads Roman - Steatite - 31h mm Descriptive list which helped me sort these two Bes Photo ©Joan Ann Lansberry, 2010

(From info card): "The protection of infants and mothers was entrusted to Taweret ('The Great One'), the hippopotamus goddess of pregnancy, and to a stocky dwarf with lion mane and tail who is known first as 'the fighter' and later as Bes. Images of Taweret and Bes were placed on bedroom walls and furniture and were worn as jewelry." (From _The Life of Meresamun: a Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt_, edited by Emily Teeter and Janet H. Johnson, page 78): "Pectorals were worn over the breast or sown into mummy wrappings for protection. This example was used for protection during childbirth. The incised decoration depicts the goddesses Taweret and Hatmehyet and a (possibly pregnant) woman. Hatmehyet, a fish goddess worshipped at Mendes in the Nile Delta after the Twenty-first Dynasty (ca. 1069-945 B.C.), was in the local mythology, the mother of the local manifestation of Horus. She is depicted on this pectoral wearing her fish emblem on her head." (From info card): "Bes in particular safeguarded sleep and dreams. Though he lacked formal temples, Bes's popularity and importance grew steadily through Egyptian history. In A.D. 359, an oracle of Bes at Abydos offended the Christian emperor Constantius, who then attempted to abolish all traditional oracles - without success."

Four Taweret Statues @ Met Museum