For the Egyptians, even from the very earliest period, there was an ambivalent relationship with the natural world around them. The Egyptians were hemmed in; the habitable portion of their country, some one percent of the land area, was tightly bound to the River Nile. Most Egyptian settlements existed on the fringes of the Nile’s cultivable area, close enough to the river to provide access to life-giving waters, but far enough away not to encroach on the essential fertile land. But living so close to the river, Egyptians were constantly in contact with the wildlife which shared the same space. From the early Predynastic Period, the Sahara Desert dried up; the animals that lived on its formerly Savannah-like plains were forced into closer and closer proximity to the Nile, and to its human population. Predators benefitted, and riverine animals flourished. In Egypt, this meant – among others – crocodiles and, especially, hippopotami.

Hippopotami (Hippopotamus amphibious) are among Africa’s most dangerous creatures. It is a well-known and often repeated fact that hippos kill more humans in Africa every year than any animal except the mosquito and tsetse fly. While not carnivorous, hippopotami are hugely aggressive, defending territorial areas they mark in the least sanitary of ways. They are also fierce protectors of their young, who, like all mammals, are highly vulnerable in their first months of life. As human habitation expanded in the Nile Valley, the roaming range of hippopotami was squeeze, and their numbers declined. Living at close quarters, humans and hippopotami were brought into frequent conflict. With their sharp tusks, used in mating displays and for aggression, their bulletproof hide, their huge weight and size, and their confrontational behaviour, hippos were a symbol of the great evils in Egyptian life. A famous, later, Egyptian myth dealt with the competition of Horus and his uncle Seth, in order to see who would be the successor as earthly Pharaoh to Horus’ father Osiris. Among their many and various challenges to one another, there was an incident in which Seth, in the guise of a hippopotamus, sought to kill the youthful Horus by capsizing his boat. Horus ended up hunting down hippo Seth with a lance, and his action became something of a metaphor for the battle between order (ma’at) and chaos (izft), the two competing forces which defined Egyptian life. The ritual killing of the hippopotamus was repeated by Pharaohs throughout Egyptian history, even from the very first Dynasty, who believed that in doing so, they assimilated to the god Horus, protector of Kings. It should be noted that the latest evidence indicates that semi-domesticated hippopotami seem to have been bred and kept for this purpose. Hippopotami were hunted by other members of society for other reasons, too. Their meat, skin, and fat were all useful. Apparently similar to beef, with a slightly sweet flavour, hippopotamus was a palatable alternative to game animals when the latter were in short supply. The tusk-like canines of the hippopotamus were also highly sought-after by the Egyptians. Impressive, at up to 45 cm (18 in) long, these teeth were often carved in later times into curved apotropaic wands (e.g. Metropolitan Museum of Art 30.8.218), While Pharaoh hunted hippopotami with a lance or – in one memorable instance – bare-handed (as depicted on a seal of Pharaoh Den), other Egyptians used boats, nets, javelins or harpoons, and even, as some pottery indicates, occasionally dogs (Egyptian Museum, Cairo CG 2076, Oriental Institute Museum, Chicago E 8923). But the main reason for the hunting of hippopotami was to drive herds of the animals away from human habitation, and prevent hippos from trampling vital farmland. But Egyptian attitudes to hippopotami were ambivalent. Their fearsome reputation as mothers presumably influenced the creation of the goddess Taweret, the Egyptian sponsor of mothers and motherhood. Depicted as a bipedal hippopotamus, with pendulous human breasts, the paws of a lion, and with a tail akin to that of the Nile crocodile (Crocodylus niloticus), Protective or apotropaic amulets of female hippopotami first appeared in the Predynastic Period, around 3000 BC, and remained in use until the end of the Roman Period (AD 396). Taweret, alongside other hippopotamus goddesses such as Ipet (literally, ‘the Nurse’) and Reret, appeared around the middle of the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 BC), in the famous Pyramid Texts. Spell 296, for example, states that the King will suckle of Ipet’s hippopotamus milk as he ascends into the heavens. Taweret herself became most prominent in the Middle Kingdom (2055 BC – 1650 BC), but it is certain that she predated this by some distance, and may in fact have origins in the Predynastic.

This remarkable early depiction of a hippopotamus is both lively and engaging, and a serene witness to the passing of time. The hippopotamus has a large head, fully one third of the length of the body, and short stumpy legs. The form is, on the whole, rectangular, but has been delicately carved to render a number of recognisable hippopotamus features. The face is rounded at the muzzle, has two large nostrils lightly incised, small eyes rendered almost as slits, and rounded ears that sit at the top of the cranium. A significant roll of fat is hunched behind the hippopotamus’ shoulder, a charming detail that demonstrates the artist’s close physical observation of hippopotami in the wild. The hippo bears four short, stumpy legs, sitting at the corners of its body, and an exceptionally well-studied tail, which mimics the real deal by being held close to the buttocks. Slight damage to the hippopotamus’ jaw and front right foot could well have been deliberately caused in antiquity. Later Egyptians had a habit of ritually injuring hippos buried in tomb contexts, since the hippopotamus was one of the many dangers which must be overcome on the way into the afterlife. This exceptional sculpture – carvings of this size are vanishingly rare at such an early date – is carved from fossiliferous conglomerate, a large-grained sedimentary rock filled with fossilised shells, the oblique edges of which are visible in the cut of the stone.