Taweret: The Hippo Goddess
The Great Female, also known as Taweret (Taueret, Taurt, Toeris, Ipy, Ipet, Apet, Opet, Reret), was a goddess of childbirth and maternity in ancient Egypt who also served as a protector of women and children. Like Bes, she was a popular divinity who protected the mother and her unborn child as well as a powerful demonic combatant.
She was shown as a cross between a crocodile, a hippopotamus standing on its hind legs, and a lion, with huge breasts. She had a hippopotamus's head and body, a lion's paws, and a crocodile's back, in contrast to the composite demoness Ammut. She was a demon since each of these creatures was a man-eater.
She was regarded as a goddess because of her guardian role. Taweret was said to be protective of Egyptian children, just as a mother hippo is of her young. She frequently appeared carrying either the ankh hieroglyph of life or the sa hieroglyph of protection. She was believed to aid women in giving birth and frighten away demons that could harm the mother or infant.
Egyptians also viewed hippos as representations of rebirth and regeneration since they live in the rich mud of the Nile. The complex form of the goddess Taweret, who guards mothers during childbirth, is another manifestation of the birth-related component of the hippo's abilities.
She was also associated with fertility. She was the goddess of harvests as well as the goddess of female sexuality and pregnancy. She was associated with the goddess Hathor in this capacity. As a fertility goddess, she was strongly tied with the Nile's flood, particularly at Jabal al-Silsila.
Taweret amulets were popular, especially among pregnant mothers due to Taweret's protecting properties. These were even discovered at Akhetaten - despite his attempts to replace Egypt's gods and goddesses with the Aten, Akenaten had no authority to prevent his people from requiring the protection of this goddess (or of Bes). Her image has also appeared on cosmetic products, headrests, and jewelry for women.
The early stages of infancy and childbirth were considered to be extremely dangerous for both mother and child. The main defense against these dangers was magic; various malevolent spirits needed to be frightened away, and gods needed to be summoned to guard the weak. One of the tools employed was these magic knives, often known as apotropaic (working to fend off evil) wands. They are typically crafted from hippopotamus ivory, soliciting the help of that formidable animal in the fight against evil.
Taweret was a domestic deity rather than a pharaonic deity, and she was extremely popular among ordinary Egyptians. She wore a short, cylindrical headdress topped by two plumes, or she donned Hathor's horns and the solar disk. Although she was most popular in later periods, she first appeared in the Old Kingdom as the pharaoh's mother, offering to nurse him with her heavenly milk. Later, the pharaoh Hatshepsut represented the goddess attending to her birth alongside other childbirth deities.
Taweret was associated with the northern sky in Egyptian astronomy. In this capacity, she was known as Nebetakhet, the Mistress of the Horizon, as depicted in the ceiling mural of the constellations in Seti I's tomb. She was considered to keep evil away from the northern sky, which the Egyptians associated with darkness, cold, mist, and rain. She was revealed to represent the circumpolar stars Ursa Minor and Draco, which never set. The seven stars that go down her back are the Little Dipper stars. She was said to be a northern protector, stopping all who were unworthy before they could pass her by.
There is a single figure that occurs in every ancient Egyptian astronomical design, always larger than the others and most often in the middle of what appears to be a horizontal parade of figures. Taweret, also known as "The Great One," is a goddess who is seen here as a pregnant hippopotamus standing straight up. It is obvious that this picture is a representation of a northern constellation that is, at least loosely, related to our current Draco the Dragon constellation.
