A delicate Ancient Egyptian pale green feldspar amulet, depicting the goddess Taweret. She is depicted as a hippopotamus, with pendulant breasts and a pregnant belly. Her limbs are those of a feline, most likely a lion, with her arms by her side and her legs planted firmly on a flat, oblong base. Her long tail at the back of the amulet belongs to a Nile crocodile. Her facial features, now worn, have been stylistically incised and she wears a modius on her head. There is a suspension loop to the back of her head.
Date: Circa 664-332 BC Period: Late Period Provenance: From the H.M. Barker private collection, England, U.K. Condition: Excellent condition. Some earthly encrustations to the surface.
Thoeris, also known as ‘Tawaret’ was an Egyptian deity who attended women in childbirth, and became a patron for pregnant women accordingly. She is often shown standing as a heavily pregnant hippopotamus with a low hanging stomach. She was a household deity with no temple dedicated to her, but some form of shrine was in almost every house. Many women carried an amulet like this to assist them with labour and child rearing. From the new Kingdom onwards she was often depicted together with Bes, another apotropaic deity associated with women and children.
To discover more about amulets in the Ancient Egyptian world, please visit our relevant post: Amulets in Ancient Egypt.
