Statue of Tawaret

In Egyptian mythology, 'Tawaret' (also spelt Taurt, Tuat, Taueret, Tuart, Ta-weret, Taweret, and Taueret, and in Greek, Thoeris and Toeris) was originally the demon-wife of Apep, the original god of evil. Since Apep was viewed as residing below the horizon, and only present at night, evil during the day was envisaged as being a result of Tawaret's malificence. As the counterpart of Apep, who was always below the horizon, Tawaret was seen as being the northern sky, the constellation roughly covering the area of present-day Draco, which always lies above the horizon. Thus Tawaret was known as mistress of the horizon, and was depicted as such on the ceiling of the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of the Kings. Tawaret - statue in breccia in the British Museum, London Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Tawaret - statue in breccia in the British Museum, London Image by ChrisO File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Egyptian mythology (or Egyptian religion) is the name for the succession of beliefs held by the people of Egypt until the coming of Christianity and Islam. ... An Egyptian deity wards off the snake-like Apep In Egyptian mythology, Apep (also spelt Apepi, and Aapep, or Apophis in Greek) was an evil demon, the deification of darkness and chaos, and thus opponent of light and Maat (order/truth), whose existance was believed about from the Middle... Evil is a term describing that which is regarded as morally bad, intrinsically corrupt, wantonly destructive, inhumane, or wicked. ... Orion is a remarkable constellation, visible from most places on the globe (but not always the whole year long). ... Draco (Latin for Dragon) is a far northern constellation that is circumpolar for many northern hemisphere observers. ... Shabti of Seti, from his tomb in the Valley of the Kings nomen or birth name Menmaatre Seti I was a Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt (Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt), the son of Rameses I and Queen Sitre and, later, the father of Rameses II. According to some historians, he reigned... poses problems for modern day conservators, as it must have to the original architects. ...

In art, Tawaret was depicted as a composite of all the things the Egyptians feared, the major part of her being hippopotamus, since this is what the constellation most resembled, with the arms and legs of a lioness, and with the back of a crocodile. On occasion, later, rather than having a crocodile back, she was seen as having a separate crocodile resting on her back, which was thus interpreted as Sobek, the crocodile-god, and said to her consort. Resources ArtLex. ... Binomial name Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758 The Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) or Greek ίππόποταμος (river horse) is a large, plant-eating African mammal, one of only two living and three (or four) recently extinct species in the family Hippopotamidae. ... Binomial name Panthera leo (Linnaeus, 1758) The Lion (Panthera leo) is a mammal of the family Felidae. ... Genera Crocodylus Osteolaemus Tomistoma See full taxonomy. ... Sobek (from the Temple of Kom Ombo) or In Egyptian mythology, Sobek (also spelt Sebek, , Sochet, Sobk, Sobki, Soknopais, and in Greek, Suchos) was the deification of crocodiles, and was originally a demon, as crocodiles were deeply feared in the nation so dependant on the Nile River. ...

Early during the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians came to see female hippopotamuses as less aggressive than the males, and began to view their aggression as one of protecting their young, particularly since it is the males that are territorially aggressive. Consequently, Tawaret became seen, very early in Egyptian history, as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth, and pregnant women wore amulets with her name or likeness to protect their pregnancies. Her image could also be found on knives made from hippopotamus ivory, which would be used as wands in rituals to drive evil spirits away from mothers and children. The Old Kingdom sucks is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BC when Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization complexity and achievement - this was the first of three so-called Kingdom periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the Nile Valley... An amulet from the Black Pullet grimoire An amulet (from Latin amuletum, meaning A means of protection) or a talisman (from Arabic tilasm, ultimately from Greek telesma or from the Greek word talein wich means to initiate into the mysteries. ... Traditional Finnish puukko knife A knife is a sharp-edged hand tool used for cutting. ... Ivory is a hard, white, opaque substance that is the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth, etc. ... WAND is an NBC affiliate in Decatur, Illinois, serving the Decatur–Springfield–Champaign area. ... A ritual is a formalised, predetermined set of symbolic actions generally performed in a particular environment at a regular, recurring interval. ...

In most subsequent depictions, Tawaret was depicted with features of a pregnant woman, in a composite addition to the animal-compound she was also seen as, which usually took the form of pendulous breasts, pregnant stomach, and long straight (human) hair (from her head). As a protector, she was often shown with one arm resting on the sa symbol, which symbolized protection, and on occasion carried an ankh, the symbol of life, or a knife, which would be used to threaten evil spirits. In ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic characters, the sa symbol meant protection. Its perceived magical power made it a popular element of amulets and charms, and it was associated with several Egyptian gods, notably Tawaret and Bes. ... The ankh (pronounced ahnk) was the Egyptian hieroglyphic character that stood for the word ʿnḫ, which means life). ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

As such a protector, Tawaret was also given titles reflecting a more positive nature, including Opet (also spelt Ipet, Apet, and Ipy), meaning harem, and Reret (also spelt Rert, Reret, Rerit, and Rertu), roughly meaning sow. Putting emphasis on the more getting pregnant aspect of Tawaret's protection, her cult centre at Thebes predominantly referred to her as Opet, wheras her cult at Karnak preferred the more motherly side, and so predominantly used the title Reret. Her cult at Thebes identified her as a form of Nuit, the Ennead goddess of the sky, since her constellation was always above the horizon, indeed was at the highest point. Consequently, in her motherly aspect, this lead to her, as Opet, being seen at Thebes as the mother of Osiris, who was more generally seen as the son of Nuit. Thebes [Θηβαι Thēbai] is the Greek designation of ancient Egyptian niwt (The) City and niwt-rst (The) Southern City. It is located about 800 km south of the Mediterranean, on the east bank of the Nile. ... Obelisk at Karnak temple El-Karnak is a small village in Egypt, located on the banks of the River Nile some 2. ... In the Ennead mythology, Nuit (alternatively spelt Nut) was the sky goddess, in contrast to most other mythologies, which usually have a sky father. ... The Ennead (a word derived from Greek, meaning the nine) were the nine most important gods and goddesses in the early Egyptian mythology of Heliopolis. ... Osiris (Greek language, also Usiris; the Egyptian language name is variously spelled Asar, Aser, Ausar, or Ausare) is the Egyptian god of death and the underworld. ...

Modern statue of Tawaret outside the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum

As the hippopotamus was associated with the Nile, these more positive ideas of Tawaret allowed her to be seen as a goddess of the annual flooding of the Nile, and the harvest that it brought. Ultimately, although only a household deity, since she was still considered the consort of Apep, Tawaret was seen as one who protected against evil by restraining it, and became known as (one) who is great, which is what Tawaret means. Download high resolution version (1024x768, 168 KB)Tourists on the front steps of Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, San Jose, California, behind a statue of Tawaret. ... Download high resolution version (1024x768, 168 KB)Tourists on the front steps of Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, San Jose, California, behind a statue of Tawaret. ... Entrance to the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum, with statue of Tawaret The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum (REM), founded by AMORC, is a museum about Ancient Egypt located at AMORCs Rosicrucian Park in the Rose Garden neighborhood of San Jose, California, United States. ... The Nile (Arabic: النيل an-nīl), in Africa, is one of the two longest rivers on Earth. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...

When Set fell from grace in the Egyptian mindset, as a result of being favoured by the (xenophobically) hated Hyksos rulers, and gradually took over the position of Apep, as the god of evil, Tawaret became seen as his concubine. She was seen as concubine rather than wife, as Set was already married to the extremely different Nephthys. It was said that Tawaret had been originally an evil goddess, but changed her ways, and held Set back on a chain. As the goddess of motherhood, Tawaret was eventually assimilated into the identity of Mut, the great-mother goddess. In Egyptian mythology, Set (also spelt Sutekh, Setesh, Seteh) is an ancient god, who was originally the god of the desert, one of the two main biomes that constitutes Egypt, the other being the small fertile area either side of the Nile. ... Xenophobia denotes a phobic attitude toward strangers or of the unknown and comes from the Greek words ξένος (xenos), meaning foreigner, stranger, and φόβος (phobos), meaning fear. ... The Hyksos (Egyptian heka khasewet) were an ethnically mixed group of Southwest Asiatic people who appeared in the eastern Nile Delta during the Second Intermediate Period. ... Concubinage is either the state of a couple living together as lovers with no obligation created by vows, legal marriage, or religious ceremony, or the state of a woman supported by a male lover who is married to, and usually living with, someone else. ... In Egyptian mythology, Nephthys (spelt Nebet-het, and Nebt-het, in transliteration from hieroglyphs) is one of the Ennead of Heliopolis, a daughter of Nuit and Geb, and the wife of Set. ... In Egyptian mythology, Mut (mother) is the patron goddess of Thebes. ...