What can be considered chaotic, yet motherly, a symbol of hope for people in times of distress, well the answer is hippos! Yes! the creature we consider cute and funny in today’s society, back in the time of Middle Kingdom Egypt it had two very contradicting meanings.
Let me give you a background story, the Middle Kingdom was a time of political and public chaos, given the recent unification of Upper and Lower Egypt, so normally these rulers and the people where not having the most prosperous time on Earth so they found comfort and hope in the after life and looked for deeper meanings in telluric and the available beings. That is where the hippopotamus and its two very contradicting meanings arise, the need to know there is something greater, more powerful, beyond the mundane.
The hippo was known for its motherly features, you would see them cruising the Nile taking care of their little creatures, hovering over them, and always together. This, for the Egyptians was seen as a sign of kindness and a reflection of Mother Nature in earthly creatures. The hippos were then a representation of Mother Nature and what she had to give the people and how she takes care of the people by hovering over them and giving them her fertile produce.
Not only was the hippo seen as a motherly figure in these desperate times, but was also a symbol for chaos. This came about due to the aggressiveness of the hippos in the Nile River, who stirred up the waters, flipped canoes throwing men overboard and drowning these men by stepping on the them mercilessly. So this creature filled with love, to those is also a representation that Mother Nature who takes care of the people can also wreak havoc and rampage.
An art work that represents these both sides, as simple as it seems, is the Faience Hippo, who is called William, it is painted in a very vibrant blue-green color representing the water of the nile, with papyrus drawn on it as if it where hiding under water amidst the papyrus. An example of the people’s fear of the hippopotamus’ chaos was that when they found the hippo it was leg-less, since they destroyed the legs so it would not be able to attack those who worked in the Nile or navigated through it, since it can stand up or step it cannot tip over the boats or bash the working men underwater.
