Audra Wagner-Carlberg

May 17, 2015

Legacy Project

The Hippocracy of Life

In Ancient Egypt, there was a concept of the afterlife. It
was a place that everyone would go to after they had died and would
live out the rest of eternity looking down over their jobs and making
sure Egypt was in good hands. The people would roam the earth and
have other people do everything for them. In the tombs of mostly
upper class people would put faience art, jewelry, elaborately
decorated coffins, and provisions to help them on their journey to the
underworld. Through excavations historians and archaeologists have
found many important artifacts including The Figure of a
Hippopotamus. This piece of art is most known because of its place at
the Metropolitan Museum. The Figure of a Hippopotamus
demonstrates, the importance of rebirth and the after life in the
Egyptian Society of the Ancient World

The Figure of a Hippopotamus is The Figure of a

Hippopotamus is located at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City
in Gallery 111 accession number 17.9.1. It was made during the middle
kingdom in the first half of dynasty 12 of Egypt, around the time of
1961-1878 B.C.. This piece of art was made in the medium of faience,
a type of glazed pottery used all throughout Ancient Egypt,
Mesopotamia, Ur and Babylonia. This specific piece of faience was
made in Ancient Egypt. Faience was made of a clay that was made by
combining sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, quartz or sand,
and copper oxide. When this mixture of minerals and substances was
fired in an oven the copper oxide would come to the surface and make
a blue/green glaze that covered the outside of object. The blue green
glaze was thought to be the color of rebirth.1 Faience hippos were often
put in tombs with the dead, During the Middle Kingdom hippo
figurines were often placed close to the dead, in the hope of facilitating
his rebirth. Hippos, like crocodiles, frogs and other amphibian animals,
were symbols of regeneration because they disappeared under the
water only to resurge after a while.2 Faience was also most commonly
used to make shabti dolls that would take the place of a more
fortunate deceased at all of his meetings and work so that the people
1 "Figure of a Hippopotamus | Middle Kingdom," The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum, section goes here, accessed May
17, 2015, http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collectiononline/search/544227.
2 "Hippo," Ancient Egyptian Bestiary: S, section goes here, accessed
May 17, 2015, http://www.reshafim.org.il/ad/egypt/bestiary/hippo.htm.

were able to live on in the afterlife without having to work. Faience was
a universally used art form that represented the afterlife, The
Egyptian word for faience was tjehenet which means 'gleaming or
'shining and the faience was thought to reflect the light of
immortality.3 The meaning of faience was a literal portrayal for how it
would help the Egyptians. The Egyptians used all kinds of art and
architecture to ensure they would make it to the underworld/afterlife
and have a good life there, Adequate provisioning for the afterlife was
a paramount concern to Egyptians of every social and occupational
class.4

3 Joshua J. Mark, "Faience," Ancient History Encyclopedia, section goes

here, accessed May 17, 2015, http://www.ancient.eu/Faience/.
4 "Egyptian Art," The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 41, no. 3
(1983): pg. #, doi:10.2307/3269068.

This piece was made during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt during
the reign of Senwosret I and Senwosret II in the Twelfth Dynasty.5 It
was after Amenemhet Senworset Is father had been assassinated. The
middle Kingdom started when the upper and lower parts of Egypt were
united into one country by Mentuhotep II. During this time Mentuhotep
II made Thebes a central city glorifying the works of art that were
tombs set into the sides of cliffs. As stated earlier this was made
around the time of 1961-1878 B.C. during the middle of the middle
kingdom when the kingdom was at its height. The pyramids during
this went from being empty buildings to having secret passages and
trap doors for hiding the body and all it was buried with. The
geographical location of Egypt gave it some advantages to other
countries of the time. On two of its sides it was bordered by red land
what the Egyptians referred to the dry desert land that protected them
from the west as, and on the other two sides it was surrounded by
water, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. This gave the
Egyptians an advantage because it was easily accessible for trade and
commerce through the Nile, Mediterranean Sea, and Red Sea but was
also protected from attackers by the barren deserts. These deserts also
gave Egyptians access to a source of precious and semiprecious
gemstones and metals. These gemstones were an important part of
5 "Figure of a Hippopotamus | Middle Kingdom," The Metropolitan
Museum of Art, I.e. The Met Museum, section goes here, accessed May
17, 2015, http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collectiononline/search/544227.

Egyptian society and hierarchy but were not always easily accessible
It is thought that the Egyptian artisans perfected faience in an
attempt to imitate turquoise and other hard to find gem stones.6
Faience was an easy way for the Egyptians to imitate the color and
royalty of gemstones like Lapus Lazuli a stone that was connected to
rebirth and the afterlife, Lapis Lazuli was a particularly popular
gemstone, as the Egyptians believed that its blue color was
reminiscent of the heavens and symbolized creation and rebirth. 7 Blue
and green in Egypt were commonly associated with the rebirth and the
afterlife because it resembled the blue sky/heavens. The Figure of a
Hippopotamus was found in the tomb B of the nomarch Senbi II at Meir
this was about 30 miles away from the modern city of Asyut. It was dug
up as a part of the Khashaba excavations on 1910.

6 Joshua J. Mark, "Faience," Ancient History Encyclopedia, section goes

here, accessed May 17, 2015, http://www.ancient.eu/Faience/.
7 "Ancient Egypt, Precious Metals and Gemstones," Ancient Egypt,
Precious Metals and Gemstones, section goes here, accessed May 17,
2015, https://crystal-cure.com/article-egypt-gemstones.html.

The hippopotamus was a very important animal in Ancient Egypt

because it was an animal that was feared in the areas around the Nile.
Although people tried to kill off hippos in lower parts of the Nile they
were a very important symbol in Egypt because it was associated with
rebirth, because the hippos were denizens (frequently in the same
place) of the fertile mud of the Nile, the Egyptians looked upon them as
being symbols of rejuvenations and rebirth.8 Tauret one of the primary
Egyptian goddesses who had the body of a hippo, the belly of a
pregnant woman and the tail of a crocodile was an important symbol/
goddess for the women of Egypt helping them give birth and carry on
new generations. The hippo in general had a great importance in
representing fertility, rebirth and the afterlife in Ancient Egypt.

8 "Hippopotamus History - Ancient History Of The Hippo," Animal

Corner, section goes here, accessed May 17, 2015,
http://animalcorner.co.uk/hippopotamus-history/.

The Book of the Dead was a very important sacred text in

Ancient Egypt. It set out all the gods and goddesses of the religion and
it showed the importance of Egyptian funerary rituals. The original
translation from Egyptian was The Book of Emerging Forth Into the
Light, Another translation would be Book of emerging forth into the
Light. The text consists of a number of magic spells intended to assist
a dead person's journey through the Duat, or underworld, and into the
afterlife.9 This translation is important because it shows how
important going into the light of death is and to not fear death because
the afterlife is what you have lived your life to be able to go to. People
beg to go to the underworld to live out the rest of their lives,
Osiris Ani, triumphant, saith: Hail, O my lord, who dost traverse
(2)
eternity, and whose existence endureth for ever. Hail, Lord of
Lords,
King of Kings, Prince, the God of gods who (3) live with Thee, I
have
come unto Thee Make thou for me a seat with those who are in
the underworld, and who adore (4) the images of thy ka (5) and
who are
among those who [endure] for (6) millions of millions of years.10

9 "Book of the Dead - Crystalinks," Book of the Dead - Crystalinks,

section goes here, accessed May 17, 2015,
http://www.crystalinks.com/bookofthedead.html.
10 "PLATE XVII.," Plate XVII., section goes here, accessed May 17,
2015, http://www.sacred-texts.com/egy/ebod/ebod24.htm.

People were so concerned with being able to live their lives after death
in the underworld that they would do as much as they could to make it
there and have power in the world.
Today in the 21st century we see things that utilize the ideas of
rebirth in their slogans and meanings. A few of these things from the
21st century include: recycling, and Botox. Although these three things
seem to have nothing in common they all share common themes.
Recycling is turning something old and used and coming full circle to
something new, and Botox takes wrinkled skin and makes it youthful
again.

Recycling uses the idea of reusing materials that have already

been used in one form and instead of letting the materials go to waste,
using them to make new versions of an item or other items. The
common logo associated with recycling is a triangle made out of
arrows that are going in a clockwise direction.11 This symbol in itself
has many different meanings. The way that the arrows are placed
shows that the cycle goes on forever like time on a clock or the circle
of life. Each of the three arrows stands for one of the steps in the
process of recycling: 1. Recycling goes to the curb, 2. Recycling goes to
the plant, 3. New products go to stores. This cycle is continuous like
the cycle of life and death.
Another thing that one does not normally associate with rebirth
is Botox. However it is a way for someone to take their wrinkled skin
and make themselves feel younger and more beautiful. Botox makes
it so that you look younger by freezing the muscles in your face and
getting rid of the wrinkles. Advertisements say things like: Botox
cosmetic can dramatically soften the appearance of dynamic wrinkles
and provide a more restful, youthful appearance.12 The whole idea of
skin rejuvenation and making yourself younger is a concept that has
been around for a while and although we are going closer to death we
are making ourselves younger.
11 "Welcome to an Engaged Community," Tinley Park, IL, section goes
here, accessed May 17, 2015, http://www.tinleypark.org/index.aspx?
NID=661.
12 "Home," Ospa Kelowna, section goes here, accessed May 17, 2015,
http://www.ospakelowna.com/.

Rebirth is a concept that is common in a lot of ancient world and

new world religions like Egypt, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Christianity.
The Figure of a Hippopotamus, a piece of art that is known for being a
symbol of the Met museum, also helps us see that rebirth was an
important part of Egyptian religion and life. The circle of life also ties
into what is happening today in the 21st century. Recycling and Botox
are two great examples of how people still embrace the ideas of
rebirth. The afterlife and rebirth in Ancient Egypt are important
concepts that have been brought through time and are still present
today.