Verner_Taweret Statue_ZAS 96 (1970)

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to the 5th Dynasty frorn the Cairo Museum.

IiJach object must be photographed sevearl times: one geuelal coloul photograph and one general black-r,r'hite photograph are necessary atrd then so many close-ups that each sign could be enlarged to 3 cm at minimum. All these works will bc crr,n'icd on in close coolrcla,tion with rl gr'oul) of cxpelicnr:ed drawet's. In colrcltrsion. I t,hinl< t,ltat llc could realistically cxpcr:t the lbllowing: tho first study on the lrieloglvplis of thc N{astaba of Ptahshepses could be finished about, 1975, Lhe second study on 5t'h Dynasty hicroglyphs - if cvcrything goes well - about 1980. The third study on the Old Kingdom hieroglyphs is perhaps too vast a project t,o anyone's single lifetime.

MIROSLAV VERNER, Stalue of Tw0ret (Cairo Museum no.39145) Dedicated by Pabösi a,nd Scvcral Remarks on the Rolc of the Hippopotamus Godtlcss*

Iu t,Jrc llg;,ptirui coilecfiolr o1'1l'hc lnstitute o1'Hornela,rrcl and Nittule Study in Olomouc (Moravia, Czeclioslovirkia) there is a plaster copy (no. 6339-A) of a wcll-known statue of the goddess 'I'wöret &t present deposited in the Cairolluseum (no. 39 145). No further data on the provenance of tliis plaster copy exist. According to some indications this plaster copy, together with the r,emaining Egyptian antiquities, was given by the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand to the town of 0lorr-rouc about 1910. 'I'hc lllaster copy (see l,'ig. 1) in question rvas perfectly clabolated, irtrd thus it was quite easy to reconstruct the hieroglyphic texts on the statue without comparing them with the original. Titese texts are extrernely ir-rteresting I.rot onl.y owing to theil historical importance but becausc thoy incrludo sollie datl on t,he lole of thc hipllopotamus goddess in Jlgvptian astronomy. 'Ihus it is even more surprising that this frequently published statue }tas not received greater attention 1p to lou'. 1'hat is rviry tve should like to give in this paper a translation aud an interpretation of these texts on the statue of the goddess Twöret from the Cairo Museum. Before doing so it nly be useful to mention very briefly the role of the hippopotamus in &ncient Egyptian society and, above all, the cult of the hippopotamus goddess. '-l'he hippopotanus. togetl-rer with that otl'rer conspicuorts irthabitant of the Nile, the crocodilc, 5as beer.r knou,n in tlgypt since a very etrrly date. The fact that the Egyptians had been in close contact rvith this aninal since prehistoric times meant that they were thoroughly acquainted witS ali lspects of thc Iil'e of hippopotnmus, which wtrs reflectcd in the birth and development of tlie hipltgJrotaruus cult,. \\'hen arlalysing the EgVptiarts' approach to the hippopotamus we are' i1 the first place, struck by its evident ambivalence which runs through Egyptian history like a coltinuous threacl. On thc one hand the hippopotamus rvas taken for an utterly negative phenome.o, which had to be fouglrt against. This fact, transposed to the religious sphere, caused the to t e identified with the negative hero of Egyptian mythology' hippopotamus tltc

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* f am rnrrch obligccl to prof. J. öelnli anrl Prof . R. A. ?arkcl who havo helped mo to solve several difficulL ploblems (see tho loxt )'

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Vt't'trt't': Stat,uc of

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of hil)l)ol)ot&lllus viz. thc god Sctckh 1. All thl.ough l,)gyptia,rr histor.y wo oomo i\cl'oss tlrr: cvi