Cleveland Museum of Art

Hippopotamus

Date

332 BCE–395 CE

Medium

bronze, solid cast

Culture

Italy, Rome, Greco-Roman Period

Department

Greek and Roman Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This hippopotamus steps forward with its rear left leg lifted off the ground and its head arched upwards. The hippopotamus was a Nilotic animal associated with Egypt and the Nile River that was brought to Rome and put on display in the Colosseum as part of venationes , or wild beast hunts. The rise of “Egyptomania” in the Roman Empire surged under the emperor Hadrian (reigned AD 117–38). Extant Egyptian examples of hippopotamus figurines are less animated and made of materials such as stone or pottery rather than bronze, making the pose and materiality of this object distinctly Greco-Roman. The word hippopotamus is a Greek compound word combining “horse” ( hippos ) and “river” ( potamos ).

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