Cleveland Museum of Art

Weight in the Form of a Hippopotamus Head

Date

c. 1540–1296 BCE

Medium

hematite

Culture

Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18

Department

Egyptian and Ancient Near Eastern Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Sensuously carved and polished to a silky luster, this weight takes the form of a hippopotamus head. Eyes, ears, and nostrils ae modeled in relief; the mouth is closed. The flat underside provides a surface on which to rest the object. This hippo head weighs 62.1 grams, roughly three-quarters of a deben, a unit of weight in ancient Egypt. As such it does not correspond to any of the more usual subdivisions of the deben, although similar examples are known. In fact it is an inter-standard weight, representing eight seniu or two-thirds of a deben, and is equivalent of an Aegean unit of 62.1 grams. The word hippopotamus comes from the ancient Greek for "river horse" (ἱπποπόταμος).

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