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Tawaret("The
Great One"; also
rendered as Taurt, Taueret, Ta-weret, Taweret, Thoeris, Opet, Apet,
Rert, or Reret) was a popular deity in ancient Egyptian mythology. She
was a household deity who protected women during pregnancy and
childbirth, in conjunction with another deity, Bes. Pregnant women wore
amulets with her name or likeness.She was depicted as an amalgam of
human and animal: roughly humanoid and standing upright, but having the
head of a hippopotamus with the arms and legs of a lion, the back and
tail of a crocodile, and the pendulous breasts and large stomach of a
pregnant woman. She was described as the "mistress of the horizon" when
she was depicted on the ceiling of the tomb of Seti I in the Valley of
the Kings. As the hippopotamus was associated with the Nile, she was
also seen as a goddess of seasonal rebirth, the annual flooding of the
Nile, and harvests.
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