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Motherhood was extremely important in ancient Egypt. Children were the main reason for setting up a household. If a woman could not give her husband children, he would probably divorce her. Some divorced women went back to their parents’ households, but many ended up as servants. Within the home, women did jobs like brewing and weaving, but they relied on their husbands to support them. For this reason, women prayed to goddesses like Hathor and Isis to grant them a child. They also relied heavily on magic during their pregnancy and especially as they were about to give birth. In the ancient world, many women died in childbirth. Only magical objects showed pictures of pregnant women because it was such a dangerous condition in those days.

During labour and after children were born, parents prayed to deities like Taweret to protect them. Taweret, ‘the Great One’, had the body of a hippopotamus, the limbs of a lion and the tail of a crocodile, making her a powerful and dangerous creature. With her fearsome appearance, she warded off evil, just as she had protected Isis and her new-born son Horus against the murderous intent of Osiris’s brother, Seth.

This statue of Taweret was discovered in Karnak (modern Luxor), which was believed to be the birthplace of Osiris. The smooth polished surface of the dark green stone marks it as a majestic example of art from the Saite period (26th Dynasty, 664–525 BC). Standing on her hind legs, her front paws rest above large hieroglyphic signs meaning ‘protection’. Here, she only bares her teeth and sticks out her tongue, but she is often shown holding a knife in each hand ready to strike down any threat.

You can see these statues in the BP exhibition Sunken cities: Egypt’s lost worlds, opening 19 May 2016.

Seated statue of Isis. Saqqara, 570–526 BC. Egyptian Museum, Cairo. Photo: Christoph Gerigk. © Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation.