Much like cats, crocodiles, and lions, the hippopotamus was a revered animal in ancient Egyptian culture, as it represents fertility and strength, while simultaneously being feared for the danger it posed to those living along the Nile.
Among ancient Egypt’s many hippopotamus figures and drawings, the small blue hippopotamus figurine of “William the Hippo” stands out for its turquoise blue hues and is famous worldwide.
William the Hippo
The figurine, dating back to the Middle Kingdom, around 1961–1878 BCE, during the reigns of Senusret I or Amenemhat II, was found during an excavation in 1910 and became a part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1917 and the museum’s unofficial mascot.
The hippo was originally found in a tomb, where it was placed to work its magic and protect the dead in the afterlife. Its perceived spiritual powers travel time and space.
In 1931, author H. M. Raleigh published an article about his family’s fondness for a framed color print of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s hippo in their home. They admired the hippo, believed in its wisdom, consulted it on important decisions, and affectionately named it William.
According to an article on the Met Museum website, there’s speculation that the story of William the Hippo is mostly a humorous fabrication grounded in some factual elements. Nonetheless, the name “William the Hippo,” stuck and became a modern nickname for the ancient Egyptian hippo figurine—currently labeled at the museum as “Hippopotamus (‘William’).”
The special figurine is created from Egyptian faience, which is a ceramic material characterized by its siliceous composition and distinctive translucent glaze, typically rendered in shades of turquoise blue or green, which came from copper pigments.
This ancient material was made mainly from silica, found in quartz pebbles and sand, along with lime and soluble salts like sodium carbonates. The ingredients were ground into powder, mixed with water, and turned into a paste for shaping and firing.
Hippos in ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptians hunted the herbivorous unpredictable and powerful animals for their skin, meat, fat, and tusk-like canines, resources highly valued at the time. Successfully taking down such a formidable creature was seen as a testament to courage, strength, and power. Since as early as 3000 B.C., kings were depicted hunting hippopotamuses, showcasing these qualities that defined leadership in ancient Egyptian society.
The big animal can become aggressive when threatened and ancient Egyptians knew it from experience. Ancient Egyptian medical texts detailing treatments for wounds caused by its bites were found, as well as records of the animal wreaking havoc on farmers’ fields, eating all its yield.
“The worm took half and the hippopotamus ate the rest,” reads an inscription on an ancient papyrus.
Despite being respected and dreaded, ancient Egyptians acknowledged hippopotami as beneficial creatures associated with life and drew them animals on rocks and created figurines of them.
As human expansion encroached on their habitat and hunting drove their numbers to decline, dropping by 7 to 20 percent over the past 20 years, the hippopotamus endured with its legacy immortalized in artifacts like William the Hippo.
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