Hippopotamus Constellation (Reret)

egyptian: rrt (Reret)

Definition

The Hippopotamus constellation (Egyptian rrt or Reret, "the She-Pig" or "the Sow") is one of five native Egyptian northern-sky constellations named in the Onomasticon of Amenemope (about 1069 BCE). Egyptian astronomical ceilings draw it as an upright hippopotamus goddess — usually linked to Taweret, the protective pregnant-hippopotamus deity — sometimes shown gripping a mooring post that may stand for the axis the northern sky turns around. Today it is identified roughly with Draco, with some stars in nearby areas.

In Tradition

For Belmonte and Lull, for Neugebauer and Parker, and in the study of the Senenmut tomb ceiling, Reret — the Hippopotamus — is one of the five native northern constellations, alongside Sah (Orion), Meskhetiu (the Big Dipper), Anu, and Nekhet. She is named in the Onomasticon of Amenemope (about 1069 BCE) and appears in the Ramesside star clocks as a source of hour-stars outside the decan belt. The ceilings keep her upright pose from the New Kingdom to the Ptolemaic temples.

In Practice

The Hippopotamus stands at the centre of the northern-sky panel on Egyptian astronomical ceilings — usually upright on her hind legs, with the bull's-foreleg Meskhetiu (the Plough, our Ursa Major) connected or chained nearby. The mooring-post she holds (Belmonte and Lull) suggests she was seen as a pivot: the sky turns around her at the celestial pole. Her link to Taweret, the protective pregnant-hippopotamus goddess, gives the constellation a maternal, protective meaning — rituals to keep mother and child safe in childbirth called on Taweret's form in the sky. The modern identification is uncertain in detail, but Reret's core stars overlap our Draco; in some drawings she also takes in parts of Boötes or Hercules. She belongs to the imperishable circumpolar zone — the stars that never set at Egyptian latitudes.

Historical Origin

The Hippopotamus is named in the Onomasticon of Amenemope (about 1069 BCE; Papyrus Moscow 169, 22nd Dynasty; Gardiner 1947). Ceiling depictions: the Senenmut tomb TT 353 (18th Dynasty), the Seti I cenotaph at Abydos (19th Dynasty), and the Dendera Hathor temple (Ptolemaic). The Ramesside star clocks attest rrt as a source of hour-stars. Modern study: Neugebauer and Parker, EAT Vols II (1964) and III (1969); Belmonte and Lull (2018); Wilkinson, Complete Gods and Goddesses (2003).

Definition

In Tradition

In Practice

Historical Origin

Further Reading