Weight in the Form of a Hippopotamus Head
Description
[Egypt, New Kingdom (1540–1069 BCE), Dynasty 18] 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 <em>deben, </em>a unit of weight in ancient Egypt. As such it does not correspond to any of the more usual subdivisions of the <em>deben, </em>although similar examples are known. In fact it is an inter-standard weight, representing eight <em>seniu </em>or two-thirds of a <em>deben, </em>and is equivalent of an Aegean unit of 62.1 grams.
Cross-references (2)
- Wikidata Q60753732 tier-1
- CMA-id 156277 tier-2
About this record's data
- From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Cleveland Museum of Art (Egyptian).
- AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
- Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
- Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.