Archive issues

Author: Hartwig Altenmüller   |   Pages: 43–55


 

Abstract

The exceptional discovery of a harpoon in the excavations of the Polish-Egyptian Mission at Saqqara stimulates the discussion on the hippopotamus hunting of the Egyptian king. It is generally accepted that the harpooning of the hippopotamus depicts the victory of the king over all evil powers. On a mythic level, the harpooning usually is explained as the victory of Horus over Seth. In the paper presented to Karol Myśliwiec another view of the action will be investigated. I will try to show, that at the beginning of the Egyptian history the hippopotamus hunt is intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of the king not only over the wild animal but also in affecting the coming of the inundation.

 

 

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