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# Hippopotamus statuettes from Byblos in the Beirut Museum and their link to fertility
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/sami-begemoty-tozhe-predstavleny-v-zalakh-bronzovogo-veka-beirutskogo-muzeia/
- Published: 2019-04-11T20:23:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:04:25.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Archaeology, The East, Museums, Ethnography

The hippopotamuses themselves are also represented in the Bronze Age galleries of the Beirut Museum. These, for example, found in the Temple of the Obelisks at Byblos, portray an animal the Egyptians detested for its gluttony and its merciless raids on their plantations, and the rather dismissive attitude is conveyed in the crude modelling of these trinkets. The figurines, however, were linked not with the destructive zeal of the hippopotamus but with the high fertility of its females, and held sacred significance within a female mystical circle