Ipy
Egyptian · deity · old kingdom · deity
Ipy is an upright pregnant hippopotamus, which in Egypt is a protective image rather than a comic one: the animal is enormously dangerous and enormously maternal, and both halves of that are the point. She is close enough to Taweret that the two are constantly confused, and different enough to have her own temple inside the Karnak precinct, where the Ptolemaic theology has her give birth to Osiris. The Opet festival — Amun's annual procession from Karnak to Luxor — carries her name element, though what the connection amounts to is not settled.
Domains
- fertility
Relations
- counterpart of: Taweret
Sources
- Reference treatments of Ipy/Opet, her hippopotamus form and her Karnak temple.