Statue of Heqet

This statue of the frog goddess Heqet stands at the beginning of a great tradition of animal sculpture in Egyptian art. During the Predynastic period statues of animals are much more common than those of humans. The sculptor has shown great sensitivity to the natural banding of the stone, using it to enhance the roundness of the animal’s form.

Small frogs, mostly of faience, are among the most common votive offerings deposited at early temple sites. The frog’s exact religious significance in the Predynastic period is unknown, but in later times it was most often identified with Heqet, the goddess who assisted at childbirth.

This probably represents a puffed-up Bufo viridis, one of two types of “frogs” (it is actually a toad) represented in Egyptian art.

The goddess Heqet is first attested in the Old Kingdom, in the Pyramid Texts, and was considered a tutelary deity of the king.

However, in later periods, she became the protector of birth, both in the divine and human spheres, and it is perhaps from the Middle Kingdom that the title ‘Servant of Heqet’ was associated with midwives. The goddess was represented both as a frog and as a woman with a frog’s head.

Predynastic Period, ca. 5000-2950 BC. Travertine (Egyptian alabaster). Now in the Cleveland Museum of Art. 1976.5