Hippopotamus
The hippopotamus (plural: hippopotamuses), or hippo for short, is a large, mostly herbivorous, semi-aquatic mammal native to sub-Saharan Africa. Although not generally endemic throughout North Africa, they inhabit the entire course of the Nile and thus can be found as far north as the Nile Delta in Egypt.
Description[edit | edit source]
Hippopotamuses are aggressive animals prone to ferocious attacks against humans, even violently assaulting the boats of fishermen. On the other hand, they were also prized as a source food for the Egyptians during the Ptolemaic dynasty. Considered a rare delicacy, hippopotamus meat was alternatively known as "lake cow bacon". For one reason or another, hippos were fond of balls.[1]
Due to their size and nature, the hippopotami were considered divine by the ancient Egyptians, and this reverence manifested as Taweret, the protective hippo goddess.[2]
History[edit | edit source]
In 44 BCE, following the assassination of Julius Caesar, his supporters captured the Hidden One Aya and, despite Marcus Antonius' efforts to help her in exchange for the whereabouts of Marcus Junius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus, Aya was sentenced to death. Deciding to make a spectacle of her execution, the supporters bound her hands and threw her into an underwater cavern to be devoured by three hippopotamuses.[3]
Aya managed to remove her bindings and fought against the beasts, slaying two of them using pieces of environmental debris. She was nearly killed by the third, but fortunately Brutus and Cassius came to her rescue and helped Aya escape through an underwater tunnel.[3]
Appearances[edit | edit source]
- Assassin's Creed: Origins (first appearance)
- Assassin's Creed: Origins comic
- Assassin's Creed: Where's the Assassin? (non-canonical appearance)
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Origins
- ↑ Assassin's Creed: Origins – Bayek's Promise: Taweret
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Assassin's Creed: Origins comic – Issue #3