Taweret was the hippopotamus-goddess, the protector of women in childbirth, paired with Bes as the chief domestic guardian of the pregnant and the newly-born. She was depicted in a striking composite form: the body of a pregnant hippopotamus standing upright, the limbs of a lioness, the back and tail of a crocodile, and pendulous human breasts. The composite image was the visual representation of her protective function: each component beast was, in life, a danger to women and children, and the goddess took into herself their menacing forms in order to turn their force against the threats that menaced the household. She typically held a sa-amulet (a knot-symbol of protection) and a knife, with which she could cut through any harm.

Like Bes, Taweret had no great temple cult; her presence was domestic. Her amulets were worn during pregnancy; her image was placed by the bedside of women in labor; she protected the newborn in his first days. She was also, more obscurely, a celestial figure: the constellation she gave her name to (Egyptian Reret, "the female hippopotamus") was one of the great northern constellations of the Egyptian sky, and her image appears on the astronomical ceilings of New Kingdom and Late Period tombs.