The mysterious 'Xiphis' of the Nile: hippo, elephant or made-up beast?

The 'Xiphis' nobody can identify: a Pompeii mosaic and its Nile beasts

The National Archaeological Museum of Naples houses a Greco-Roman fresco known as 'Pygmies on the Nile', in which one of the creatures depicted bears the name 'Xiphis'. The scene shows a group of African pygmies hunting a hippopotamus and a crocodile, but a strangely shaped beast — marked in red in some reproductions — has sparked an intense debate: what on earth was the Xiphis?

The most widely held hypothesis is that it is a hippopotamus misinterpreted by the artist. The animal appears with a bulky body, a large head and a kind of tail that some point to as unmistakably hippo. However, the same work antiestéticatures a perfectly recognisable hippopotamus in another corner, which rules out the theory of a simple 'botched drawing'. The contrast between the two depictions suggests the artist was working from different references, perhaps oral and second-hand.

A trunkless elephant or an extinct animal

Another school of thought argues that the Xiphis is a poorly drawn African elephant, since a trunk would have been hard to conceive for someone who had never seen one. The presence of elephants in North Africa (like Hannibal's) was well known, but their artistic representation could become distorted. Even so, it lacks the characteristic tusks and its morphology does not quite fit.

It has also been speculated that it could be a prehistoric species, such as an entelodont or an astrapothere — an extinct pachyderm — or even a dinosaur like the spinosaurus. The idea that the bones of ancient animals were interpreted as fantastic creatures is not new; in fact, it has been linked to the origin of the dragon myth. But the lack of fossil remains in Egypt — because they were ground up for fertiliser — makes this hard to confirm.

A game of broken telephone in Antiquity

For many, the most convincing explanation is the 'game of broken telephone': someone who had actually seen a hippopotamus described it to another person, who told a third, until it reached the mosaicist who rendered it unrecognisably. The result is an animal with a crocodile's head, a hippo's body and a tail that matches neither. The scene also includes a more stylised crocodile and some pygmies who, according to some interpretations, would be an idealised depiction of the peoples of the Nile.

The truth is that the Xiphis remains a mystery. Hypotheses pile up, but none closes the case. We will probably never know for certain what animal the Romans saw that inspired this creature, but the fresco is a fascinating testament to how visual information becomes distorted across cultures and distances. Who knows — in a thousand years, some archaeologist may find our depiction of a dachshund and think it was a reptile.