Canopic Jars Labeled Organs :Discovering the Significance

The “canopic jars” represent the receptacles for the entrails of ancient Egyptian mummies: due to their variety of shapes and forms, they are better referred to as “canopic jars”. During the Fourth Dynasty (Old Kingdom, ca. 2600 BC), the first canopic jars and vessels were developed, each containing a specific internal organ, namely the liver, lung, stomach, and intestines.

During the Eighth Dynasty, at the beginning of the First Intermediate Period (ca. 2200-2000 BC), the design evolved into 4 jars with human heads, representing the four sons of Horus.

In the Ramesside era of the New Kingdom (19th Dynasty, ca. 1300 BC), the heads changed to the iconic design of a single human head (amset), a baboon (Hapy), a jackal (Duamutef), and a falcon headed (Qebekhsenuef) iconic layout with one human head (Amset).

Even in the New Kingdom, when the tradition of using canopics reached a peak, following local traditions, bodies were mummified without removing the brain or the viscera, for example, Kha and Merit in Deir el-Medina (mid-18th Dynasty, ca. 1350 BC).

The extent of mummification methods is much broader than is generally believed.

 The disappearance of the funerary practice of placing organs in canopic jars can be seen from the Roman and Ptolemaic period (c. 30 BC – AD 350) not only due to a lack of artistic mummification skills but also due to a new emphasis on the image of the mummy. And elaborate packaging. Thus the entrails of the mummies gradually became less important and were left in place.

Since a large number of pathogens and diseases are mainly localized in visceral areas of the body, preserved internal organs from ancient Egypt can be considered of great medical interest. Radiological, histological as well as ancient DNA analysis of mummified viscera may yield new information about the actual presence, phenotype and genotype of diseases in antiquity, leading to a better understanding of their evolution and historical trends.

Compared to the large number of publications related to mummies, only a few methods aimed at identifying diseases in ancient internal organs have been produced.

The ancient Egyptian knew worldly life as a short journey because there is eternity to another world, which is the world of immortality and true life, and belief in reward and punishment, and working to reach it safely. He believed from the beginning of his history in the idea of resurrection after death. I also believe that one of the most important guarantees of this immortality is preserving the body in.

A shape that approximates its appearance during life. Therefore, he resorted to mummification of the corpse, which reached a level of near perfection in the era of the Middle Kingdom.

Definition of canopic Jars:

 

Canopic vessels or “Canopic jars” are vessels used by the ancient Egyptians during the mummification process to store and preserve the entrails of the dead for the afterlife. They were usually made of limestone or pottery. Not all of the entrails were kept in a single vessel like the Nubian, but there were 4 canopic jars, each of which was stored. A specific organ: the stomach, intestines, lungs, and liver, which it was believed that the dead would need in the afterlife.

There was no vessel for the heart, as the Egyptians believed it was the seat of the soul and therefore it was left inside the body.

During the mummification process, the ancient Egyptians had to have their own tombs, overcome the trial of the dead, and learn the exact directions to the underworld. It was also necessary to mummify their bodies properly, including carefully extracting their most precious organs and placing them in four specific vessels representing each one of their bodies.

The Four Sons of Horus, the gods who had the important task of preserving those organs forever, and these vessels are known as “canopic jars,” as confirmed by Sebastian Maidana, PhD in History, MA in Archaeological Studies, BA in History.

What is a canopic jar?

 

Any dictionary will tell you that the word “Canopus” means or relates to Canopus, a Greek commander who fought in the Trojan War. Canopus was the helmsman of the hero Menelaus after the successful campaign at Troy. While he was on the beach on the northern coast of Egypt, he was bitten by a snake and died. Menelaus built a monument. A memorial was erected in his memory, and a city named after him developed there.

In classical Greek times, it was believed that the local Egyptians worshiped Canopus as a divine being, represented in the form of a jar with small feet, a thin neck, a swollen body, and a rounded back. It is unclear whether this was bad.

They are misunderstood by Greek travelers or a deliberate slander, but the truth is that Canopus was never sacred in Egypt.

However, the Egyptians had small urns, often with lids carved in the shape of gods, that were sacred and meant to be stored with the body of the deceased in their tombs. Each of these urns contained a specific organ that was carefully extracted from the dead by priests who.

They performed mummification rituals, and thanks to the erroneous association between these jars and the myth of Menelaus and Canopus, they became known as “Canopic jars.” However incorrect this definition may be, scholars have found no reason to change the term.

Egyptian afterlife

In order to understand the strange (to us) custom of storing organs in small containers, “canopic jars,” one needs to become familiar with the basics of Egyptian beliefs in the afterlife. Initially, they did not have a concept similar to “our soul,” but instead They believed that the body was composed of different entities or substances, and they all continued to live after death, including the physical body, and for this reason they needed to preserve it in the best possible way (see the next section).

For the same reason, the Egyptians often placed either Fresh food or samples of food inside the tombs, so that the deceased can be adequately fed even after death.

Without proper rituals, it was believed that people would fail to reach the underworld, where eternal life awaited them.

The Egyptians believed that not everyone had the right to eternal life in the underworld, and for this reason every dead person had to stop at the so-called Hall of Maat, where the trial took place.

There Anubis weighed the heart of the deceased on the scales, against a feather, even if the heart was lighter than With a feather, the dead could travel to the underworld, but even then, the journey was difficult, so the Egyptians wrote all kinds of books and guides with precise directions and even maps on how to get to the place of eternal life.

Mummification in ancient Egypt:  

 

Since the beginning of their history, the Egyptians have constantly improved their mummification techniques. Since most humans and a large amount of animals routinely underwent surgery after their death, embalmers had a fairly comprehensive understanding of bodies and their organs, and according to their beliefs, certain organs such as the intestines, liver, lungs, and stomach were essential to the afterlife, as they ensured the continuation of life in the afterlife.

For this reason, during the burial rites, these four organs were stored in their own separate “canopic jars.”

The heart, as the seat of the soul, remained inside the body, and curved tweezers were used to extract the brain from the head through the nostrils, and it was later disposed of because They couldn’t believe he was an important member.

However, the four main organs were mummified and carefully preserved. Apart from these organs, all moisture has been drawn from the body, and treated with a concoction that varies over the years but generally consists of several layers of wrappers and oil resin. Once the body is mummified, “canopic jars” are placed inside a coffin and several coffins.

Who are the four sons of Horus ?  Horus Family Tree

 

According to the Pyramid Texts, Horus the Elder fathered four sons: Duamutef, Hapy, Amset, and Qebekhsenuef. But the texts are not clear about who the mother is. Other sources claim that Osiris, the god of the dead, is the father of these gods.

According to other texts, they were born from the lily or lotus flower. Although they first appeared in the Old Kingdom pyramid texts, the four sons became prominent figures from the Middle Kingdom onwards as protectors of the wombs. The deceased, and each of the sons of Horus was responsible for protecting one of the members, and in return, each son was accompanied and protected by specific gods.

• Hapy

Also written as Hapy, the baboon-headed god that protected the lungs, he represented the north and was protected by the goddess Nephthys. Hapy also had the part of protecting the throne of Osiris in the underworld.

• Duamutef

A jackal-headed god, Duamutef protecting the stomach, represented the East, and his consort was the goddess Neith, Duamutef meaning “he who protects his mother.”

• Amset

Amset had a human head and was responsible for guarding the liver. He represented the South and was protected by ISIS, his name symbolized “kind,” and he was the only son of Horus who did not have an animal representation.

• Qebekhsenuef

Qebekhsenuef was the son of Horus with the head of a falcon that protected the intestines. He represented the West, and the goddess accompanying him was Serket. Aside from guarding the intestines, Qebekhsenuef was also charged with cooling the body of the deceased with cold water.

Canopic jars throughout history:   

Canopic jars first appeared early in the Old Kingdom, initially as simple containers without inscriptions, but large enough to accommodate specific organs. These vessels evolved, and at the height of the Middle Kingdom, they all had complex inscriptions, and the lids were made in the shape of each head. A son of Horus in the form of canopic jars.

By the 19th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, canopic jars no longer contained organs inside them.

Instead, the Egyptians kept the organs inside mummified corpses, as they had always done with the heart. However, although the canopic jars no longer contained organs and contained cavities Small or not recessed, but still bearing the carved head of the Sons of Horus on their lid, these were called phantom jars, and were used as symbolic objects to signify the importance and protection of the gods, rather than as practical artefacts.

Preparing for the afterlife   

Egyptian tombs were essentially a “microcosm” of the world outside the tomb, meaning that they were planned and built as if they were exact copies of the outside world, complete with everything needed to live a full (after) life, and we have mentioned the foods and mummification process that To preserve the body, in canopic jars during certain periods, mummies were periodically exhumed, and a ritual known as opening the mouth was performed.

The aim of such a ceremony was to allow the dead to breathe and communicate orally with his living relatives. However, during most of Egyptian history, It is carried out only on statues or coffins.

Inside the tomb there are all kinds of furniture and household items, in addition to the clothes, sandals, toys, and favorite pets of the deceased. This assured them that they would never need anything from the world of the living while they were in the underworld.

Tutankhamun even had actual carts buried. With him, in order to ensure the transfer of the king after his death, preparing for death was indeed a huge and profitable industry in ancient Egypt.

What were canopic jars used in ancient Egypt?

So far we have learned how the Egyptians extracted the liver, intestines, lungs and stomachs from the dead and that they placed each in a separate container, in canopic jars. These containers were then buried in the same tomb as the real mummy.

This may seem unusual and interesting, but it is also important for other reasons, thanks to With these procedures, performed generation after generation over the centuries, the ancient Egyptians acquired enormous knowledge about the human body, which explains why the Egyptians, of all the peoples of antiquity, had the most advanced knowledge of anatomy and medicine.

Many treatments for common diseases came from Egypt, and its developments in surgery, gynecology and even dentistry are still very impressive to this day. This also proves that rituals and beliefs are not only strange, but have also shaped the society in which we live.

FAQS

What were the 4 canopic jars?

Canopic jars were made to contain the organs that were removed from the body in the mummification process: lungs, liver, intestines, and stomach. Each organ of these was protected by one of the four sons of Horus: Hapy (lungs), Imsety (liver), Duamutef (stomach), and Qebehsenuef (intestines).

How old is the oldest canopic jar?

The oldest known canopic jars were those made for Queen Meresankh III (c. 2500 BC) at Giza. These jars were usually made of pottery, limestone, or limestone, had shallow, convex disc-shaped lids, and were mostly undecorated.

Do canopic jars still have organs?

Improved mummification techniques allowed the viscera to remain in the body. Traditional urns remained a feature of tombs, but they were no longer hollow for storing organs.