Canopic jars were stone and ceramic vessels used for the
burial of the viscera removed during mummification. The term, canopic, derives from the
misconception that they were connected with the human-headed jars that were
worshipped as personifications of the God Osiris by the inhabitants of the
ancient Egyptian port of Canopus, named after the Homeric character who was
Menelaus’ pilot. The "Canopus of
Osiris" image appeared on some Roman coins from the Alexandrian mint and
the name was therefore chosen by early Egyptologists to refer to any jar with a
stopper in the form of a human head. The
practice of preserving eviscerated organs.
During mummification, it is first attested in the burial of
Hetepheres, mother of the 4th dynasty ruler, Khufu (2589-2566 BC), at
Giza. Her viscera were stored in a
travertine (Egyptian alabaster) chest divided into four compartments, three of
which contained the remains of her organs in natron while the fourth held a dry
organic material. In later burials,
specific elements of the viscera were placed under the protection of four
anthropomorphic genii known as the sons of Horus who were themselves protected
by tutelary deities guarding the four cardinal points. The human-headed Imsety, linked with Isis and
the south, protected the liver; the ape-headed Hapy, linked with Nephthys and
the North, cared for the lungs; the jackal-headed Duamutef, linked with Neith
and the east, guarded the stomach; and the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, linked
with Serket and the west, looked after the intestines.
During the first intermediate period (2181-2055 BC), the
jars began to be provided with stoppers in the form of human heads and, at this
time, the canopic bundles were sometimes decorated with human-faced masks. By the late Middle Kingdom, a set of canopic
equipment could be comprised of two chests, a stone-carved outer container and
a wooden inner one holding four jars furnished with stoppers in the form of
human heads. In the early 18th Dynasty,
the stoppers were still human-headed, as in the case of the canopic equipment
of Tutankhamen, but from the later 18th Dynasty onwards, it became more common
for the stoppers to take the form of the characteristic heads of each of the
four genii and, by the 19th Dynasty, these had completely replaced the
human-headed type. In the third
intermediate period (1069-747 BC), mummified viscera were usually returned to
the body, sometimes accompanied by models of the relevant genii, but empty or
dummy canopic jars were occasionally still included in rich burials. Canopic equipment is found in Ptolemaic tombs
but had ceased to be used by the Roman period.
The last known royal canopic jars belonged to après (589-570 BC) and one
of these survived through its reuse as a vessel containing the body of a
mummified hawk at Saqqara.
Find authentic
ancient Egyptian carnopic jars at Sadigh Gallery website!
http://www.sadighgallery.com/search.asp?keyword=canopic
jar&sortby=0&catid=17
No comments:
Post a Comment