Today my blog takes a break from book reviews and serious issues to introduce you to canopic jars. A canopic jar is one of the most interesting artifacts from Ancient Egypt. What did they do?
The primary purpose of a canopic jar was to hold the embalmed organs of a deceased person undergoing mummification. Typically, the embalmers used four jars. One jar held the liver, one the lungs, one the stomach, and one the intestines of the dead person. (I find it interesting that the heart and brain were not embalmed as well.)
Craftsmen commonly made canopic jars from one of four materials. Wood, limestone, pottery, and faience were all popular. (Faience is a colorful glazed ceramic.) These jars rested near the mummified person when priests entombed the body.
A Brief History of Canopic Jars
One of the fascinating thing about canopic jars was that their use continued for over two thousand years. The practice probably began during the Fourth Dynasty, circa 2675 BCE. Egyptians continued producing canopic jars at least into the era when Assyria conquered Egypt in the mid-600s BCE, and perhaps longer.
Sculptors crafted more elaborate jars over time, as we would expect. During the New Kingdom era of Egyptian history (1539 to 1075 BCE) each jar would depict one of the Sons of Horus. Imsety was a human-headed god who watched over the liver. The baboon-headed god Hapy protected the lungs. Duamutef was the guardian of the stomach and had the head of a jackal. Qebehsenuef, the final guardian, protected the intestines and had a falcon head.
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Another interesting thing about these vessels was that after the New Kingdom, they stopped holding the organs they were designed to protect. This resulted in some people calling them “dummy” canopic jars. The reason seems to be that practices of mummification had improved by this time. Those carrying out the mummification developed a way to mummify the organs formerly placed in the jars. These organs were then placed back into the body and mummified once more. But the jars had enough significance and tradition behind them that their use continued—they just didn’t contain actual body parts anymore.
Thank for joining me in this brief look at an interesting historical artifact from Ancient Egypt. Soon I’ll have a follow-up on another of my favorite artifacts, the Oracle Bones of Ancient China.
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