Tag: sons of horus

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Egyptian Artifacts

Canopic Jars

Here are some very plain, but very cool canopic jars! While the Sons of Horus were first mentioned in the Pyramid Texts, after the 18th Dynasty, the Four Sons of Horus were associated with being the heads ๐“ถ๐“ฆ on canopic jars which would guard the organs ๐“‡‹๐“‚ง๐“‚‹๐“„น๐“ฆ of the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. During the mummification process, certain organs ๐“‡‹๐“‚ง๐“‚‹๐“„น๐“ฆ were removed, dried out with natron salt, and then placed in these canopic jars. The heart ๐“‡‹๐“ƒ€๐“„ฃ was not removed because the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ needed their heart ๐“‡‹๐“ƒ€๐“„ฃ to be weighed by Anubis ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃ in the afterlife ๐“‡ผ๐“„ฟ๐“๐“‰!

While each Son of Horus was associated with an organ ๐“‡‹๐“‚ง๐“‚‹๐“„น, they were also each associated with a cardinal direction and were protected by a funerary goddess๐“Šน๐“.

Imsety ๐“‡‹๐“๐“‹ด๐“˜๐“‡‹ had the head of a human, protected the liver ๐“…“๐“Šƒ๐“๐“„น๐“ธ๐“ธ๐“ธ, was associated with the South ๐“‡”๐“…ฑ๐“ and was protected by Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ.

Duamutef ๐“‡ผ๐“…๐“๐“†‘ had the head of a jackal, protected the stomach ๐“‚‹๐“„ฃ๐“ป, was associated with the East ๐“‹๐“ƒ€๐“๐“ญ, and was protected by Neith ๐“ˆ–๐“๐“‹Œ๐“€ญ.

Qebehsenuef ๐“๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“†‘ had the head of a falcon, protected the intestines ๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฎ๐“„ฟ๐“ฒ๐“ผ, was associated with the West ๐“‹€๐“๐“๐“ˆŠ, and was protected by Selket ๐“Šƒ๐“‚‹๐“ˆŽ๐“๐“.

Hapy ๐“Ž›๐“‘๐“Šช๐“‡Œ had the head of a baboon, protected the lungs ๐“Šƒ๐“Œด๐“„ฅ๐“…ฑ๐“„บ, was associated with the North ๐“Ž”๐“, and was protected by Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡.

Categories
Egyptian Artifacts

Book of the Dead: Images of Deities

The Book of the Dead of Imhotep at The MET

These images ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ are from the Book of the Dead of Imhotep (Early Ptolemaic Period) at the MET! This particular Book of the Dead is incredible because even though it is only in black ๐“†Ž๐“…“ or red ๐“‚ง๐“ˆ™๐“‚‹๐“…Ÿ ink and not in full color like some other versions, it is still so beautiful ๐“„ค to look at and I am always mesmerized by the details! Letโ€™s take a closer look at both the images ๐“๐“…ฑ๐“๐“ฆ and the hieroglyphs ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ๐“ช!

The top panel shows the goddesses ๐“Šน๐“ Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ (left) and Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡ (right) on their knees in a mourning position on either side of the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ. The deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ is in the form of a mummy ๐“‡‹๐“น๐“…ฑ๐“€พ and is laying on a table that is in the form of a lion ๐“Œณ๐“น๐“„ฟ๐“„›.

I love how a row of stars ๐“‹ด๐“ƒ€๐“„ฟ๐“‡ผ๐“ช separate the two ๐“ป panels! The star ๐“‡ผ hieroglyph ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ is another one of my favorite symbols and I love how it is used in both writing and drawing/art!

On the bottom panel, two ๐“ป of the Sons of Horus are pictured with Anubis ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃ in the center. Anubis ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃ is on his shrine ๐“‰ฑ๐“Šน, just like my favorite hieroglyph ๐“Šน๐“Œƒ! Qebehsenuef ๐“๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“†‘๐“€ญ is on the left of Anubis ๐“‡‹๐“ˆ–๐“Šช๐“…ฑ๐“ƒฃ and Duamutef ๐“‡ผ๐“…๐“๐“†‘๐“€ญ is on the right. The Sons of Horus had and Anubis all had roles in the protection of the deceased ๐“…“๐“๐“ฑ.

One thing I love about Egyptian art is how a lot of times there are โ€œcaptionsโ€ next to the people/deities ๐“Šน๐“Šน๐“Šน that are pictured so that way you know who they are! Isis ๐“Šจ๐“๐“ฅ and Nephthys ๐“‰ ๐“๐“†‡ are obvious to spot because of the crowns on their heads. Their crowns match the hieroglyphs in their names ๐“‚‹๐“ˆ–๐“ฆ – Isis has a ๐“Šจ crown while Nephthys has a ๐“‰  crown! However, Duamutef ๐“‡ผ๐“…๐“๐“†‘๐“€ญ and Qebehsenuef ๐“๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“Œข๐“†‘๐“€ญ are not as easy to recognize because they are mummiform and not in their usual form with the jackal ๐“Šƒ๐“„ฟ๐“ƒ€๐“ƒฅ or falcon ๐“ƒ€๐“‡‹๐“Žก๐“…„ heads! So in this case, the โ€œcaptionsโ€ are quite useful!!!