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Canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification
Mummy

A mummy is a corpse whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness, very high humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs....
 process to store and preserve the viscera of their own for the afterlife
Afterlife

The afterlife is the concept of a continued existence for the soul, spirit or mind of a being after biological death. The major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics....
. They were commonly either carved from stone or were made of pottery. These jars were used by Ancient Egyptians from the time of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Ancient Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement ? this was the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley ....
 up until the time of the Late Period or the Ptolemaic Period, by which time the viscera were simply wrapped and placed with the body.






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Canopic jars were used by the Ancient Egyptians during the mummification
Mummy

A mummy is a corpse whose skin and organs have been preserved by either intentional or incidental exposure to chemicals, extreme coldness, very high humidity, or lack of air when bodies are submerged in bogs....
 process to store and preserve the viscera of their own for the afterlife
Afterlife

The afterlife is the concept of a continued existence for the soul, spirit or mind of a being after biological death. The major views on the afterlife derive from religion, esotericism and metaphysics....
. They were commonly either carved from stone or were made of pottery. These jars were used by Ancient Egyptians from the time of the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Ancient Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement ? this was the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley ....
 up until the time of the Late Period or the Ptolemaic Period, by which time the viscera were simply wrapped and placed with the body. All the viscera were not kept in a single canopic jar, but rather each organ was placed in a jar of its own. The name 'canopic' reflects the mistaken association by early Egyptologists with the Greek legend of Canopus
Canopus (mythology)

In Ancient Greece mythology, Canopus was the pilot of the ship of Menelaus of Sparta during the Trojan War. According to legend, while visiting the coasts of Egypt, he was bitten by a serpent and died....
.

The jars were four in number, each charged with the safekeeping of a particular human organ. The design of these changed over time. In the Old Kingdom
Old Kingdom

The Old Kingdom is the name commonly given to that period in the 3rd millennium BCE when Ancient Egypt attained its first continuous peak of civilization in complexity and achievement ? this was the first of three so-called "Kingdom" periods, which mark the high points of civilization in the lower Nile Valley ....
 the jars had plain lids, though by the First Intermediate Period jars with human heads (assumed to represent the dead) began to appear.

This practice continued up until the time of the New Kingdom
New Kingdom

The New Kingdom, sometimes referred to as the Egyptian Empire, is the period in ancient Egyptian History of Ancient Egypt between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC, covering the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt, Nineteenth dynasty of Egypt, and Twentieth dynasty of Egypt....
, though by the late Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt
Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt

The Eighteenth Dynasty is perhaps the best known of all the dynasties of ancient Egypt. As well as a number of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs, it included Tutankhamun, whose tomb, uncovered by Howard Carter in 1922, was one of the greatest of all archaeological discoveries, being completely undisturbed by tomb robbers....
 the human heads were replaced by heads associated with the four sons of Horus
Four sons of Horus

The four sons of Horus were a group of four gods in Ancient Egyptian religion, who were essentially the personifications of the four canopic jars, which accompanied Mummy bodies....
, who were also the gods of the cardinal compass points. Each god was responsible for protecting a particular organ, and were themselves protected by companion goddesses from harm. They were:
  • Duamutef
    Duamutef

    In Egyptian mythology, Duamutef was one of the Four sons of Horus and a funerary god who protected the stomach and small intestines of mummy corpses, kept in a canopic jar....
    , the jackal-headed god representing the east, whose jar contained the stomach and was protected by the goddess Neith
    Neith

    In Ancient Egyptian religion, Neith was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the patron Deities#Egyptian mythology of Sais, Egypt, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt and attested as early as the First Dynasty.....
    .
  • Qebehsenuef
    Qebehsenuef

    Qebehsenuef was one of the Four sons of Horus of Horus in Egyptian mythology, the god of protection and of the West. In the preparation of mummies, his canopic jar was used for the intestines....
    , the falcon-headed god representing the west, whose jar contained the intestines and was protected by the goddess Selket.
  • Hapi
    Hapi

    Hapi was one of the Four sons of Horus depicted in funerary literature as protecting the throne of Osiris in the Underworld. Hapi is depicted as a baboon-headed mummy human on funerary furniture and especially the canopic jars that held the organs of the deceased....
    , the baboon-headed god representing the north, whose jar contained the lungs and was protected by the goddess Nephthys
    Nephthys

    In Egyptian mythology, Nephthys is the Greek form of an epithet . Nephthys, therefore, is a member of the Great Ennead of Heliopolis , a daughter of Nut and Geb....
    .
  • Imseti, the human-headed god representing the south, whose jar contained the liver and was protected by the goddess Isis
    ISIS

    ISIS is an industry standard interface for technologies, developed by Pixel Translations in 1990 .ISIS is an open standard for scanner control and a complete image-processing framework....
    .


The canopic jars were placed inside a canopic chest
Canopic chest

Canopic chests are cases used by Ancient Egyptians to contain the internal organs removed during the process of Mummy. Although the first proven canopic burials date from the Fourth dynasty of Egypt reign of Sneferu, there is evidence to suggest that there were canopic installations at Saqqara dating from the Second dynasty of Egypt....
 and buried in tombs together with the sarcophagus of the dead. It was also done because it was believed the dead person would need their organs for the afterlife.

The Egyptians considered the heart to be the seat of the soul so it was left inside the body instead of being placed in a canopic jar. The Ancient Egyptians believed that in the afterlife the heart would be weighed against the feather of truth by the god Anubis
Anubis

Anubis is the Greek language name for a jackal-headed deity associated with mummy and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu, ....
. If it was too heavy from bad deeds it would be fed to the monster Ammit
Ammit

In Egyptian mythology, Ammit was the personification of divine retribution for all the wrongs one had committed in life. She dwelt in the Hall of Ma'at, who was the personification of the concept of truth, balance, and order....
.

Sometimes the covers of the jars were modeled after (or painted to resemble) the head of Anubis
Anubis

Anubis is the Greek language name for a jackal-headed deity associated with mummy and the afterlife in Egyptian mythology. In the ancient Egyptian language, Anubis is known as Inpu, ....
, the god of death/embalming. Copious amounts of the jars were produced, and surviving examples of them can be seen in museums all over the world.

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See also

  • Hetepheres
    Hetepheres

    Queen Hetepheres I was the sister and wife of the Egyptian Pharaoh Sneferu, and mother of Khufu , and is thought to have been the daughter of Huni....
     - oldest known use of Egyptian canopic jars