The Egyptians were known for practicing unusual and elaborate burial rituals. As a way to perform these rituals the Egyptians had specific equipment such as Canopic jars. These jars were actually used while the process of mummification was going on. They served as the storage containers for preserving the \”viscera\” for life after death.

Ancient Egyptian Canopic jars have been in use since the old Kingdom and lasted up until the last era of the Egyptians. Nevertheless the way these jars were utilised varied with time. When it came to storing the viscera in the jars the Egyptians would make use of a number of different jars and each organ had its own dedicated Canopic jar.

Lots of people are of the notion that Canopic jars are linked to the Greek legend of Canopus. This really is not the case as later Egyptologist have proved that the two concepts did not have anything to do with each other.

It was a conventional practice to ascribe four Canopic jars to a deceased person. Each jar was particularly designed for a certain organ namely stomach, intestines, lungs and liver which were considered to be very important. The Canopic jars were subject to a continual design-variation throughout their use in the historic era.

In the days of the old Kingdom the jars were comparatively simpler and had plain lids. However by the time of the first intermediate period the Canopic jars were now being created with human heads. The reason for utilizing human heads was to resemble and represent the dead.

The practice of creating human heads for Canopic jars continued up until the advent of the new Kingdom. It was by the end of the 1700s that this trend was replaced and instead of the human heads the Canopic jars now had lids denoting the four sons of Horus.

The four sons of Horus were also regarded as the \”gods of cardinal compass points\”. Each of the four was charged with the responsibility of protecting one of the four sacred organs while they themselves would protect each other from harm which may be caused to them from the outside.

The four sons of Horus portrayed on the Canopic jars are described as follows. The jackal-headed deity named Damutef, was responsible for protecting the stomach. Symbolizing the East, this deity received protection from another deity namely, goddess Neith. The second falcon-headed deity named Qebehsenuef was in charge of protecting the intestines. This deity further obtained protection from Selkat.

The third jar which contained the lungs had the Egyptian deity Hapi as its representative. Hapi was also taken as the representative of North and was granted protection by Nephthys. The fourth son of Horus was Imseti who represented the North and protected the liver while himself being protected by the Egyptian goddess Isis.