Canopic box

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Canopic box of Tutankhamun; the right column of the inscription is that of the goddess Neith, the left column of the goddess Isis

The canopic box , also known as a canopic chest or gut box , was a container in ancient Egypt in which the four canopic jars (gut jars) were kept in a grave.

In the tombs in the Valley of the Kings , some complete or only partially preserved canopic objects were found. The earliest use of a canopic box is documented for Queen Hetepheres I , the mother of King ( Pharaoh ) Cheops ( 4th Dynasty ).

use

The canopies contained the organs removed from the corpse during the mummification process, such as the lungs, stomach, liver and intestines. These were separately mummified, also wrapped in linen and then placed directly in the canopic jar or additionally in miniature coffins (also known as canopic coffins) in order to be buried with the mummified corpse later. The canopies or boxes in the burial were not exclusively reserved for kings. Such an elaborate burial could afford not only the kings and nobles but also wealthy citizens.

It is not certain at what point in time the canopic boxes were used regularly. In the Old Kingdom (3rd to 6th dynasty) the canopic jars were put into the grave individually and without a special container, even if an alabaster canopic box is already attested for Hetepheres I. For the time after that, no finds have been secured and the boxes are only used more and more again from the Middle Kingdom (11th and 12th dynasties).

The canopic box was set up at the funeral either in a specially carved niche, an additional chamber or in a small pit in the floor at the end of the sarcophagus. The KV55 grave, for example, has a comparable niche , in which Theodore M. Davis and his excavation team found the four canopic jars in situ that are attributed to Kija . In the grave Eje II. , WV23 , the room attached to the grave chamber ( Ja ) is regarded as a canopic chamber. The canopic box of Hetepheres I was found in a plastered wall recess in her grave in Giza . An example of the positioning of the canopic box at the foot of the coffin was found in grave KV36 , the grave of the ancient Egyptian official Maiherperi (18th dynasty).

From the end of the 20th dynasty, canopic chests were apparently rarely used.

Material and shape

Wood was used as the material in the early days, at the beginning of the New Kingdom quartzite , as for the sarcophagi , and from the reign of Amenhotep II , Egyptian alabaster was the preferred material.

At the beginning of the New Kingdom, the boxes were still shaped like sarcophagi or coffins, later they were given the shape of a shrine. The inside of the box was divided into four equal-sized compartments into which the canopies were placed.

The alabaster canopic box from the tomb of Tutankhamun , KV62 , has no individual compartments, but oval-shaped openings carved directly into the stone, into which four miniature coffins with the mummified entrails were then placed. These inlets, like the other canopies, were each closed with a human-headed lid. The box lid is in the form of a desk, as it is also shown in various chests found in the grave or in the second and third gilded shrines. This shape corresponds to the traditional Upper Egyptian shrine, Per-wer ( pr-wr ).

decoration

The canopic box is only decorated on the outside. The decoration is different and depends both on the time in which it was made and on the person for whom it was made.

In the Old Kingdom, the canopic box was decorated with hieroglyphic writing ribbons that contained prayers and invocations of the gods of the dead, such as Osiris or Anubis . In the New Kingdom, the corners of the box were decorated with images of the goddesses Isis , Nephthys , Selket and Neith , which are often depicted with outspread wings. In turn, they had a protective function for the individual canopic gods (Horus sons) Amset (liver), Hapi (lungs), Duamutef (stomach) and Kebechsenuef (intestines), which were supposed to protect the intestines. Other decorations include depictions of the deceased in prayer in front of the gods of the dead or painted doors. The ornamentation of the base with Djed pillars and Isis knots (also Tit amulet), symbols for the gods Osiris and Isis, have only been documented for the canopic boxes of Tutankhamun and Akhenaten .

An exception in its execution among the canopic boxes is Akhenaten's reconstructed calcite canopic box, which was found in his royal grave ( Amarna grave 26 ) in Amarna . Instead of the protective goddesses, falcons are attached to the corners for protection, over which the sun disk hovers and which hold the shen ring in their claws . Among other things, the falcon represents the oldest and traditional embodiment of the sun god Aton .

different canopic boxes

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ TGH James : Tutankhamun. The eternal splendor of the young pharaoh. Müller, Cologne 2000, ISBN 88-8095-545-4 , p. 104.
  2. ↑ TGH James: Tutankhamun. The eternal splendor of the young pharaoh. Müller, Cologne 2000, ISBN 88-8095-545-4 , p. 85.
  3. ^ Aidan Dodson: Contents of Royal KV Tombs. Canopics. In: Richard H. Wilkinson, Kent R. Weeks (Eds.): The Oxford Handbook of the Valley of the Kings. P. 267.
  4. ↑ Meretseger Books: Illustration of Akhenaten's canopic box , accessed on April 16, 2017 (English).