Canopic jars are funerary vessels that were used by the ancient Egyptians to house embalmed organs that were removed during the mummification process. They also served to store and preserve the viscera of their soul for the afterlife.
Use of the jars dates back to the Old Kingdom and continued until the Late Period and the Ptolemaic Period, after which time the viscera were simply wrapped and placed with the body.
The four sons of Horus were a group of four deities in ancient Egyptian religion who were believed to protect the dead in the afterlife. Beginning in the First Intermediate Period of Egyptian history (c. 2181–2055 BC), Imsety, Hapy, Duamutef, and Qebehsenuef were especially connected with the four canopic jars that housed the internal organs which were removed from the body of the deceased during the process of mummification. Most commonly, Imsety protected the liver, Hapy the lungs, Duamutef the stomach, and Qebehsenuef the intestines, but this pattern often varied. The canopic jars were given lids that represented the heads of the sons of Horus. Although they were originally portrayed as humans, in the latter part of the New Kingdom (c. 1550–1070 BC), they took on their most distinctive iconography, in which Imsety is portrayed as a human, Hapy as a baboon, Duamutef as a jackal, and Qebehsenuef as a falcon. The four sons were also linked with stars in the sky, with regions of Egypt, and with the cardinal directions.
The worship of the sons of Horus was almost entirely restricted to funerary practice. The sons were first mentioned late in the Old Kingdom (c. 2686–2181 BC) in the Pyramid Texts and continued to be invoked in funerary texts throughout ancient Egyptian history. Their connection with the canopic jars was established in the First Intermediate Period, and afterward they became ubiquitous in the decoration of canopic chests, coffins, and sarcophagi. Although they were increasingly closely associated with the internal organs, they continued to appear in burial equipment even after the use of canopic jars was abandoned in the Ptolemaic Period (303–30 BC), disappearing only in the fourth century AD with the extinction of the ancient Egyptian funerary tradition.
Neith /ˈniː.ɪθ/ (Koine Greek: Νηΐθ, a borrowing of the Demotic form Ancient Egyptian: nt, also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an ancient Egyptian deity, possibly of Libyan origin. She was connected with warfare, as indicated by her emblem of two crossed bows, and with motherhood, as shown by texts that call her the mother of particular deities, such as the sun god Ra and the crocodile god Sobek. As a mother goddess, she was sometimes said to be the creator of the world. She also had a presence in funerary religion, and this aspect of her character grew over time: she became one of the four goddesses who protected the coffin and internal organs of the deceased.
Neith is one of the earliest Egyptian deities to appear in the archaeological record; the earliest signs of her worship date to the Naqada II period (c. 3600–3350 BC). Her main cult center was the city of Sais in Lower Egypt, near the western edge of the Nile Delta, and some Egyptologists have suggested that she originated among the Libyan peoples who lived nearby. She was the most important goddess in the Early Dynastic Period (c. 3100–2686 BC) and had a significant shrine at the capital, Memphis. In subsequent eras she lost her preeminence to other goddesses, such as Hathor, but she remained important, particularly during the Twenty-sixth Dynasty (664–525 BC), when Sais was Egypt's capital. She was worshipped in many temples during the Greek and Roman periods of Egyptian history, most significantly Esna in Upper Egypt, and the Greeks identified her with their goddess Athena.
Sithathoriunet (Egyptian: Sꜣt-Ḥwt-Ḥr-Jwnt, lit. 'daughter of Hathor of Dendera') was an ancient Egyptian sꜣt-nsw or 'king's daughter' of the Twelfth Dynasty, mainly known from her burial at El Lahun in which a treasure trove of jewellery was found. She was possibly a daughter of Senusret II since her burial site was found next to the pyramid of this king. This would make her one of five known children and one of three daughters of Senusret II, alongside Senusret III, Senusretseneb, Itakayt and Nofret. She bore the title king's wife, and was probably the wife of Senusret III.
Sithathoriunet was buried in the El Lahun pyramid complex. She must have died while Amenemhat III was pharaoh, since objects bearing his name were found in her tomb. Her name and titles survived on her canopic jars and on an alabaster vessel found in her tomb.The tomb was excavated in 1914 by Flinders Petrie and Guy Brunton. It had previously been robbed in antiquity but a niche in the burial site escaped the looters' attention. In this niche remains were found of several boxes filled with jewellery and cosmetic objects, such as razors, a mirror and vases. The discovered jewellery is considered to be among the highest quality ever found in an ancient Egyptian tomb. These finds included two pectorals, one with the praenomen of Senusret II, and the other with the name of Amenemhat III, a crown and bracelets inscribed with the praenomen of Amenemhat III. The majority of the objects are cloisonné gold inlaid with precious stones. The majority of the finds are located in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, although the crown and the pectoral of Amenemhat III are in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.