Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Book of Abraham and the Facsimile Image-Part VIII – Canopic Jars

Egyptologists and critics alike have labeled the four images below the lion couch in the Abraham Facsimile 1 as canopic jars. However nowhere in the scriptural record of the Book of Abraham, in Facsimile 1, or any other written manner from Abraham’s writings do we find any reference to the images beneath the couch or altar being canopic jars.
First of all, canopic jars were those actual jars used by the ancient Egyptians in the early period of their embalming to store the deceased’s viscera. In order to preserve the body long enough for the “Ba” to carry out its assignment of transferring the deceased’s “personality” or essence to the “Ka” for its trip into the afterlife, time was needed (see the last post), therefore, the embalming process was intended to do that so the body could lie intact and “in state” for a period of time. But in those early periods, it was believed that the deceased’s internal organs needed to be removed for the preservation of the body. In later periods, the embalming process was so improved that the removal of the viscera was not necessary.
Top Row: Early canopic jars were simple clay jars with flat lids; Bottom Row: Later jars had heads from early simple carved images to later far more elaborate, even made of gold, highly decorated and very costly
The word canopic, like many terms related to ancient Egypt, comes from a misunderstanding. The ancient classical writers believed that the Greek hero, Kanopos, helmsman for Menelaeus, was worshipped at Canopus in the form of a jar. The very early explorers and later Egyptologists saw a connection between that object and the actually unrelated visceral jars discovered in tombs, and began calling them “canopic.” The name stuck and eventually was used to describe all kinds of receptacles intended to hold viscera removed during the mummification process. 
Modern research confirms Herodotus’ claim, writing in the latter half of the 5th century B.C. (The Histories, Book II, Chapter 86), that the entire process of mummification lasted for seventy days, though the removal of the viscera was accomplished in the first few days after death. In fact, the Ancient Egyptians believed that a dead person would need his organs in the afterlife. For this purpose, four major organs were taken out of the body during the mummification process, and stored in the Canopic jars. The brain was believed to be responsible only for producing mucus and was allowed to liquefy and then completely removed from the corpse through the nose.
Beginning in the period known as the Old Kingdom (2600-2100 B.C.), the viscera was removed and stored in the jars for the owner’s afterlife. Four main organs were involved: the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines—the heart was the home of the dead person’s spirit and the Egyptians believed it stayed with the body. The early canopic jars were rarely inscribed and had a plain lid. Later, during the Middle Kingdom (2055 to 1650 B.C.) inscriptions on the jars became were introduced and became more frequent, and the lids were often in the form of human heads. By the Nineteenth dynasty (1292 to 1189 B.C.), the lids depicted one of the four sons of Horus as guardians of the organs: Duamutef, the jackal-headed god representing the east, guarded the stomach which was protected by the goddess Neith; Hapi, the baboon-headed god representing the north, whose jar contained the lungs and was protected by the goddess Nephthys; Imseti, the human-headed god representing the south, guarding the liver and was protected by the goddess Isis; and Qebehsenuef, the falcon-headed god representing the west, guarding the intestines and was protected by the goddess Silket.
The organs were wrapped in linen, put into the jars, and consecrated oil was poured into after, and then the jars were sealed as part of the funerary rituals. These jars were wide-mouthed, to allow the placement of the organs inside, and from 5 to 10 inches tall, and through the dynasties of Egypt, the jars evolved from a plain ritual jar to an elaborately decorated tomb ornament.
This set of canopic jars was made to contain the internal organs removed from the body during the mummification process. The four sons of the god Horus were believed to protect these organs. (left to right): The jackal-headed Duamutef protected the stomach; the baboon-headed Hapi, the lungs; the falcon-headed Qebehsenuef, the intestines;and human-headed Imsety, the liver
In the Third Intermediate Period (1070 to 664 B.C.) the organs were left in the body and dummy canopic jars were introduced, because of improved embalming techniques, however, the canopic jars remained a feature of tombs, but were no longer hollowed out for storage of the organs, having a symbolic rather than a containment function. At this time, the viscera was coated in resin and rolled up within linen “visceral packets,” and stored within the thoracic and pelvic cavities.
By the Twentieth Dynasty (1187 to 1064 B.C.), the canopic jars were no longer placed in a canopic chest, instead, much larger individual jars bearing the heads of the goddesses were used, though it is unknown how the jars were stored in the tomb. During the 21st Dynasty, the viscera of most mummies were returned to the bodies during the mummification process, and the canopic jars were left empty, but by the 22nd Dynasty, the jars were solid dummy jars, though in the case of Sheshonq II, the dummy jars held dummy packets of viscera. By the 23rd Dynasty, the text associated with canopic equipment became much simpler, often only naming the deceased and the genius, and later this equipment became painted with bright polychrome and highly decorative.
This funery process has been studied by Egyptologists, and though they have not always agreed with one another on some of the points, they have become familiar with the details mentioned above. Unfortunately, their tendency is to translate anything resembling a funery process by this understanding—the mummification process of a funery event. This is exactly what happened in the Egyptologists’ interpreting the Abraham Facsimile 1 vignette; however, the scene Abraham describes is not about mummification, or about a funery process at all, but about human sacrifice—something most Egyptologists have claimed did not take place in ancient Egypt, even though there are some indications available to suggest otherwise.
In short, the emblems, or gods, depicted in Facsimile 1 beneath the altar, or lion couch, are not canopic jars at all, but symbols of the four corners of the earth of the Egyptian world, and so depicted by the four images of the sons of Horus, yet representing the idolatrous gods of Sumeria which Abraham knew. It should also be noted that Abraham was pointing out the ancient Egyptian customs which took place in his earlier life to a non-Egyptian audience! That is, he knew who would be reading this in the future would not be Egyptians and may not have any idea of Egyptian customs, beliefs and practices. But like many professional people, the Egyptologists who later tried to interpret Abraham’s drawing, blindly assumed they knew what the scene depicted and interpreted it as such, claiming the drawing was a funery scene and claimed that Abraham’s depiction and description (Joseph Smith's translation) was inaccurate. Of course, it would be inaccurate if it were a funery scene—but it was not, as Abraham so clearly described the events. And when looking at the vignette in the light of Abraham’s description, and what is actually known about the changing process of the ancient Egyptian funery process over the dynasties, it is clearly a different and separate vignette, or story.
(See the next post, “The Book of Abraham and the Facsimile Image-Part IX – Understanding Elkenah,” for more information on the god behind the human sacrifice of Abraham)

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