Historical story

Egyptian embalming:what happened to the viscera?

Canopic jars. Inside these jars were stored the entrails that the Egyptians extracted from the bodies of the deceased during the laborious embalming process

The sophisticated embalming process implemented by the Egyptians, allows us to be able to observe today people who lived thousands of years ago as they were or almost as they were.

To achieve these exceptional results it was essential to perform a meticulous and rather elaborate procedure, but what happened to the internal organs ?

Well, even the entrails that had to be extracted from the body were kept, but separately, in canopic jars , of which, among other things, valuable examples still remain today, rich in decorations and designs.

Each vessel and organ could count on its own specific protector, one of the four sons of Horo:Qebecsenuf, raptor-headed deity, guarded the intestines, Duamutef, with jackal head, stomach, Imset, which instead had a human head, liver and finally Hapi, with baboon head, lungs.