THE CANOPIC EQUIPMENT OF THE KINGS OF EGYPT
STUDIES IN EGYPTOLOGY
EDITED BY ALAN B. LLOYD
PROFESSOR OF CLASSICS AND ANCIENT HISTORY,
UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF SWANSEA
EDITORIAL ADVISER: GEOFFREY THORNDIKE MARTIN
THE EGYPTIAN TEMPLE
PATRICIA SPENCER
THE ADMINISTRATION OF EGYPT
IN THE OLD KINGDOM
NIGEL STRUDWICK
CORPUS OF RELIEFS OF THE
NEW KINGDOM FROM THE
MEMPHITE NECROPOLIS AND
LOWER EGYPT VOLUME 1
GEOFFREY THORNDIKE MARTIN
PROBLEMS AND PRIORITIES IN
EGYPTIAN ARCHAEOLOGY
EDITED BY JAN ASSMANN,
GNTER BURKARD AND
VIVIAN DAVIES
LOST TOMBS
LISE MANNICHE
DECORATION IN EGYPTIAN TOMBS
OF THE OLD KINGDOM
YVONNE HARPUR
UNTERSUCHUNGEN ZU
DEN TOTENBUCHPAPYRI DER 18.
DYNASTIE
IRMTRAUT MUNRO
THE MONUMENTS OF SENENMUT
PETER F. DORMAN
THE FORT CEMETERY AT
HIERAKONPOLIS
BARBARA ADAMS
THE DUTIES OF THE VIZIER
G.P.F. VAN DEN BOORN
A GLOSSARY OF ANCIENT
EGYPTIAN NAUTICAL TITLES AND
TERMS
DILWYN JONES
LAND TENURE IN THE
RAMESSIDE PERIOD
SALLY D. KATARY
VALLEY OF THE KINGS
C.N. REEVES
THE COBRA GODDESS OF
ANCIENT EGYPT
SALLY B. JOHNSON
A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE AMARNA
PERIOD AND ITS AFTERMATH
GEOFFREY THORNDIKE MARTIN
THE PRIVATE CHAPEL
IN ANCIENT EGYPT
ANN H. BOMANN
AKHENATENS SED-FESTIVAL
AT KARNAK
JOCELYN GOHARY
AFTER TUTANKHAMUN
EDITED BY C.N. REEVES
THE BOUNDARY STELAE OF
AKHENATEN
WILLIAM J. MURNANE AND
CHARLES C. VAN SICLEN III
THE CANOPIC EQUIPMENT
OF THE KINGS OF
EGYPT
AIDAN DODSON
LIVING IN THE PAST:
STUDIES IN ARCHAISM OF THE
EGYPTIAN TWENTY-SIXTH DYNASTY
PETER DER MANUELIAN
THE CANOPIC EQUIPMENT OF THE KINGS OF EGYPT
AIDAN DODSON
with contributions by Otto J. Schaden, Edwin C. Brock and Mark Collier
First published in 1994 by
Kegan Paul International Ltd
This edition first published in 2009 by
Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Aidan Dodson 1994
Transferred to Digital Printing 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 10: 0-7103-0460-9 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-7103-0460-5 (hbk)
Publishers Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent. The publisher has made every effort to contact original copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.
To Anne, Jules & Salima
(in alphabetical order!)
PREFACE
THE origins of this book can be traced back to a visit to Sir John Soanes Museum, Lincolns Inn Fields, London, some ten years ago. Then, an attendant led me to a dark corner of that amazing museum to point out what transpired to be a piece of the canopic chest of Sethos I, number 36 in the catalogue included in the present work. Shortly after I had passed its publication for the press, my friend Nick Reeves brought to my attention another hitherto neglected canopic fragment, this time belonging to Ramesses II (Cat. 37), whose publication he kindly ceded to me.
In undertaking this, I had cause to produce a summary study of New Kingdom canopic chests, something which made clear the extreme paucity of published studies of canopic material, whether royal or private. Since Otto Schaden, Director of the West Valley of the Kings Project, had in 1985 announced a project to produce a full treatment of Eighteenth Dynasty royal chests, I began work on complementary studies of the Old and Middle Kingdom remains, together with those of the Third Intermediate Period and later.
These latter projects quickly grew beyond a size readily acceptable by an Egyptological journal, as a result of which I suggested to Otto that a book covering all kingly canopics might be the wisest solution, with a New Kingdom chapter incorporating the results of his research. Around the same time, I had learned that the West Theban work of Edwin Brock, Director of the Canadian Institute in Egypt, had revealed new fragments of the canopic chest of Merenptah. I accordingly asked him whether he would be willing to produce an account of them, together with his work on the New York fragments of Siptahs chest, for the projected book. His affirmative response allowed to take its final form: I am most grateful to Otto and Ted for their contributions.
My other collaborator, Mark Collier, lately of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and now elected a Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, has my deepest thanks for agreeing to work with me on the translations to be used in this book, The spells used on canopics are replete with difficulties of interpretation, and his philological skills, exceeding mine by a infinite margin, have been of the very greatest value in producing renderings which give the literal sense of the texts, even if aspects of their interpretation remains obscure.
The resulting monograph is intended to trace the development of the canopic elements that were included in the funerary outfit of a king of Egypt. It takes the point of view of their morphology and archaeological context: their religious and philological aspects are on this occasion left to one side. In carrying out this aim, I have not avoided digressions into matters concerning other elements of the funerary ensemble, or even wider historical concerns, since items can often only be properly assessed by reference to their full context.
The production of this book has involved many visits to sites in Egypt, and to museums and institutions in England, Europe, Egypt and North America, not to mention much correspondence. In the course of the work, I have inevitably fallen into the debt of many people. The following lists aim to be as complete as possible; I hope that anyone I have forgotten will forgive me!
For facilitating access to objects and records, answering my many queries, providing photographs, together with much useful information I sincerely thank Liliane Aubert (Paris), Morris Bierbrier (British Museum), Jean-Louis de Ceneval (Muse du Louvre), Paula A. Foley (Museum of Staten Island), Hannelore Kischkewitz (gyptisches Museum (Museuminsell, Berlin), Jean Leclant (Collge de France), Enrichetta Leospo (Museo delle Antichit Egizie, Turin), Christine Lilyquist (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York), Diana Magee and Jaromr Mlek (Griffith Institute, Oxford), Peter Der Manuelian (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Mohammed Mohsen (Egyptian Museum, Cairo), Karl-Heinz Priese (gyptisches Museum [Museuminsel], Berlin), Maarten Raven (Rijksmuseum van Oedheden, Leiden), Nicholas Reeves (lately of the British Museum), Catharine Roehrig (Metroplitan Museum of Art, New York), John Romer (The Theban Foundation, Tiburon, CA), Patricia Spencer (Egypt Exploration Society, London), John H. Taylor (British Museum), Jean Yoyotte (Centre Wladimir Golnscheff, Paris) and Christiane Zeigler (Muse du Louvre).
