A New Role For The Four Sons Of Horus?

Joan Padgham investigates the significance of the funerary ‘sunrise scene’ and the role the four canopic deities played in representing the deceased.

- Joan Padgham

The Twenty-second Dynasty of the Third Intermediate Period (c. 945-715 BC) saw the creation of a vignette called the ‘sunrise scene’ painted on a new type of funerary case called a cartonnage. The scene shows the solar deity Ra ascending to the sky and included the Four Sons of Horus (see right and detail, opposite top). Traditionally these funerary deities featured on canopic jars and in scenes of mortuary rituals such as mummification and the protection of the dead. To give them a significant presence in a solar scene implies that they had been given a new role. Examination of the scene reveals details that suggest the Sons of Horus were intended to represent the deceased owner of the cartonnage in the presence of Ra.

The sunrise scene symbolises the ascension of the solar deity each dawn from the realm of Osiris. There are often two falcons depicted; the upper one is a ram-headed falcon with a golden solar disc and outstretched wings, and it symbolises Ra rising to the sky. Osiris sometimes stands with the Four Sons (see page 22, top) or is represented by an Abydos fetish below the falcons (see right). Immediately under the falcon’s wings the Sons of Horus stand facing the deity, two on each side. They are significantly large and dominant, indicating their importance and, with the exception of Duamutef (whose jackal ears occupy the top of his head), Imsety, Hapi and Qebehsenuef each have a cone.

The Four Sons and the Deceased