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Duamutef is an ancient Egyptian god, one of the four sons of Horus along with along with Hapy, Imsety, and Qebehsenuef. Duamutef was associated with the protection of the stomach in mummification rituals. He is typically depicted with a jackal's head and is often represented on canopic jars, which held the embalmed organs of the deceased. He is associated with the east.
Canopic jars were containers used by the ancient Egyptians during the mummification process, to store and preserve the viscera of their soul for the afterlife. Each of Horus's sons were responsible for protecting a particular organ, was himself protected by a companion goddess, and represented a cardinal direction. Duamutef protected the stomach, which was extracted from the body, mummified separately, and placed inside his jar. In some later tombs, these jars were merely symbolic and did not contain the actual organs. Although Duamutef is most prominently found in funerary context as a canopic jar, he is possibly more closely associated with the Egyptian decans.
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