Egyptian god, one of the four sons of Horus
Duamutef
Duamutef is one of the Four Sons of Horus, deities of Egyptian religion who protected the dead in the afterlife. He was linked with the stomach, whose canopic jar he guarded, and was usually depicted with a jackal's head.
The myth
According to the funerary texts, Duamutef was a son of Horus, although some passages make him a child of Atum, Geb or Nut. The Coffin Texts describe him as the offspring of Isis and Horus the Elder. His name is usually read as "He who praises his mother". He first appears in the Pyramid Texts, late in the Old Kingdom, where the sons of Horus help the dead king climb into the sky and keep hunger and thirst away from him. Later they were also charged with protecting Osiris. In a ritual preserved in the Dramatic Ramesseum Papyrus, they fight the followers of Set and restore the Eye of Horus to their father.
During mummification, the stomach was removed, dried and placed in a canopic jar, and Duamutef watched over it. The assignment was not fixed: in some burials Hapy guarded the stomach, while Duamutef protected the lungs. Egyptian belief placed him under the protection of the goddess Neith, although in the Middle Kingdom the goddess could be Sendjet.
Worship and religion
Their worship was almost entirely confined to funerary practice, and no temples dedicated to him are documented. Egyptian funerary tradition ended in the fourth century AD, so his cult does not survive.
Ancient sources: The Pyramid Texts, the Coffin Texts, the Book of the Dead and the Book of Gates all name him as a protector of the dead.
In art
