Qebehsenuef- Egyptian GodDeity"Son of Horus"

The Falcon at the Western Gate

Qebehsenuef was one of the Four Sons of Horus, the protective deities who guarded the canopic jars containing a mummy's preserved organs. His charge was the intestines. His name, "he who refreshes his siblings," spoke to his role as provider of libations and sustenance to the other Sons.

He wore the head of a falcon, like his father Horus. Of the four brothers, Qebehsenuef guarded the west: the direction of the setting sun, the direction the dead traveled to enter the Duat. The canopic jar containing the intestines bore a lid shaped as his falcon head and was placed to the west in the burial chest. Everything faced the right direction.

Under the Scorpion's Protection

Each Son of Horus was paired with a protective goddess. Qebehsenuef's was Serket, the scorpion goddess whose domain covered healing and protection against venomous creatures. In life, the intestines were vulnerable to sickness and corruption. In death, Serket's magic warded off what Qebehsenuef's physical guardianship could not reach.

Funerary priests recited spells invoking his name, promising the deceased that the organs of nourishment would endure under his watch. The Four Sons together served in Osiris's underworld court. Qebehsenuef stood among them at the gate where the sun went down.