Dictionary:

Canopus¹

  (kə-nō'pəs)

An ancient city of northern Egypt east of Alexandria. It was the site of a great temple honoring Serapis.

1. Alexandrian town in Ancient Egypt, celebrated for its canals and beauty.

2. Canopic bulbous ovoid Ancient Egyptian jar, usually of stone, to contain the internal organs of the dead after disembowelling during the mummification process, with the lid shaped like a head. The jar containing the liver had a humanoid head of Imsety, son of Horus, and it was this type that was widely copied for ornaments of the Neo-Classical period and Egyptian Revival style, though the ‘lids’ were usually fixed.

3. Part of the gardens of Hadrian's villa at Tivoli (Tibur), near Rome, laid out ad 134–8 around a Euripus (canal) lined with Egyptianizing statues and complete with sculptured crocodiles and an elephant, intended as a mnemonic of the Nilotic landscape and of Canopus itself.

Canopus (2) Roman Canopic jar in the Egyptian taste (After Tatham).

Bibliography

• J. Curl (2005)
• Roullet (1972)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)