Anubis

Lore & Background

In Egypt's Early Dynastic period (c. 3100 – c. 2686 BC), Anubis was portrayed in full animal form, with a 'jackal' head and body. A jackal god, probably Anubis, is depicted in stone inscriptions from the reigns of Hor-Aha, Djer, and other pharaohs of the First Dynasty. Since Predynastic Egypt, when the dead were buried in shallow graves, jackals had been strongly associated with cemeteries because they were scavengers that uncovered human bodies and ate their flesh. In the spirit of 'fighting like with like,' a jackal was chosen to protect the dead. In the Old Kingdom, Anubis was the most important god of the dead. He was replaced in that role by Osiris during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BC). In the Roman era, which started in 30 BC, tomb paintings depict him holding the hand of deceased persons to guide them to Osiris. The parentage of Anubis varied between myths, times and sources. In early mythology, he was portrayed as a son of Ra. In the Coffin Texts, which were written in the First Intermediate Period (c. 2181–2055 BC), Anubis is the son of either the cow goddess Hesat or the cat-headed Bastet. Another tradition depicted him as the son of Ra and Nephthys. More commonly, however, he is recognized as the offspring of Osiris and Isis. In later periods, particularly during the Ptolemaic era, Anubis was sometimes described as the son of Isis and Serapis. The Greek Plutarch (c. 40–120 AD) reported a tradition that Anubis was the illegitimate son of Nephthys and Osiris, but that he was adopted by Osiris's wife Isis. George Hart sees this story as an 'attempt to incorporate the independent deity Anubis into the Osirian pantheon.' An Egyptian papyrus from the Roman period (30–380 AD) simply called Anubis the 'son of Isis.' In Nubia, Anubis was seen as the husband of his mother Nephthys.

In Their Own Story

In the Osiris myth, Anubis helped Isis to embalm Osiris. Indeed, when the Osiris myth emerged, it was said that after Osiris had been killed by Set, Osiris's organs were given to Anubis as a gift. With this connection, Anubis became the patron god of embalmers; during the rites of mummification, illustrations from the Book of the Dead often show a wolf-mask-wearing priest supporting the upright mummy. The Jumilhac papyrus recounts another tale where Anubis protected the body of Osiris from Set. Set attempted to attack the body of Osiris by transforming himself into a leopard. Anubis stopped and subdued Set, however, and he branded Set's skin with a hot iron rod. Anubis then flayed Set and wore his skin as a warning against evil-doers who would desecrate the tombs of the dead. Priests who attended to the dead wore leopard skin in order to commemorate Anubis's victory over Set. The legend of Anubis branding the hide of Set in leopard form was used to explain how the leopard got its spots.

Reader's Guide

Anubis was a protector of graves and cemeteries. Several epithets attached to his name in Egyptian texts and inscriptions referred to that role. Khenty-Amentiu, which means 'foremost of the westerners' and was also the name of a different canine funerary god, alluded to his protecting function because the dead were usually buried on the west bank of the Nile. He took other names in connection with his funerary role, such as tpy-ḏw.f (Tepy-djuef) 'He who is upon his mountain' (i.e. keeping guard over tombs from above) and nb-t3-ḏsr (Neb-ta-djeser) 'Lord of the sacred land', which designates him as a god of the desert necropolis. Most ancient tombs had prayers to Anubis carved on them. One of the roles of Anubis was as the 'Guardian of the Scales.' The critical scene depicting the weighing of the heart, in the Book of the Dead, shows Anubis performing a measurement that determined whether the person was worthy of entering the realm of the dead (the underworld, known as Duat). By weighing the heart of a deceased person against ma'at, who was often represented as an ostrich feather, Anubis dictated the fate of souls. Souls heavier than a feather would be devoured by Ammit, and souls lighter than a feather would ascend to a heavenly existence.

Did You Know?

• Anubis is also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian, and as Anoup in Coptic.
• Anubis was depicted in black, a color that symbolized regeneration, life, the soil of the Nile River, and the discoloration of the corpse after embalming.
• In the Ptolemaic period (305–30 BC), Anubis was merged with the Greek god Hermes, becoming Hermanubis.
• The Greeks mockingly called Anubis 'Barker'.
• Plato often has Socrates utter oaths 'by the dog', 'by the dog of Egypt',