Anubis

Anubis, whose hieroglyphic name more closely translates as Anpu, is the Ancient Egyptian God of death and dying, and sometimes God of the Underworld. His mother is Hesat or Bastet with an unknown father, or Nephthys, and his father is variously said to be Set, Ra or Osiris. His daughters are Qeb-hwt[?] and Kebechet. In later times, Anubis was combined with the Greek god Hermes to form Hermanubis.

The center of his cult was in Cynopolis[?].

He has the head of a jackal or some other kind of dog, and the jackal is his symbol. The jackal imagery is related to Anubis' role among the Deities of Egypt, as the jackal is a scavenger[?] and is strongly associated with death and dying. In art, he is depicted as a man with a canine head and alert ears, often wearing a ribbon[?] and wielding a whip.

Anubis is always associated with the dead, but his role varies sometimes from one story to another. According to some stories, he leads the dead into Amenti (the Underworld) and to Osiris. In some stories he is the king of the Underworld. It appears that in some parts of Egypt, he was considered equal to Osiris in importance.

Later, Anubis became lesser in importance compared to Osiris and took the role of holding the scales with which the souls of the dead were weighted against the feather of Ma'at. If the soul was as light as the feather, Anubis led the soul to Osiris; otherwise, it was fed to Ammit.

In his embalming role, Anubis is known as Imy-ut ("he who is in the place where embalming occurs"). He guards the physical remains of bodies, as well as the tombs and necropoli.

Worship of Anubis is likely older even than that of Osiris. The Unas text (line 70) associates him with the Eye of Horus[?]. In the Book of the Dead, he enbalms the body of Osiris, wraps it in linens made by Isis and Nepthys, and protects the body by laying his bare hands on it.

Anubis is closely related to Ap-uat, another god whose symbol is the jackal, and who for many years was thought to be just another name for Anubis.

In Book xi of The Golden Ass[?] by Apuleius, we find evidence that the worship of Anubis was maintained in Rome at least up to the 2nd century.

Anubis is worshiped today by some Neopagans.

Alternative: Ienpw[?], Anpu, Yinepu[?], Imy-ut[?]

External link

• Some information in this article was taken from the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism website at http://www.touregypt.net/ANUBIS.htm