Anubis is probably the Egyptian deity whose appearance is best known to the general public: a black jackal, or a man with a black jackal's head. Though biologically it has been shown that "jackals" in Egypt are, in fact, not jackals, but a kind of wolves – so perhaps one should call Anubis a black wolf or man with a black wolf's head. The Old Egyptians defined him as “sab”, "jackal", rather than “iwiw”, "dog". On the other hand, they do not seem to have distinguished much between the various canines, so there is some confusion about what kind of animal Anubis really is.
Being an ancient deity, Anubis has played different roles throughout centuries and millennia, each of them related to death. The oldest text that mentions him is “The Pyramid Texts”, assumed to be from 2400-2300 BC. There, he is connected with a Pharaoh's funeral. He was the god of the Underworld until that role was taken over by Osiris, he was the one who led souls to the afterlife, and he took part in the "weighing of the heart", in order to determine who would be allowed to go further after death. Anubis was also the god of embalming and mummification. Moreover, he was considered to protect graves and tombs. Anubis was, incidentally, also associated with some aspects of medicine; his priests had great knowledge of herbal medicine.
To be allowed to proceed to "paradise", the deceased must be regarded as "pure" when Anubis sniffed at the mummy. It was held that sweet spices for embalming increased the chance.
Black is the colour of mummification; embalmed bodies turned black. It is also the colour of rebirth in Egyptian colour symbolism. Black sludge of the Nile which every year cyclically came with the floods was what made the Nile valley so fertile; a prerequisite for life in Egypt.
Anubis is the Greek form of the name. In Egypt he was called Anpu or Inpu and had several names, such as Imeut ( "He who is at the place of embalming").
The major site of the Anubis cult was Hardai (Cynopolis), and to some extent Abt and Zawty (today's Asyut), all in Upper Egypt. Then there is Anubeion with a very large number of dog mummies. It is located outside of Saqqara and was also a centre of the Anubis cult.
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You wrote a great article. It's nice to know your history. Thank you so much for presenting these histories in such a beautiful way.