Anubis

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3 years ago (Last updated: 2 years ago)

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.

Anubis, Jackal, or wolf, from the tomb of Tutankhamon. Photo: Jon Bodsworth. (Copyrighted free use)

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.

Anubis attending the mummy of Sennedjem. From the tomb of Sennedjem in Luxor. (Public Domain)

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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Comments

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.

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3 years ago

My pleasure.

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3 years ago

Wow . Believe me I didn't know about this Egyptian tradition or history. Thank you for bringing it for us

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3 years ago

Nice, then I have introduced you to something for you new. I hope you enjoy it.

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3 years ago

Yes . Thank you for it 😊

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3 years ago

Sometimes I wonder so much myth and mythology is mixed with Egyptian culture that it becomes difficult to discern between truth and false. But as it has survived for so long therefore some truth must be there.

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3 years ago

Yes, nothing last that long without having some truth in it. I also think that the division between different disciplines we are used to, was alien to them. Everything was interconnected, even mythology expressed something about reality. This is so complex that we still cannot fully understand them. Hopefully more texts from that time will be found. Judging from Greek observers is misleading, the Greeks had too primitive a mind to understand more than the surface of he Egyptian culture.

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3 years ago

One of the very well known figures of ancient Egypt. I know Anubis from history but I was not competent in terms of its history. Thanks mate 😌

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3 years ago

Well, most people recognise Anubis, but few know very much about him.

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3 years ago

It always reminds me of a Doberman and partly a windhound. I guess it stands for a way of afterlife and healing... I wonder what wolves looked like according to the Egypts. 👍💕

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3 years ago

Windhound, I think that is the same as greyhound in English. That's a good observation. You will see more of that in a couple of subsequent articles about dogs and other doglike deities in Egypt.

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3 years ago

Sorry, I missed your last question there. Their view of wolfs seems to have been something similar to a greyhound. Such a deity was worshipped in a city the Greeks called Lycopolis, wolf city, today's Asyut (more on that in my next article). On the whole, they seem to have made no clear distinction between wolfs and jackals.

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3 years ago

Thanks to his article I found out that anubis was male, he always related that he was female, anubis' position has caught my attention a lot, and instead of a wolf, he looks like a dogwerman dog,

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3 years ago

Wolfs, jackals and dogs, the disticntion between them was vague.

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3 years ago

In Egypt the potato turned out to be the most unique vegetable, when humans saw it for the first time they started to believe in UFO, I would tell more but Im afraid of N.A.S.A

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3 years ago

Anubis is Hades or Pluto in greek n roman mythology, god of the underworld

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3 years ago

It's not really that simple. The major Egyptian deities were far more complex than anything the Greeks ever had. Their relation to death was also more complex. Even the meaning of Duat, the Underworld, is not so simple as to say it is the realm of death.

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3 years ago

Yes, but there's a similarity when u based it on the story, just saying, 'coz to me, it's like the same

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3 years ago

Okay; yes I understand what you mean.

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3 years ago

Have u seen the movie, Gods of Egypt? Thanks for sharing this article, i am fan of this kind of thing n this is a good article

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3 years ago

I have no seen it. Is it good?

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3 years ago

Yes, it is, the story's about the Gods of Egypt, had watched it many times n u should try n watch it

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3 years ago

Indeed, I will.

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3 years ago

as a potato i played with anubis using a simple "catch and run" game then bring it to your master it was fun like a rollercoster. Good old days

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3 years ago

Very good; an interesting addition to your Egyptian article collection.

Thank you.

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3 years ago