We explain who Anubis was in the mythology of Ancient Egypt, what his characteristics were and what symbols represented him.
Who is Anubis?
In the religion and mythology of Ancient Egypt, Anubis or Inpu was the name of the god of the dead and lord of the underworld (Duat). He was regarded as regent of the dead during the Early Dynastic period and the Old Kingdom, since in later times he was displaced from that role by Osiris. He was represented as a human figure with the head of a jackal and a cross ankh in the hand.
The best known epithets of Anubis were "he who resides on his mountain", "the lord of the sacred country", "he who is in the embalming chamber" or "he who measures hearts". He was usually depicted on the walls of funeral or mortuary temples, as he was also the patron saint of embalmers and inventor of the mummification technique.
The cult of him spread throughout Ancient Egypt, especially in the city of Hardaï (also called cynopolis, "city of dogs") for nearly three millennia: from about 3,200 B.C. C. until the Christianity it replaced the Egyptian religion between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. c.
However, Egyptian texts are unclear regarding the mythological origin of Anubis. In some it is stated that he was the son of Bastet, of Idhet or even of Ra and Nephthys, or that he was an illegitimate son of Seth, fathered by Nephthys and raised by Isis to save him from the wrath of his father.
He was generally considered a deity ancestral, and regent of the world of the dead, until the ascent of Osiris to the throne of the underworld.From then on, Anubis became a mere embalmer, protector of the tombs and guide of the souls of the deceased towards their otherworldly destiny. His was the role of weighing, for example, the heart of the recently deceased on a scale, to determine whether or not they were worthy to enter the world of the dead.
Anubis also plays an important role in the mythological story of Osiris, central to the Egyptian religion of the time. When Osiris was killed and dismembered by his brother Seth, Anubis helped Isis and Nephthys rebuild and embalm his body so that he would return to life in the afterlife, where he would be king of the dead. East myth it is the reason why the pharaohs, representatives of Osiris in the human world, were embalmed and mummified.
Characteristics of Anubis
In general, the god Anubis was characterized by the following:
- He was one of the oldest gods in the Egyptian religion, and was worshiped throughout the Egyptian Empire for almost three thousand consecutive years.
- He was depicted as a human figure with the head of a jackal, and in writing hieroglyphic, by means of a canine or wild cat lying on his belly, either on the ground or on a funerary chapel. This is possibly because jackals were the dominant scavenger species in the deserts egyptians of the Antiquity, and hence its association with the death and the corpses.
- He linked it to the color black, which for the Egyptian religion meant not only death but the otherworldly life: regeneration, eternal conservation and fertility.
- As was often the case with the Egyptian gods, he was associated in different cities with Osiris himself and even with Horus, especially in his manifestations as Khentyamentiu, Tepyyeduef or Nebtadyeser.In addition, his role as guide to recently deceased souls caused the ancient Greeks to assimilate him with Hermes, which gave rise to the name "Hermanubis" at the heart of his cult in Cinópolis.
- His mythological origin is unclear, especially as far as the Osiris story is concerned. It is possible that his birth was invented and reinvented to adapt it to the different religious variants that were developing over the centuries.
Anubis symbols
Anubis is often depicted as a jackal or dog.
Anubis was a funeral god, and therefore associated with scavenging animals, such as the jackal, the wild dog and the wild cat, which is why he is often represented in this way, especially next to the mother goddess Isis. That is why the priests in charge of mummification used ritual masks in the shape of a jackal's head.
On the other hand, the black color with which this god was associated not only referred to decomposing corpses, but also to soil rich in organic matter, so its role was ambiguous and it also symbolized fertility, manure and abundance.
On other occasions, Anubis was represented holding a scale, since among his roles was that of weighing the hearts of the recently deceased, placing an ostrich feather on the other side of the scale, a symbol of cosmic order or Ma'at. If the heart weighed the same or less than the feather, the soul could enter the realm of the dead; if not, he was destined for an end of suffering in the jaws of Ammit, a creature part lion and part crocodile.
egyptian mythology
Egyptian mythology encompasses the set of beliefs, rites, stories and symbols produced in Ancient Egypt (from 3,200 BC to 31 BC approximately) from its predynastic era until the imposition of Christianity around the 5th century.Its iconography and the richness of its stories is comparable to the tradition Greco-Roman, and largely influenced it, through a complex process of syncretism and hybridization.
The Egyptian pantheon was ruled by numerous gods, mostly represented as human figures with animal heads, and between which there was a complex margin of ambiguity and coincidence, so that the limits of the worship of one god and those of another. In this way, two different gods could become one over time, as happened with the gods Ra and Aton, who became Aton-Ra.
The Egyptian gods not only ruled the nature, but they also did it with the order of the humans. In fact, the pharaohs were their incarnation on Earth, and for that reason they were destined to rule: to preserve the universal balance or ma'at, without which the world would inevitably end.
However, over time, Egyptian religion focused on the story of Osiris as the fundamental mythological nucleus: the journey of the solar god, lover of his sister Isis, who is betrayed and killed by his jealous brother Seth, lord of the deserts. .
The story culminates with the goddesses Isis and Nephthys gathering and embalming the body of Osiris according to the practices of Anubis, thus propitiating his resurrection as lord of the underworld. It is a fundamentally agricultural myth, which describes the cycles of drought and flooding near the Nile, thanks to which the fertile soil became usable.
egyptian gods of death
Death had an important presence in Egyptian mythology, as part of a process of transmigration of souls and preservation of the universal balance, the ma'at. For that reason, the world of the deceased (Duat) and the process of death itself were accompanied in its various instances by different gods and deities, such as:
- Anubis.Lord of the necropolis, patron of embalmers and guide of the recently deceased to the underworld, this jackal-headed god was also responsible for weighing the hearts of the deceased to see if they were worthy of entering the realm of the dead.
- Osiris. Initially a solar god, inventor of agriculture and Egyptian religion, he was a mythical king who drowned in the Nile, deceived and betrayed by his brother Seth, who then dismembered his body and scattered it throughout Egypt. Then his wife Iris and his sister-in-law Nephthys gathered his body, embalmed and mummified it, and Osiris was reborn in the dumat as lord of the dead and administrator of the eternal laws of the Ma'at. Only those worthy to enter the realm of Osiris could be reborn later on.
- Ammit. Goddess called "devourer of the dead", she was represented as a monster with the body of a lion and the head of a crocodile, often with claws of bird of prey. She played a punishing role in the judgment of the recently deceased, devouring the hearts of those discarded by Anubis, snatching away their chance to be reborn.
- Thot. It is an ancient god, associated with wisdom and writing, the science, the Magic and arcane lore. The goddess Ma'at, embodiment of order, is his wife, and the goddess Seshat is the female version of him, associated with libraries, construction, measurement, and astronomy. Thoth played an important role in the measurement of souls carried out by Anubis, since it was he who took note of the weight of the hearts of the deceased and who issued the corresponding verdict.
- Nephthys. Wife of Seth and assistant to Isis in restoring the body of Osiris, Nephthys was a goddess associated with both festive aspects of Egyptian religion, funeral rites, and embalming. In this last role, she was the protector of one of the canopic vessels: the containers where the organs extracted from the mummies were deposited.This work was carried out by Nephthys (protector of the Hapi vessel, destined for the lungs) together with Isis (protector of the Amset vessel, destined for the liver), Serket (protector of the Qebehsenuef vessel, destined for the intestines) and Neit (protector of the Duamutef vessel, destined for the intestines). to the stomach).