Anubis

Anubis (/əˈnjuːbɪs/;[2] Ancient Greek: Ἄνουβις), also known as Inpu, Inpw, Jnpw, or Anpu in Ancient Egyptian (Coptic: ⲁⲛⲟⲩⲡ, romanized: Anoup), is the god of funerary rites, protector of graves, and guide to the underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head.[3]

This article is about the Egyptian god. For other uses, see Anubis (disambiguation).

Anubis
The Egyptian god Anubis (a modern rendition inspired by New Kingdom tomb paintings)
Name in hieroglyphs
in
p		 wE16
Major cult centerLycopolis, Cynopolis
SymbolMummy gauze, fetish, jackal, flail
Personal information
ParentsNepthys and Set, Osiris (Middle and New kingdom), or Ra (Old kingdom).
SiblingsWepwawet
ConsortAnput, Nephthys[1]
OffspringKebechet
Equivalents
Greek equivalentHades or Hermes
Anubis as a jackal perched atop a tomb, symbolizing his protection of the necropolis

Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty (c. 3100 – c. 2890 BC), Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom (c. 2055–1650 BC) he was replaced by Osiris in his role as lord of the underworld. One of his prominent roles was as a god who ushered souls into the afterlife. He attended the weighing scale during the "Weighing of the Heart", in which it was determined whether a soul would be allowed to enter the realm of the dead. Anubis is one of the most frequently depicted and mentioned gods in the Egyptian pantheon, however, no relevant myth involved him.[4]

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. Anubis is associated with his brother Wepwawet, another Egyptian god portrayed with a dog's head or in canine form, but with grey or white fur. Historians assume that the two figures were eventually combined.[5] Anubis' female counterpart is Anput. His daughter is the serpent goddess Kebechet.

Name

"Anubis" is a Greek rendering of this god's Egyptian name.[6][7] Before the Greeks arrived in Egypt, around the 7th century BC, the god was known as Anpu or Inpu. The root of the name in ancient Egyptian language means "a royal child." Inpu has a root to "inp", which means "to decay." The god was also known as "First of the Westerners," "Lord of the Sacred Land," "He Who is Upon his Sacred Mountain," "Ruler of the Nine Bows," "The Dog who Swallows Millions," "Master of Secrets," "He Who is in the Place of Embalming," and "Foremost of the Divine Booth."[8] The positions that he had were also reflected in the titles he held such as "He Who Is upon His Mountain," "Lord of the Sacred Land," "Foremost of the Westerners," and "He Who Is in the Place of Embalming."[9]

In the Old Kingdom (c. 2686 BC – c. 2181 BC), the standard way of writing his name in hieroglyphs was composed of the sound signs inpw followed by a jackal[lower-alpha 1] over a ḥtp sign:[11]

in
p		 wC6

A new form with the jackal on a tall stand appeared in the late Old Kingdom and became common thereafter:[11]

in
p		 wE16

Anubis' name jnpw was possibly pronounced [a.ˈna.pʰa(w)], based on Coptic Anoup and the Akkadian transcription 𒀀𒈾𒉺⟨a-na-pa⟩ in the name <ri-a-na-pa> "Reanapa" that appears in Amarna letter EA 315.[12][13] However, this transcription may also be interpreted as rˁ-nfr, a name similar to that of Prince Ranefer of the Fourth Dynasty.

History
Anubis attending the mummy of the deceased.
Portable shrine of Anubis, exposition in Paris, from the Tomb of Tutankhamun (KV62)

In Egypt's Early Dynastic period (c. 3100 – c. 2686 BC), Anubis was portrayed in full animal form, with a "jackal" head and body.[14] A jackal god, probably Anubis, is depicted in stone inscriptions from the reigns of Hor-Aha, Djer, and other pharaohs of the First Dynasty.[15] Since Predynastic Egypt, when the dead were buried in shallow graves, jackals had been strongly associated with cemeteries because they were scavengers which uncovered human bodies and ate their flesh.[16] In the spirit of "fighting like with like," a jackal was chosen to protect the dead, because "a common problem (and cause of concern) must have been the digging up of bodies, shortly after burial, by jackals and other wild dogs which lived on the margins of the cultivation."[17]

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 (2000–1700 BC).[18] In the Roman era, which started in 30 BC, tomb paintings depict him holding the hand of deceased persons to guide them to Osiris.[19]

The parentage of Anubis varied between myths, times and sources. In early mythology, he was portrayed as a son of Ra.[20] 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.[21] Another tradition depicted him as the son of Ra and Nephthys.[20] 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:[22]

For when Isis found out that Osiris loved her sister and had relations with her in mistaking her sister for herself, and when she saw a proof of it in the form of a garland of clover that he had left to Nephthys – she was looking for a baby, because Nephthys abandoned it at once after it had been born for fear of Set; and when Isis found the baby helped by the dogs which with great difficulties lead her there, she raised him and he became her guard and ally by the name of Anubis.

George Hart sees this story as an "attempt to incorporate the independent deity Anubis into the Osirian pantheon."[21] An Egyptian papyrus from the Roman period (30–380 AD) simply called Anubis the "son of Isis."[21] In Nubia, Anubis was seen as the husband of his mother Nephthys.[1]

Hermanubis in the November panel of a Roman mosaic calendar from Sousse, Tunisia.

In the Ptolemaic period (350–30 BC), when Egypt became a Hellenistic kingdom ruled by Greek pharaohs, Anubis was merged with the Greek god Hermes, becoming Hermanubis.[23][24] The two gods were considered similar because they both guided souls to the afterlife.[25] The center of this cult was in uten-ha/Sa-ka/ Cynopolis, a place whose Greek name means "city of dogs." In Book XI of The Golden Ass by Apuleius, there is evidence that the worship of this god was continued in Rome through at least the 2nd century. Indeed, Hermanubis also appears in the alchemical and hermetical literature of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Although the Greeks and Romans typically scorned Egyptian animal-headed gods as bizarre and primitive (Anubis was mockingly called "Barker" by the Greeks), Anubis was sometimes associated with Sirius in the heavens and Cerberus and Hades in the underworld.[26] In his dialogues, Plato often has Socrates utter oaths "by the dog" (Greek: kai me ton kuna), "by the dog of Egypt", and "by the dog, the god of the Egyptians", both for emphasis and to appeal to Anubis as an arbiter of truth in the underworld.[27]

Roles

Embalmer

As jmy-wt (Imiut or the Imiut fetish) "He who is in the place of embalming", Anubis was associated with mummification. He was also called ḫnty zḥ-nṯr "He who presides over the god's booth", in which "booth" could refer either to the place where embalming was carried out or the pharaoh's burial chamber.[28][29]

In the Osiris myth, Anubis helped Isis to embalm Osiris.[18] 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.

Protector of tombs
The Opening of the Mouth ceremony being performed on a mummy before the tomb. Anubis attending the mummy of the deceased. Extract from the Papyrus of Hunefer, a 19th-Dynasty Book of the Dead (c. 1300 BC)

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.[30] 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.[28][29]

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.[31] Priests who attended to the dead wore leopard skin in order to commemorate Anubis' 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.[32]

Most ancient tombs had prayers to Anubis carved on them.[33]

Guide of souls
The "weighing of the heart," from the book of the dead of Hunefer. Anubis is portrayed as guiding the deceased forward and manipulating the scales, under the scrutiny of the ibis-headed Thoth.

By the late pharaonic era (664–332 BC), Anubis was often depicted as guiding individuals across the threshold from the world of the living to the afterlife.[34] Though a similar role was sometimes performed by the cow-headed Hathor, Anubis was more commonly chosen to fulfill that function.[35] Greek writers from the Roman period of Egyptian history designated that role as that of "psychopomp", a Greek term meaning "guide of souls" that they used to refer to their own god Hermes, who also played that role in Greek religion.[25] Funerary art from that period represents Anubis guiding either men or women dressed in Greek clothes into the presence of Osiris, who by then had long replaced Anubis as ruler of the underworld.[36]

Weigher of hearts
A section of the Papyrus of Ani showing the "weighing of the heart," depicting Anubis manipulating the scales, weighing the heart of the deceased against Maat's feather of truth.

One of the roles of Anubis was as the "Guardian of the Scales."[37] 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.[38][39]

Portrayal in art
This detailed scene, from the Papyrus of Hunefer (c. 1275 BC), shows the scribe Hunefer's heart being weighed on the scale of Maat against the feather of truth by Anubis

Anubis was one of the most frequently represented deities in ancient Egyptian art.[4] He is depicted in royal tombs as early as the First Dynasty.[8] The god is typically treating a king's corpse, providing sovereign to mummification rituals and funerals, or standing with fellow gods at the Weighing of the Heart of the Soul in the Hall of Two Truths.[9] One of his most popular representations is of him, with the body of a man and the head of a jackal with pointed ears, standing or kneeling, holding a gold scale while a heart of the soul is being weighed against Ma'at's white truth feather.[8]

Jackal head of Anubis in (KV35) the tomb of Amenophis II, Valley of the Kings.

In the early dynastic period, he was depicted in animal form, as a black canine.[40] Anubis's distinctive black color did not represent the animal, rather it had several symbolic meanings.[41] It represented "the discolouration of the corpse after its treatment with natron and the smearing of the wrappings with a resinous substance during mummification."[41] Being the color of the fertile silt of the River Nile, to Egyptians, black also symbolized fertility and the possibility of rebirth in the afterlife.[42] In the Middle Kingdom, Anubis was often portrayed as a man with the head of a jackal.[43] The African jackal was the species depicted and the template of numerous Ancient Egyptian deities, including Anubis.[44] An extremely rare depiction of him in fully human form was found in a chapel of Ramesses II in Abydos.[41][7]

Anubis is often depicted wearing a ribbon and holding a nḫ3ḫ3 "flail" in the crook of his arm.[43] Another of Anubis's attributes was the jmy-wt or imiut fetish, named for his role in embalming.[45] In funerary contexts, Anubis is shown either attending to a deceased person's mummy or sitting atop a tomb protecting it. New Kingdom tomb-seals also depict Anubis sitting atop the nine bows that symbolize his domination over the enemies of Egypt.[46]

  • Statue of Anubis
    Statue of Anubis
  • Wall relief of Anubis in (KV17) the tomb of Seti I, 19th Dynasty, Valley of the Kings
    Wall relief of Anubis in (KV17) the tomb of Seti I, 19th Dynasty, Valley of the Kings
  • Fresco of a mummy lying on a bier. Women stand at the head and foot of the bier, while a winged woman kneels in the register above
    Isis, left, and Nephthys stand by as Anubis embalms the deceased, 13th century BC
  • Anubis receiving offerings, hieroglyph name in third column from left, 14th century BC; painted limestone; from Saqqara (Egypt)
    Anubis receiving offerings, hieroglyph name in third column from left, 14th century BC; painted limestone; from Saqqara (Egypt)
  • The Anubis Shrine; 1336–1327 BC; painted wood and gold; 1.1 × 2.7 × 0.52 m; from the Valley of the Kings; Egyptian Museum (Cairo)
    The Anubis Shrine; 1336–1327 BC; painted wood and gold; 1.1 × 2.7 × 0.52 m; from the Valley of the Kings; Egyptian Museum (Cairo)
  • Statue of Hermanubis, c. 100–138 AD, from Rome
    Statue of Hermanubis, c. 100–138 AD, from Rome[47]
  • Anubis, Harpocrates, Isis and Serapis, antique fresco in Pompeii, Italy
    Anubis, Harpocrates, Isis and Serapis, antique fresco in Pompeii, Italy
  • Stela of Siamun and Taruy worshipping Anubis
    Stela of Siamun and Taruy worshipping Anubis
  • Lintel of Amenemhat I and deities; 1981–1952 BC; painted limestone; 36.8 × 172 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
    Lintel of Amenemhat I and deities; 1981–1952 BC; painted limestone; 36.8 × 172 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York City)
  • The king with Anubis, from the tomb of Horemheb; 1323-1295 BC; tempera on paper; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    The king with Anubis, from the tomb of Horemheb; 1323-1295 BC; tempera on paper; Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Anubis amulet; 664–30 BC; faience; height: 4.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Anubis amulet; 664–30 BC; faience; height: 4.7 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Recumbent Anubis; 664–30 BC; limestone, originally painted black; height: 38.1 cm, length: 64 cm, width: 16.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Recumbent Anubis; 664–30 BC; limestone, originally painted black; height: 38.1 cm, length: 64 cm, width: 16.5 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Statuette of Anubis; 332–30 BC; plastered and painted wood; 42.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art
    Statuette of Anubis; 332–30 BC; plastered and painted wood; 42.3 cm; Metropolitan Museum of Art

Worship

Although he does not appear in many myths, he was extremely popular with Egyptians and those of other cultures.[8] The Greeks linked him to their god Hermes, the god who guided the dead to the afterlife. The pairing was later known as Hermanubis. Anubis was heavily worshipped because, despite modern beliefs, he gave the people hope. People marveled in the guarantee that their body would be respected at death, their soul would be protected and justly judged.[8]

Anubis had male priests who sported wood masks with the god's likeness when performing rituals.[8][9] His cult center was at Cynopolis in Upper Egypt but memorials were built everywhere and he was universally revered in every part of the nation.[8]

In popular and media culture, Anubis is often falsely portrayed as the sinister god of the dead. He gained popularity during the 20th and 21st centuries through books, video games, and movies where artists would give him evil powers and a dangerous army. Despite his nefarious reputation, his image is still the most recognizable of the Egyptian gods and replicas of his statues and paintings remain popular.

See also

Notes
The African golden jackal was depicted as Anubis
  1. The wild canine species in Egypt, long thought to have been a geographical variant of the golden jackal in older texts, was reclassified in 2015 as a separate species known as the African wolf, which was found to be more closely related to wolves and coyotes than to the jackal.[10] Nevertheless, ancient Greek texts about Anubis constantly refer to the deity as having a dog's head, not a jackal or wolf's, and there is still uncertainty as to what canid represents Anubis. Therefore the Name and History section uses the names the original sources used but in quotation marks.

References
  1. Lévai, Jessica (2007). Aspects of the Goddess Nephthys, Especially During the Graeco-Roman Period in Egypt. UMI.
  2. Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition. Merriam-Webster, 2007. p. 56
  3. Turner, Alice K. (1993). The History of Hell (1st ed.). United States: Harcourt Brace. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-15-140934-1.
  4. Johnston 2004, p. 579.
  5. Gryglewski 2002, p. 145.
  6. Coulter & Turner 2000, p. 58.
  7. "Gods and Religion in Ancient Egypt – Anubis". Archived from the original on 27 December 2002. Retrieved 23 June 2012.
  8. "Anubis". World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18 November 2018.
  9. "Anubis". Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  10. Koepfli, Klaus-Peter; Pollinger, John; Godinho, Raquel; Robinson, Jacqueline; Lea, Amanda; Hendricks, Sarah; Schweizer, Rena M.; Thalmann, Olaf; Silva, Pedro; Fan, Zhenxin; Yurchenko, Andrey A.; Dobrynin, Pavel; Makunin, Alexey; Cahill, James A.; Shapiro, Beth; Álvares, Francisco; Brito, José C.; Geffen, Eli; Leonard, Jennifer A.; Helgen, Kristofer M.; Johnson, Warren E.; o'Brien, Stephen J.; Van Valkenburgh, Blaire; Wayne, Robert K. (2015). "Genome-wide Evidence Reveals that African and Eurasian Golden Jackals Are Distinct Species". Current Biology. 25 (#16): 2158–65. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2015.06.060. PMID 26234211.
  11. Leprohon 1990, p. 164, citing Fischer 1968, p. 84 and Lapp 1986, pp. 8–9.
  12. Conder 1894, p. 85.
  13. "CDLI-Archival View". cdli.ucla.edu. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
  14. Wilkinson 1999, p. 262.
  15. Wilkinson 1999, pp. 280–81.
  16. Wilkinson 1999, p. 262 (burials in shallow graves in Predynastic Egypt); Freeman 1997, p. 91 (rest of the information).
  17. Wilkinson 1999, p. 262 ("fighting like with like" and "by jackals and other wild dogs").
  18. Freeman 1997, p. 91.
  19. Riggs 2005, pp. 166–67.
  20. Hart 1986, p. 25.
  21. Hart 1986, p. 26.
  22. Gryglewski 2002, p. 146.
  23. Peacock 2000, pp. 437–38 (Hellenistic kingdom).
  24. "Hermanubis | English | Dictionary & Translation by Babylon". Babylon.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  25. Riggs 2005, p. 166.
  26. Hoerber 1963, p. 269 (for Cerberus and Hades).
  27. E.g., Gorgias, 482b (Blackwood, Crossett & Long 1962, p. 318), or The Republic, 399e, 567e, 592a (Hoerber 1963, p. 268).
  28. Hart 1986, pp. 23–24; Wilkinson 2003, pp. 188–90.
  29. Vischak, Deborah (27 October 2014). Community and Identity in Ancient Egypt: The Old Kingdom Cemetery at Qubbet el-Hawa. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107027602.
  30. Hart 1986, p. 23.
  31. Armour 2001.
  32. Zandee 1960, p. 255.
  33. "The Gods of Ancient Egypt – Anubis". touregypt.net. Retrieved 29 June 2014.
  34. Kinsley 1989, p. 178; Riggs 2005, p. 166 ("The motif of Anubis, or less frequently Hathor, leading the deceased to the afterlife was well-established in Egyptian art and thought by the end of the pharaonic era.").
  35. Riggs 2005, pp. 127 and 166.
  36. Riggs 2005, pp. 127–28 and 166–67.
  37. Faulkner, Andrews & Wasserman 2008, p. 155.
  38. "Museum Explorer / Death in Ancient Egypt – Weighing the heart". British Museum. Retrieved 23 June 2014.
  39. "Gods of Ancient Egypt: Anubis". Britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  40. Wilkinson 1999, p. 263.
  41. Hart 1986, p. 22.
  42. Hart 1986, p. 22; Freeman 1997, p. 91.
  43. "Ancient Egypt: the Mythology – Anubis". Egyptianmyths.net. Retrieved 15 June 2012.
  44. Remler, P. (2010). Egyptian Mythology, A to Z. Infobase Publishing. p. 99. ISBN 978-1438131801.
  45. Wilkinson 1999, p. 281.
  46. Wilkinson 2003, pp. 188–90.
  47. Campbell, Price (2018). Ancient Egypt - Pocket Museum. Thames & Hudson. p. 266. ISBN 978-0-500-51984-4.

Bibliography

Further reading
  • Duquesne, Terence (2005). The Jackal Divinities of Egypt I. Darengo Publications. ISBN 978-1-871266-24-5.
  • El-Sadeek, Wafaa; Abdel Razek, Sabah (2007). Anubis, Upwawet, and Other Deities: Personal Worship and Official Religion in Ancient Egypt. American University in Cairo Press. ISBN 978-977-437-231-5.
  • Grenier, J.-C. (1977). Anubis alexandrin et romain (in French). E. J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-04917-8.
  • Media related to Anubis at Wikimedia Commons
  • The dictionary definition of Anubis at Wiktionary
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