Anubis
The jackal god of embalming and the dead — guide of souls, guardian of the necropolis, and lord of the sacred bandages.
Overview
Anubis (Egyptian: Inpw, “Anpu”; Greek: Ἄνουβις) was the jackal-headed god of embalming, mummification, and the passage of the dead into the afterlife. Before the rise of Osiris as lord of the dead, Anubis was the supreme funerary deity of Egypt — a role he retained in practice even as Osiris assumed theological precedence. Every mummy was prepared under Anubis’s protection; every funeral invoked his name.[1]
Anubis was “He Who Is in the Place of Embalming” (Imy-wt), “Lord of the Sacred Land” (Nb-tꜣ-ḏsr), and “He Who Is upon His Mountain” (Tpy-ḏw.f) — the guardian who watched over the western desert where the dead were buried.[1]
Iconography
- Jackal-headed man — The canonical form: a man with the head of a black jackal (or wild dog), wearing the nemes headdress or white linen wrappings
- Black recumbent jackal — Anubis in fully animal form, lying atop a shrine (prt)
- The black color does not represent the animal’s natural coat but symbolizes decay, the fertile black Nile mud, and regeneration — connecting death to rebirth[1]
The choice of the jackal was apotropaic: wild canids were observed scavenging at cemetery edges. By deifying the scavenger as the protector of the dead, Egyptians neutralized the threat through theological inversion.[1]
The Weighing of the Heart
Anubis’s most famous role is as the conductor of the Weighing of the Heart ceremony, depicted in Chapter 125 of the Book of the Dead. In the Hall of Two Truths (Mꜣꜥty):[2]
- Anubis leads the deceased into the hall
- He places the deceased’s heart (ib) on one pan of a great balance
- The feather of Ma’at (truth/order) is placed on the other
- Anubis adjusts the plumb bob, ensuring an honest measurement
- Thoth records the result
- If the heart balances — the deceased is declared mꜣꜥ-ḫrw (“true of voice”) and admitted to the afterlife
- If the heart is heavy with sin — it is devoured by Ammit (“the Gobbler”), a chimera of crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus[2]
This scene appears in virtually every illustrated Book of the Dead and is one of the most reproduced images from ancient Egypt.[2]
Anubis and Embalming
The embalming ritual was performed by priests wearing jackal masks, impersonating Anubis. The Ritual of Embalming (Papyrus Boulaq 3, c. 1st century CE) describes the 70-day procedure in Anubis’s name:
- Removal of internal organs → stored in canopic jars (Anubis-headed lids in some periods)
- Desiccation with natron (35–40 days)
- Anointing with resins and oils
- Wrapping in linen bandages with protective amulets
- The Opening of the Mouth ceremony — restoring the senses of the deceased
The chief embalmer bore the title “Overseer of the Mysteries” (ḥry-sštꜣ) and was ritually identified with Anubis throughout the procedure.
Parentage and Mythology
Anubis’s parentage varies by source:
- Pyramid Texts — Son of Ra (or of the cow Hesat)
- Coffin Texts / Later tradition — Son of Osiris and Nephthys (conceived through a deception or mistake, making him Osiris’s illegitimate son)
- In the Osiris myth, Anubis assists Isis in reassembling and embalming Osiris’s body — the first mummification, establishing the model for all subsequent practice
Cult Centers
- Cynopolis (Ḥwt-Inpw, “Estate of Anubis”) — The primary cult center in Upper Egypt (modern el-Qeis)
- Anubis had no great temples comparable to Karnak; his worship was distributed across every necropolis in Egypt
- The Valley of the Kings — Theban tomb paintings show Anubis prominently
- Anubeion at Saqqara — A major dog/jackal cemetery with associated cult buildings
Greek Interpretation
The Greeks identified Anubis with Hermes Psychopompos (Hermes guide of souls), producing the syncretic deity Hermanubis — depicted as a figure with Anubis’s jackal head carrying Hermes’s kerykeion (caduceus). Plutarch, De Iside §44, explicitly makes this identification.
Primary Sources
- Pyramid Texts (c. 2400 BCE) — Anubis as funerary protector
- Book of the Dead Chapter 125 — Weighing of the Heart
- Ritual of Embalming (P. Boulaq 3) — Mummification procedures
- Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride §§ 14, 44 — Greek interpretation
See also: Thoth · The Osiris Myth · Egyptian Pantheon · Isis