Anubis - The Jackal headed God of Dead in Egyptian Mythology
Anubis dog headed god of the dead
thy clawed hands stripped blood red
taken souls to the wain scale
Watching closely as some win some fail
Those are the light to paradise they proceed
Those are the heavy to emit you feed
The feather of my heart is too light to defy
What is in the soul and to justify
So from that day forth your claws were blood red
For every human soul you sever from the mummied dead
Anubis hear my plea I beseech thae my soul is pure and will weigh lightly
Tarnish should not with your claws of red
But place it with care in the place of heavenly dead
Anubis or Inpu, Anpu in Ancient Egyptian is the god of death, mummification, embalming, the afterlife, cemeteries, tombs, and the Underworld, in ancient Egyptian religion, usually depicted as a canine or a man with a canine head. Archeologists have identified Anubis's sacred animal as an Egyptian canid, the African golden wolf. Like many ancient Egyptian deities, Anubis assumed different roles in various contexts. Depicted as a protector of graves as early as the First Dynasty, Anubis was also an embalmer. By the Middle Kingdom 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. According to the Egyptian mythology after recovering the pieces of Osiris's body along with isis's help, anubis mummified Osiris's body creating the first mummy.
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| Mummification of Osiris by Anubis |
Roles
Protector of tombs
In contrast to real wolves, Anubis was a protector of graves and cemeteries. Several epithets attached to his name in Egyptian texts and inscriptions referred to that role. Khenty-imentiu, 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
According to the ancient texts Anubis protected the mummified 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. 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.
Embalmer
As jmy-wt "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.
Weighing of the heart
One of the roles of Anubis was as the "Guardian of the Scales." 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. By weighing the heart of a deceased person against Ma'at (or "truth"), 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.
Worship
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.
Anubis had male priests who sported wood masks with the god's likeness when performing rituals. His cult center was at Cynopolis in Upper Egypt but memorials were built everywhere and he was universally revered in every part of the land.
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