Anubis - Anpu

Who was Anubis?

One of the oldest in Egyptian history gods of death –Anubis, later became assistant of Osiris in the under world.

Depiction ~

You`ll see often his image on temples with body of man and black head of Jackal or dog. Normally jackals don’t have black skin, but in this case black was symbol of death, protection and under world.

Other names: he was know in Ancient society with names Inpu, Anpu, Anup, Imiut – Lord of the Place of embalming.

Functions of Anubis ~ As Egyptians believed in the travel of soul to Duat – afterlife – the role of Anubis was one of higher importance. He was protecting the souls of their way to underworld, greeting them and was guardian of the Scales of justice. He had power over the faith of the souls and where will be their further journey, according to their earthly deeds. With help of Maat and her feather of Truth, he weight the heart of the souls on one scale against Maat`s feather on another. Bad fate expected those, whose heart was heavier than feather of Turht, as they were eaten by the ancient female demon –Ammit. Souls with pure hearts were allowed to enter the world of Osiris, or heaven of gods.

Other important role of Anubis was mummification of dead bodies. He was observing the ceremony of body mummification, together with his daughter Kebechet, took part in the ritual of “mouth opening”. He became famous as embalming of dead, after his help in wrapping the dead body of Osiris in linen.

Family ~

Anubis was mostly known as son of Osiris and Nephtys (sister of Isis, who looked very similar to her). Nephtis was goddess of darkness. Other version claims that Anubis was son of Seth (god of darkness, evil and destruction) and Nephtys. The wife of Anubis not surprisingly has the same features as him – jackal head, but body of woman, her name is Anput. Their daughter – Kebechet – is goddess of purification. His brother was Horus (son of Osiris and Isis)

Temples ~

As we can see, he was worshiped everywhere across Egypt, with special locations of cemeteries, depicted with statues of jackal. But his main city of worship was called “Cynopolis” or city of dog. Statue of Anubis was often put above the tomb, as sign of sealing it and protecting the dead.

Interesting fact: priests, who made embalming on the dead worse masks of jackal.

His symbols are: Imiut fetish, flail, ankh, crook and “was” scepter, jackal head. Many sacred ceremonies and magical spells for the passing to Underworld ae found in the “Book of dead”, where the main guide is Anubis. All tombs in Ancient Egypt were carved with prayers to Anubis. Even his mother was Nephtys, she left him and he was found and raised by Isis.

Magical symbols ~

Crystal – Obsidian

Color – black

Number – three

Scent – musk

Animal – Jackal

Flower – white poppy

Tree – yew tree

Herb – savory

Food – apple

Invocation ~ Oh Anubis, master of the underworld (Duat), weigh on your scale my soul in the day of my departure, make me purified from sin. 

Anubis protecting the pharaoh 

 Anubis in underworld with Crook 

 Anubis with food gifts for afterlife - Hatshepsut temple 

[ nina Lea-noura* ]

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