Anubis

“Oh jackal Anubis!
Show me the road through darkness.
I have passed through this door into nothing.
Nothing grows and nothing dies; all that was and would be is.
This life is a singular breath and your passive eye is time.
The ankh in your one hand, the knife in the other.
In dark corridors we pass, a pair of jackals black as the night around us.
We are beastly forms made beautiful by moonlight, beheld by the gods.
Together we are twilight and dawn.
I am the left eye and he is the right.
We behold the things the gods have made, down a road few men have walked." - Hymn to Anubis

The worship of Anubis as a god of the dead is older even than that of Osiris. Prayers to Anubis have been found carved on the most ancient tombs in Egypt. In fact, judging by the images of jackals found on predynastic tombs, Anubis may even be the very first god the Egyptians worshiped.

In numerous texts from as early as the Old Kingdom, Anubis is asked to ensure a good burial and many offerings. His figure was carved on tomb entrances to warn off grave robbers, and amulets of Anubis were buried with the dead with the formula "Anubis for you and your protection!"

Anubis was the guardian of the dead, who greeted the souls in the underworld and protected them on their journey. A hymn states that "Anubis knows the roads to the beautiful West." Ancient Egyptian texts say that Anubis silently walked through shadows, watchful by day as well as by night, and guarded “the good and pure places.”

The awakening of the dead was thought to be a function of Anubis - he would appear by the mummy, and awaken the soul by preforming the Opening of the Mouth ritual. In the wall decorations of tombs Anubis is generally depicted placing his hands on the chest of the deceased to warm the heart back to life. He also weighed the heart of the dead against the feather symbol of Ma’at, the goddess of truth. One of his tiles was Ip-Ibw (“He Who Counts the Hearts.”) A hymn says “Anubis claims hearts, he has power over hearts . . .”

According to the Book of the Dead, Anubis was believed to have invented mummification, and it was Anubis himself who embalmed the dead body of Osiris. High priests wore an Anubis mask to perform the ceremonial deeds of Anubis, the Embalmer. The preliminary stages of mummification involved the opening - the violation - of the body, an action that only Anubis himself would have been allowed to perform. The priest who took on this role was called Hery-Seshta ("Overseer of the Mysteries.") It was thought that he would be magically become the funerary god himself and so be able to legitimately cut open the corpse for the mummification process. Priests also wore an Anubis mask to collect fees for funerals and offerings to the dead. The priests who planned funerals were known as the "Men of Anubis."

One of the reasons that the ancient Egyptians took such care to preserve their dead with sweet-smelling herbs was that it was believed Anubis would check each person with his keen canine nose. Only if they smelled pure would he allow them to enter the afterlife. If the deceased passed the sniff test, Anubis says: “A man comes from Egypt [the deceased] and declares he knows our road and our city, and I agree. I smell his odor as that of one of you ,” playing on the canine power of scent.

When the Legend of Osiris and Isis emerged, Anubis was thought of as having searched out the parts of the dismembered Osiris through his sense of smell, which also enabled him to penetrate all of the deceptive forms assumed by Set in his attempts to desecrate Osiris' body. Anubis could also sniff out lies - lying was considered to be “an abomination unto Anubis” and texts warn that the sins of the heart when it was weighed could not be hidden from Anubis.

It was said that when Osiris died, Osiris' internal organs were given to Anubis as a gift. Anubis assumes the role of “Son of Osiris,” and the responsibility for the proper embalming and entombment of the deceased. In the Coffin Texts it says: “Anubis hath descended from the sky to put thee in order, and to protect thee.”

Sometimes the deceased king was thought to change into a jackal form in order to journey through the underworld - the pharaoh was said to enter his pyramid "like Anubis on his belly" and use the jackal's senses and speed in order to safely navigate the way to the afterlife. A hymn says: “Anubis, who is upon his hill, hath set thee in order, and he hath fastened for thee thy swathings, thy throat is the throat of Anubis and thy face is like that of Anubis. Thy feet and arms are those of a jackal, and thee stands and sits as Anubis.”

Anubis was thought to be the son of Nephthys and Osiris, and was later adopted by Isis. Sometimes he was considered to be the son of Ra. One text states that Wadjet is Anubis' wife. On rare occasions Anubis' mother-wife was thought to be Bast.