Anubis

The Egyptian jackal god ANUBIS wants to travel far and wide, exploring this strange temporary realm of physical beings. Take him anywhere that feels appropriate.

Anubis (Inpew, Yinepu, Anpu) is the ancient Egyptian god of the underworld who guided and protected the spirits of the dead.

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The worship of Anubis is ancient - probably even older than the worship of Osiris. In the pyramid texts of Unas, his role was already very clear - he was associated with the Eye of Horus and he was already thought to be the guide of the dead in the afterlife, showing them the way to Osiris.

Anubis was generally depicted as a black jackal-headed man, or as a black jackal. The Egyptians would have noticed the jackals prowling around their graveyards, and so the link between this animal and the dead was formed in their minds. (It has been noticed by some archeologists that the best guides to Egyptian tombs are the jackal-trails.) Anubis was painted black to further link him with the deceased -- a body that had been embalmed became a pitch black color. Black was also the color of fertility, and thus was linked to death and rebirth in the afterlife. Anubis was also seen as the deity of embalming, as well as a god of the dead. To the Egyptians, Anubis was the protector of embalmers and guardian of both the mummy and the necropolis.

Anubis was often identified by the word sab, 'jackal' rather than 'dog' (iwiw). To the Egyptians there was not a great deal of difference between the two types of canines, so there is some confusion over which animal Anubis actually was. The figure is sometimes referred to as the 'Anubis animal' as it is unknown which exact species of canine that Anubis actually was based on.