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Anubis, is the Greek name for the ancient god in
Egyptian mythology whose hieroglyphic is more accurately spelt
Anpu (also Anup, Anupu, Wip, Ienpw, Inepu, Yinepu, or Inpw). Prayers to Anubis
have been found carved on the
most ancient tombs in Egypt.
Dogs and jackals often loitered at the edges of the desert, especially near
the cemeteries where the dead were buried, in fact, it is thought that the
Egyptians began the practice of making elaborate graves and tombs to protect
the dead from desecration by jackals. In consequence, Anubis was usually
thought of as a jackal. Thus, ancient Egyptian texts say that Anubis, like a
jackal, silently walked through the shadows of life and death and lurked in
dark places, watchful by day as well as by night.
In art, he was usually depicted as a man with the head of a jackal, and alert
ears, often wearing a ribbon, and wielding a whip. On very rare occasions,
Anubis was shown fully human, or slightly more frequently as fully jackal.
However, Anubis was also depicted as black, rather than brown, the colour of
jackals, since black was the colour that the body turned as a result of
mummification.
As king of the underworld, he was also considered to be the one who weighed
the heart of the dead against the feather of Ma'at (the concept of truth),
gaining him the title He who counts the hearts. One of the reasons that the
ancient Egyptians took such care to preserve their dead with sweet-smelling
herbs was that it became believed Anubis would check each person with his keen
canine nose. Only if they smelled pure would he allow them
to enter the Kingdom of the Dead.
Source:
Wikipedia.org
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