Anubis god of death
Anubis is the nomenclature that this deity receives in Greek since in ancient Egyptian, his name was Inpu. He is related not only to death but also to life in the afterlife, and he has played several roles, although the most outstanding is that of protector of tombs and cemeteries. Most of the ancient tombs contained prayers dedicated to Anubis on their tombstones.
Another of his functions was to accompany the souls that had just died on that threshold to the underworld and guide them to the presence of Osiris. There, the court over which he presided would judge them for their deeds done on Earth.
Anubis god of death
Anubis is represented with the body of a man and the head of a jackal. This canine form is because these animals of scavenger profile were the ones that roamed the cemeteries in search of the deceased to be dug up to eat their remains. The fact that their color is black is related to the putrefaction of the bodies and the tone of the fertile earth, a symbol of fertility.
Anubis as the protector of the dead
The jackal-headed god Anubis was associated with death from the earliest days of Egyptian culture. Made in the form of wild wolves that scavenged fresh burials, he was thought to be the best protection from the forces that threatened the dead.
Anubis’ earliest form was as a protector of tombs and an important figure in the pantheon of the underworld. However, as the cult of Osiris gained power, the role of Anubis changed.
Osiris became king of the underworld and Anubis was recast as the god, possibly his son, who helped him along the way. He preserved and protected the body so that Osiris could safely reach the afterlife, becoming the patron of embalmers and the creator of mummification.
As Anubis continued his protective role, his work became more tangible. The embalmers who prepared the dead of Egypt saw him as their ancestor, and tombs bore inscriptions praying to Anubis to watch over the bodies within.
By the Greek era, the god’s role had expanded to that of a psychopomp. He escorted souls through the gate between life and death and weighed their hearts to determine who was worthy of moving on.
Anubis god of the underworld
The truth is that Anubis is related to everything that has to do with the dead, and this includes the embalming process. Therefore, this Egyptian god became the patron of embalmers, a very common technique in ancient Egypt for the conversation of the body of the deceased. Thus, Anubis became associated with mummification.
But this is not the end of the work of this god. To all this, we must add the function of the weigher of hearts, that is, the measurement that determined whether a person was worthy or not to enter the realm of the dead. How did he decide? Those souls that weighed more than a feather would be banished and devoured by Ammit, while those who were lighter would enter directly into paradise. Undoubtedly, the power and importance of Anubis for ancient civilizations was very prominent
