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W832Anubis

Anubis is the logo of the Egypt Centre because, in Egyptian mythology he brought the dead back to life. In the Egypt Centre we hope (metephorically) to do the same.

It is often difficult to tell whether representations of dog or jackal headed gods are Anubis, Seth, Wepwawet or Duamutef. Statues like that above are usually assumed to represent Anubis. 

Jackals, are animals who frequent the areas between civilization and the desert, and were thus perhaps considered animals of areas between worlds, between life and death for example. Therefore gods such as Anubis and Wepwawet, who were considered liminal would be depicted in jackal form. Anubis, the jackal god depicted here, led the dead from one world to another and was also the god of the first mummification. 

Wooden statues of recumbent Anubis jackals or dogs were sometimes put among New Kingdom funerary furnishings for example in the tombs of Tutankhamun and Horemheb. The most famous is perhaps the Anubis on a shrine in the tomb of Tutankhamun. They are also occassionally put on shabti boxes and canopic boxes. Jackals of the god Duamutef are known from non-royal burials where they are put on the lid of a canopic chests. From the 8th century BC, wooden jackals were often placed on vaulted tops of rectangular outer coffins and a large number survive from Thebes.  

According to legend Anubis was the son of Nephthys and Osiris and practised his embalming skills for the first time on his father. It is likely that embalmers wore animal headed masks, at least in the more public aspects of their work. 

Titles of Anubis 

The title tepy-dju-ef (‘he who is upon his mountain’) presents him as god keeping watch over the necropolis from a vantage point. 

Anubis is frequently cited as he who is in wt or town on many funerary stela and also in the Book of the Dead. It has been suggested that this refers to his Oasis as that is where jackals retreat to when in the desert. 

Anubis is also given the title nb tA dsr, ‘lord of the sacred land’. This was associated with burial places. Other funerary gods such as Hathor, were referred to as ‘lords of the sacred land’.  

Further Reading 

Kwiatkowski, K. 2011. Zoomorficzne figurki Anubisa (Anubis Zoomorphic Figurines), Folia Praehistorica Posnaniensia, XVI, 2011, 135-154. 

Items associated with Anubis in the Egypt Centre:

Anubis as ‘he who is over his scales’

Anubis described on a coffin lid as ‘Lord of the sacred land’

Anubis or Wepwawet as ‘Opener of the Way’

W832 Anubis statue from a coffin

W922 and W923 Anubis or Wepwawet depicted with the key to Hades

W1041 Stela showing Anubis in several forms, including a depiction of Anubis with a mummy

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