Anubis Underworld
~§~ Reality Vs. Myth ~§~
~§~ Anubis is portrayed as a man with the head of a jackal holding the divine scepter carried by kings and gods;
or as simply a jackal or as a dog accompanying Isis.
His symbol is a black and white ox-hide splattered with blood and hanging from a pole.
Other symbols associated with him are embalming equipment, flails, and flags.
Anubis was also known as Khenty- Imentiu - "chief of the westerners" -
a reference to the Egyptian belief that the realm of the dead lay to the west in association
with the setting sun, and to their custom of building cemeteries on the west bank of the Nile.
~§~ One of the main areas for the worship of Anubis was the Seventeenth
Nome of Upper Egypt, the capital of which the Greeks named Cynopolis, the 'city of the dogs'.
His cult center in Egypt was located in that city, also called Heliopolis.
~§~ The god of embalming is probably associated with the Jackal due to the habits of the jackals to lurk about tombs and graves.
This is the reason why most of the tombs were very well built to protect the body as a whole from the jackals lurking presence, and to protect the body natural decay inside the tomb.
The jackal was also associated with human intelligence.
The black colouring you often see of Anubis is not the natural colour of the animal but a
symbolic black, perhaps representing rebirth, or possibly recalling the colour assumed by
the skin following treatment with natron and the other resins during the process of mummification.
~§~ Anubis was also the keeper of poisons and medicines.
He provided unguents and rare herbs to help Isis and Nephthys with the embalming of Osiris.
Anubis then performed the funeral of Osiris, which would be the model for all funerals to come.
~§~ In the sky, he is represented by the constellation of Canis Major, the Great Dog, which lies near the constellation of his father,
Osiris (Orion). The brightest star in Canis Major (indeed, the brightest star in all the heavens) is Sirius , which in its supreme
brightness, represents his step-mother, and figurative mother, Isis.
~§~ The ancient Egyptians regarded the mountains to the west as the territory of the dead and
often brought out sacrificial pots to honor their dead in the desert outside of the mountains.
But only Anubis could go any further than that to lead the dead to the hall of judgment.
~§~ In the Book of the Dead Anubis plays some very prominent parts, the most important of all being those which are connected with the judgment.
After a person's death, it was Anubis' job to lead them across the desert to the west and into the Hall of Judgment and then further into the Paradise of Osiris.
~§~ Anubis works with Lady Ma'at with the judging scales of the deceased heart being judged
by Ma'at's feather of truth and cosmic order.
For Anubis will take the deceased to the scales, and the spirit of the deceased does see their
heart being weighed. And then once being weighed and judged by Ma'at's truth.
A passage from the Book of the Dead reads:
"If your heart is free of lies and sin from your life, then it is light and you may pass
onto the afterlife. If it is heavy with guilt and sin, then it will be fed to Ammit,
the devourer where it will be gone forever, never to pass through to the afterlife."
It was Anubis' job to watch the scale and make sure the balance is perfect.
Then the deceased stood before each of the 42 assembled gods, or Netjeru,
and to each in turn he denied that he had committed any of the 42 sins.
Instructions for the soul on the correct way to present this negative confession were painted on
the inside of the tomb and form Chapter 125 of The Book of the Dead.
The god of knowledge, Thoth, records the
results. Once approved Anubis then escorts the deceased to their destination.
However, for those who failed the judgement, punishment was severe. Outside the
hall of judgement Ammit, or Beby 'the destroyer' lay waiting to consume them.
Beby was a composite creature with the head of a crocodile, the body of a lion
and the rear of a hippopotamus.
© 2000 Raven Corvus.
Reality vs. Myth 