Anubis

Anubis, in Egyptian mythology, god of the dead and of embalming. Anubis was generally considered to be the son of Osiris and Isis. In some legends, however, he is described as the offspring of an adulterous relationship between Osiris and Nephthys, the sister of Isis. Unwanted, he was abandoned by Nephthys and raised by his aunt Isis.

According to legend Anubis helped Isis resuscitate the god Osiris after Osiris had been killed by his evil brother Set. Anubis is considered the inventor of embalming, having first practiced it on Osiris. As a result Anubis became the god of all the rituals associated with the mummification of dead bodies (see Mummy). Additionally he was guardian of tombs and thus played a role of primary importance within the kingdom of the dead. As a judge of the souls of the dead, he weighed the heart of the dead against the feather of truth. Too many bad deeds were thought to weigh down the heart and indicate the soul’s unworthiness. During the Middle Kingdom, which began around 2100 bc, Anubis lost his position as god of the dead to Osiris.

In art Anubis is represented with the black head of a jackal, an animal known to scavenge at cemeteries. As a funerary divinity, Anubis is appealed to in texts engraved on the walls of very early tomb structures known as mastabas. A temple is dedicated to Anubis at the funerary temple built by Queen Hatshepsut near Thebes, Egypt. During the Greek and Roman occupation of Egypt, Anubis was sometimes identified with the Greek god Hermes, under the name Hermanubis.