Ancient Egyptian Gods Gallery
By Barbara Waterson
Last updated 2011-02-17
Anubis
Anubis was embodied in the jackal, or wild dog, that the Egyptians often saw scavenging in cemeteries: hence he was associated with the dead. He was depicted as a black jackal-like creature, or as a man with a jackal's head.
Early on in Egyptian history, before Osiris rose to prominence, Anubis was the great funerary god, lord and guardian of the necropolis. Prayers for the dead were addressed to him. He carried out the first mummification of the body of Osiris, and therefore became patron-god of embalmers. It was Anubis who guided the dead on the paths of the Underworld.
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