Why Is Anubis Important

Anubis’s (often referred to as Anpu or Inpu) role in Ancient Egyptian History was important and influential, he played a major part in the pantheon of Egyptian civilisation. Anubis is always represented as a dog or jackal with a man's body. Anubis is the god of mummification and the protector of the underworld. In ‘The Book of The Dead’ (The Egyptians main text they followed) Anubis is referred to, through the statements of him weighing the hearts of a person to determine whether they would proceed to the underworld. He was very closely associated with the process of burial. The priest that performed the rituals on the dead would wear a Jackal mask to represent the presence of Anubis.

Amongst many other ancient egyptian celebrations, was

The monument being Anubis would also be used to ‘pray’ to the god for good and fair judgement on their ‘judgment

The priest that dressed as Anubis would do this process, symbolising Anubis doing the deed himself, when one of the helpers of the priest cut the deceased to drain the body of blood, he would have to run out of the embalming room whilst having stones thrown at it because Anubis could only ‘violate’ the human body. It was believed by the egyptians that Anubis himself created mummification and its process, so they would follow Anubis’s ‘creation’ very closely with the way it was believed Anubis did it himself. It was believed that Anubis helped Isis (the goddess of magic, marriage, healing and protection) bring her husband (Osiris another ancient egyptian god, god of the underworld) back to life after Set (the god of chaos) killed him. This is why the ancient egyptians believed to follow his process step by step so he could greet the body in the next life. A mass grave was found containing 8 million mummified dogs, they were found in the catacombs of Anubis’s sacred temple. The people who laid the dogs there to pass into the afterlife were most likely a part of the ‘Cult of Anubis’. The dogs were not sacrificial animals but were placed in the ‘tomb’ when they passed, and were offered to Anubis as a peace offering. An offering of the canine companion of the dead, so hopefully they could join their mattress in the afterlife. Anubis was