Anubis is the god of the dead. He was usually represented as a man with the head of a jackal, but also as a crouching jackal, and was therefore referred to as the 'jackal god'. He is regarded as the son of Osiris and Nephthys, or the son of Re and Nephthys. Anubis was worshipped in the entire realm, but the center of his cult was in Cynopolis (Upper Egypt). In his role of psychopomp ("conductor of souls") he leads the souls of the deceased to the House of Osiris. As the Judge of the Dead, Anubis would take each person's heart and weigh it against the Feather of Truth (see: Ammit).
Also known as Anpu and Sekhem em Pet. He was the messenger from the gods to humankind. Usually pictured with the head of a jackal. Anubis invented embalming and funeral rites. He was the protector of the dead and judge of the dead ... god of the Underworld. He and Maat weighed human souls for worth. God of wisdom, intelligence, death, endings, truth, justice, surgery, hospital stays, finding lost things, anesthetics, medicine, journeys, protection, and astral travel.
Anubis' name in hieroglyphs.
� 1998
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