ANUBIS (Egyptian Inp.w, "Jackal"). - He is the jackal, often confused with the warlike wolf of Asyut, which the Greeks believed to be a dog, whence the name of Kynopolis given to the city of Kase (present-day el-Qeis) sacred to his cult, metropolis of the 17th nome. He is depicted lying down in an attitude of rest. The god is also worshipped in Heliopolis and in Asyut; at Rifa he bears the title of "lord of the opening of the cave." He is the god of the dead; the Greeks assimilated him to Hermes Psychopompos and he bore the name of Hermanubis. He was placed in charge of certain necropolises, but his cult later spread throughout all Egypt. When the Osirian myth took shape, he became part of it as the one who embalmed the corpse of Osiris. In the judgment of the dead he weighs the hearts on the scales. He is called at times the brother of Osiris, at times his son and the son of Rie (Rā) or of Seth. It is he who with his keen scent helped Isis to find the body of Osiris and gave it embalming, thus preventing its destruction: for this reason souls pray to A. to take care of their bodies.

Bibliography

BIBL.: A. Erman, Die ägyptische Religion, Berlin 1905 (Italian trans. Pellegrini, Bergamo 1908).

Ernesta Bacchi

@incollection{ec1_anubi_egiz_inp_vo_sciacallo, author = {Bacchi, Ernesta}, title = {Anubi (Egiz. Inp.Vo « Sciacallo »)}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {I}, pages = {1587}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1948}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/anubi-egiz-inp-vo-sciacallo} }

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Anubis

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