Ancient Egyptian Gods Anubis

He also guides souls into the afterlife.

Ancient egyptian gods anubis. He was first god of the dead and was relegated to the background when the cult of osiris gave him the leading role in the hereafter. Anubis is the greek version of his name the ancient egyptians knew him as anpu or inpu. In ancient egyptian religion anubis is the god predominantly associated with death. References to anubis are found in texts dating back to the old kingdom.

In the early dynastic period and the old kingdom he enjoyed a preeminent though not exclusive position as lord of the dead but he was later overshadowed by osiris. Anubis is one of the most iconic gods of ancient egypt. Anubis also called anpu ancient egyptian god of the dead represented by a jackal or the figure of a man with the head of a jackal. Before the greeks arrived in egypt around the 7th century bc the god was known as anpu or inpu.

Anubis is known as the god of death and is the oldest and most popular of ancient egyptian deities. As an embalmer he is associated with mummification and viewed as a protector of graves. The ancient egyptians revered anubis highly because they believed he had tremendous power over both their physical and spiritual selves when they died. He is also often pictured in black a symbol of death and the color of a corpse after it is embalmed.

The root of the name in ancient egyptian language means a royal child inpu has a root to inp which means to decay. The most common symbol attributed to anubis is the canine. Anubis was an extremely ancient deity whose name appears in the oldest mastabas of the old kingdom and the pyramid texts as a guardian and protector of the dead. Anubis is a greek rendering of this god s egyptian name.