Post by paulmurdoch1975 on Dec 11, 2011 20:19:09 GMT
NAME: Anpu - Anup, Sekhem Em Pet, Khenty Imentiu "Chief of the Westerners," or as the Greeks called him Anubis,
SYMBOLS: A black & white ox-hide splattered with blood and hanging from a pole. Also the different implements of embalming. Also the constellation of Canis Major.
USUAL IMAGE: Sometimes shown as a black man with the head of a jackal or dog, the black color is not a natural but is thought to be a symbolic color representing death and rebirth as well as the effect that netron and other resins used in mummification turn the body.
Sometimes he is depicted with one half of his head gold and one half black to show that he is most divine and in touch with the earth.
HOLY BOOKS: The Egyptian Book of the Dead
HOLY DAYS: The Summer Solstice. Places of Worship: Heliopolis the City of Dogs, which the Greeks called Cynopolis.
RELATIVES: Nephtyys (Mother), Ra or Set (Father versions vary as to which), Osiris, Isis, Set, (Siblings)
SYNODEITIES: Nergal (Babylonian), Arawn (Celtic), Mictlantecuhtui (Aztec), Yen- Wang-Yeh (Chinese), Hel (Norse), Pluto (Greek), Azrael the Angel of Death (Christian)
DETAILS:
In ancient Egypt, Anup or Anubis was the jackal-headed god of embalming who guided the souls of the dead through the underworld kingdom of his father, Osiris. Considered benevolent and good, Anubis was present in the underworld (Duat) at the weighing of the dead person's soul, and was also at home in the heavenly sky realms of Ra.
His mother was the goddess Nephthys, who along with Isis, Set, and Osiris were the children of the sky goddess Nut and the earth god Geb. Nephthys was married to her brother Set, and Isis was married to her brother Osiris.
Occasionally Anubis is considered the son of Set, but in the more prevalent myth, Nephthys left Set and seduced her sister's husband, Osiris or as some myths say Ra the Sun God.
She conceived Anubis, but when he was born she abandoned him in the wilderness. Isis found Anubis with the aid of some dogs, and she raised him.
When Anubis grew up, he guarded his foster mother faithfully, and he accompanied Isis and Osiris whenever they journeyed through the world.
When Set murdered and dismembered his brother Osiris, the sisters Isis and Nephthys searched for his body.
When they found all the pieces of the Osiris' body, it was Anubis who invented the art of embalming and mummification so that his father (or step-father) could live again and reign in the world of the dead.
Anubis is often depicted as a man with the head of a jackal or a dog but is sometimes shown as having the body of a jackal or dog as well. Sometimes he is depicted with one side of his face white or golden and the other black at other times as being completely black but holding a green palm leaf aloft, to symbolize his position in both the heavenly as well as touching on the earthly realms.
Anubis was also the God of poisons and medicines due his suppling such things during the mummification of Osiris.
Anubis had the duty of weighing of the heart of a dead person on a balance against the Feather of Truth (for the record, while an ostrich feather it still had to have been pretty light) that was supplied by Maat the Goddess of Truth. Anubis' role was to carefully observe the procedure to make sure that it was properly done.
If, according to the Great Balance, the person was not pure and honest and free of sin, Anubis would take the heart from the scale and throw it to the beast Ammit, who would devour it, destroying the person forever. If, on the other hand, the scale showed that the deceased was free of sin, the soul could go on to eternal life.
For the most part Anubis was considered a benevolent diety, however there were times when he was regarded with terror.
But be that as it may that still does not excuse the dising that Anubis gets in the resent special effects and bad writing epic The Return of the Mummy. For a similar case see the Goddess Kali vs Indiana Jones for libel.
- Terry McCombs
www.angelfire.com/planet/mythguide/anubis.html
