The Complete Mythology of Anubis: God of Death and Mummification
The Complete Mythology of Anubis: God of Death and Mummification
In the infinite sands of ancient Egypt, the figure of Anubis rises, an uncommon god who has fascinated mortals for centuries. Amid the golden dunes and the heat that distorts the horizon, his presence is associated with the transit between life and death, with funerals, and with the protection of tombs and the deceased. Since time immemorial, the inhabitants of the Nile Valley have felt curiosity and even a certain veneration for the creatures that prowl the border between civilization and nothingness, such as jackals, dogs, and other canids that wander around solitary necropolises when night falls. This wild background mixed with spiritual beliefs gave rise to a powerful divine image, but who is this canine-headed god who appears in tomb paintings and sacred texts? Anubis, whose figure is associated with the black color of regeneration and fertility, seems to emerge from the sand itself to protect the deceased on their journey to the afterlife. Unlike other Egyptian gods whose deeds are recounted in abundant myths, Anubis appears and disappears in a subtle and almost silent manner. Legends barely show him as a secondary actor in large-scale plots, but at the same time, his enormous popularity in Egypt’s everyday religiosity is undeniable. This apparent contradiction between his scarce presence in the main myths and his real importance is explained if we consider the evolution of funerary beliefs throughout history.
Anubis is, in essence, a protector, and he is attributed several competencies. He guards tombs, watches over the souls of the dead, and above all plays a crucial role in mummification, that ritual process which in the Egyptian mentality was not just a method of physical preservation, but a powerful ceremony of rebirth for the deceased. To understand the magnitude of Anubis, it is necessary to go back to the stories surrounding his origin, his genealogy, and his interventions in the divine struggles that over time defined the kingdom of the dead. In the Egyptian pantheon, family lines are not always clear, and relationships between gods can vary from one city to another and from one era to another. Anubis is no exception, and some traditions proclaim him the son of Osiris and Isis, the most venerated divine couple largely responsible for the funerary cult. Other sources, however, assure that Anubis was born from the secret relationship between Osiris and Nephthys, Isis’s sister and Set’s wife, the unpredictable god of chaos and the desert. The lack of uniformity in Anubis’ genealogy fits with his elusive nature, and there are versions that even present Ra, the solar god, as a possible father. This genealogical chaos reflects the way different Egyptian cities absorbed the cult of Anubis and adapted it to their own traditions.
In any case, throughout the centuries, the version that gained the most acceptance was the one in which Nephthys, after the furtive union with Osiris, conceived Anubis and hid him from Set, fearful that the violent god would decide to end the newborn’s life. Isis, upon discovering the existence of a son who was not hers, but who shared her husband Osiris’s blood, adopted him without hesitation. Under her protection, Anubis not only survived Set’s fury, but became integrated into the great Osirian family. This story of love and protection is what largely sustained the link between Anubis and funerary rituals, since Isis and Nephthys represented from very early on piety and constancy in caring for the dead, and Osiris would become over time the sovereign of the beyond. Although various accounts place his arrival differently, the central idea is that Anubis’ birth posed a threat to Set. The latter, upon learning that a new offspring of Osiris existed, feared that in the future that child could dispute his power. Nephthys, to avoid her husband’s attack, took little Anubis to the desert and left him in a remote place without telling anyone exactly where, as having a son born from infidelity with Osiris represented an immense risk to her since Set was not a god who forgave easily.
In parallel, Isis also discovered the truth, knowing that this creature shared the same divine blood as her son Horus, and in a burst of compassion decided to rescue him. Thus, with the help of a pack of dogs that had sensed the baby’s presence, she managed to track the newborn among the dunes in an arduous mission. It is said that in the middle of that sea of sand, Isis had to protect herself from the burning daytime temperatures and the penetrating cold of the night, but however, she finally achieved her objective and found the baby wrapped in a halo of crying and danger. It was thus that Anubis became a formal part of Osiris’s family, growing up with Isis’s blessing and the tacit acceptance of a father who, although ignorant of how far Set’s resentment reached, considered him another son. In the relative peace of this home, Anubis developed his vigilant character and his loyalty to the family, beginning to stand out for his infallible sense of smell and his ability to move stealthily like a jackal in the night. From very early on, he showed a fascination with transition rituals and showed special affinity for protecting the most vulnerable, and this god’s destiny was already beginning to forge.
Tragedy shook the divine order when Set, driven by envy, plotted the murder of his brother Osiris. Methodically, Set deceived Osiris, confined him in a sarcophagus, and threw him into the Nile River, and subsequently, so that no one would discover the crime, he undertook the macabre task of dismembering the body of the deceased god and scattering his parts throughout different regions of Egypt. This extreme brutality unleashed the desperation of Isis and Nephthys, who together with Thoth and the now grown Anubis undertook the mission of gathering Osiris’s remains to restore him to life. It is said that the first part of the body to be located was the head, which Anubis, thanks to his infallible instinct, managed to find on a sandbank near the city of Abydos. Even so, many parts remained lost, and each passing day, the danger that Set would act again made the search more urgent. Thoth, the god of wisdom, proposed a somewhat sinister plan, which was to build a clay body to hold the head, and through spells and conjurations, get that fragment of Osiris to speak and reveal the whereabouts of his other scattered members.
The strategy worked successfully as the reanimated head pronounced coordinates, place names, and exact descriptions of where the rest of his body lay. Anubis, with the diligence of a faithful messenger, hurried to collect those scattered pieces, and after joining each one, he carried out the first mummification in divine history, wrapping Osiris’s body in sacred bandages and anointing it with aromatic oils and resins. Thus, Osiris, with Isis’s magic, miraculously recovered life, and Anubis’ role was essential because he became the guardian of his father’s corpse, ensuring that no act of profanation would ever separate him from existence again. With Osiris already mummified and resurrected, his re-entry into the divine sphere was not simple, and Set, twisted in his resentment, continued trying to annihilate him. Osiris’s family designated Anubis and a group of sentinels to watch over the body, since although Osiris had obtained a certain form of life, he ran the risk of suffering constant attacks. The greatest challenge was that Set, a master of cunning, could adopt deceptive appearances, and legend tells that in one of the assaults, Set impersonated Anubis himself.
Set precisely repeated his movements and mannerisms, presenting himself before the guards with an identical mask, and thanks to this, he managed to infiltrate all the way to the very chamber where Osiris lay, protected by amulets and sealed in a ritual coffin. There, Set seized one of the canopic jars, the containers in which the murdered god’s viscera were kept, and this vessel was of vital importance as it was believed that Osiris’s spiritual essence was partially linked to those organs. Without losing time, Set fled to the desert, intending to frustrate Osiris’s future reintegration and to exterminate the hope of divine resurrection. When Anubis discovered what had happened, he felt the affront in his own flesh, realizing that someone had used his name and appearance to profane what he had promised to defend. Together with Horus, the young son of Osiris and Isis, he undertook an implacable pursuit to capture the perpetrator of such nefarious trickery, and for several days, both gods tracked footprints in the sand, guided by the determination to recover the jar that contained Osiris’s entrails.
Finally, Horus and Anubis caught up with Set in a distant valley beyond the borders of cultivated Egypt, and there, an intense combat was fought. Tradition tells that the roars of the wind and the rumbling of rocks breaking resonated throughout the desert as if the earth itself trembled before the clash of divine forces. Set, finding himself surrounded, fought with superhuman ferocity, trying to protect the stolen relic, but however, the united tenacity of Horus and Anubis was superior, and they managed to subdue him. After capturing the traitor, they took him to appear before the tribunal headed by Ra, the great solar god recognized for dispensing supreme justice, and Set was declared guilty of sacrilege and murder, so his sentence was imposed without contemplation. Even so, in a last stratagem, Set escaped once more, dragging with him Osiris’s precious entrails, and took refuge in some remote zone where chaos reigned without laws or order. Horus, enraged, tracked him again, driven by filial duty and a profound sense of justice, and this time the recovery of the jar had a definitive outcome.
After finding Set again, Horus seized Osiris’s remains and hid them in a special sanctuary, sealed by magic and crowned by a sacred hill, where it was said that a giant serpent was left in charge of guarding the place. Anubis, eager to culminate the revenge, awaited Set’s return, who did not delay in stalking the sanctuary, and transformed into a leopard, Set tried to sneak in furtively, but Anubis stood implacable as his final guardian. The clash was tremendous, and in the end, Anubis defeated the usurper, tore off his spotted skin, flayed him alive, and castrated him, giving him a dreadful death worthy of all the crimes he had committed. Although it seemed that Set had been eliminated forever, chaos never completely extinguishes, and sometime later, rumors arose that Set had reincarnated in another form, not necessarily malignant, but as a bovine or ram appearance, kinder than his predecessor. This new incarnation would be called Bata and curiously would be described as Anubis’ younger brother, which introduced an unexpected twist in the family narrative.
In those early days of history, it is told that Anubis possessed an extensive agricultural estate and large herds of cattle, while Bata, his younger brother, was the one who dedicated himself to tilling the land and carefully tending the cows. Under Bata’s supervision, the cattle became exceptional, the cows produced abundant, excellent quality milk, and the fields flourished with generous harvests, so the life of the two brothers passed in harmony, at least until Anubis’ wife, attracted by Bata’s strength and youth, decided to seduce him. Bata, faithful to his brother, rejected the woman’s insinuations without hesitation, but the wife, to cover up her deception, accused Bata of having tried to abuse her. This lie unleashed Anubis’ fury, who blinded by rage and without listening to explanations, ran after his brother with the intention of killing him. The family drama exploded, and Bata, desperate, began to flee, but thanks to the intervention of the god Ra, he managed to escape death, and thus the bonds between Anubis and Bata were broken by the poison of calumny.
The next day, with spirits less inflamed, the brothers had the opportunity to dialogue, and the truth came to light when Bata explained to Anubis what had happened, causing the elder brother’s anger to give way to repentance upon understanding the falsehood in his wife’s words. Even so, the damage was done, and Bata refused to return home after such betrayal and an attempt at murder, deciding to separate definitively from his family and depart toward the north beyond Egypt’s borders toward the region that nowadays is associated with Lebanon. There he settled in solitude, consumed by melancholy, and in an extreme gesture of renunciation, he castrated himself to avoid any temptation or relationship that might cause him more misfortunes. Years passed and Bata continued living far from his land, and it was then that the Ennead, the council of the nine gods of Heliopolis, took pity on his fate and decided to create a perfect wife to keep him company. They molded a woman of incomparable qualities, so beautiful that the sun itself would have been honored to illuminate her face, and at first, everything seemed to indicate that Bata would finally find peace, feeling grateful and happy with this new companion.
But that woman’s fame reached the ears of Egypt’s pharaoh, who upon learning of her extraordinary beauty, became obsessed with possessing her, and gathered an army to capture her, taking her to his palace with the intention of making her his concubine. She, fearful of royal force and urged to save her life, had no choice but to reveal Bata’s weak point, which was the only way to kill him, and the pharaoh, informed of this secret, sent his soldiers to carry out the lethal order. Thus the unfortunate Bata fell for the second time into the nets of betrayal, and Anubis, who learned of his brother’s death, traveled without delay to find his corpse. In an act of supreme compassion, he collected Bata’s heart and placed it in a bowl full of pure water, where ancient spells inherited from Thoth’s wisdom were recited to restore him to life. And the marvel occurred because upon drinking from that water, Bata’s spirit was reanimated and his body resumed form, although nothing would be the same. Transformed now into a magnificent bull, Bata returned to Egypt with Anubis, and in their homeland, the pharaoh, not knowing that bull was his former victim, received it as a gift of great value, leading it to his stables and boasting of possessing such an exceptional animal.
The concubine, the same one who had previously been Bata’s wife, recognized in its gaze the essence of her former husband, and feeling at risk that he would take revenge, she begged the pharaoh to sacrifice the bull. To her misfortune, the sovereign accepted, and thus once again Bata met death, but the life of gods does not easily extinguish. Two drops of blood from the bull fell to the ground and germinated in the form of splendid plants that sprouted between the palace tiles, and again, the concubine plotted his elimination, demanding that they cut the plants to make furniture. While they were cutting them, some seeds charged with Bata’s spirit jumped into the air, ending up in her mouth, and without realizing it, the concubine swallowed those seeds and for the third time became pregnant by Bata, who was reborn as a legitimate prince of the royal house. Over the years, that child grew to become a strong and intelligent young man, and when the pharaoh died, Bata inherited Egypt’s throne, ruling for three decades with wisdom and righteousness, always remembering the humiliations and betrayals that marked him in his previous lives.
Finally, the day came when naturally his human time concluded, and he prepared to return to the divine plane where his essential nature as a bovine or ram deity could manifest in fullness, but before departing, Bata sealed the definitive reconciliation with Anubis, recognizing him as his legitimate successor and granting him possessions and investitures. He was the elder brother who, despite the initial disagreements, had demonstrated loyalty and repentance, and thus, with Bata’s departure, Anubis would also culminate his mission in the earthly world. He established himself as the deity responsible for guiding the dead and for guarding the sacred spaces where the body and soul of the deceased begin their transit toward eternity. With this stage concluded, Anubis took the path that only gods can travel, and it is said that since then he resides in the beyond, fulfilling his primordial task, watching over the deceased, protecting mummies, and at the same time serving as auxiliary judge in the great tribunal that decides the fate of souls.
Later stories barely mention him, but his influence took root in every facet of the funerary cult, and no tomb was considered complete if it did not have the image or blessing of the one who had learned through his own experience the value of justice and loyalty in the kingdom of the dead. Which the Egyptians imagined as the beautiful West or the land of the blessed, Anubis becomes the guide par excellence, and the ancients believed that the soul had to travel a path fraught with obstacles, traps, and hostile creatures. Some texts mention hungry specters that stalk incautious souls, shadow beings that assault those who do not have adequate protection, and for that reason, many requested Anubis’ favor since his presence dispelled malignant spirits and guaranteed safe passage. Sometimes the goddess Hathor with a cow’s head is spoken of as another possible guide for travelers of the beyond, but however, over time, most of the deceased preferred to be sheltered by Anubis, whose rituals and representations had acquired great fame throughout Egypt.
The fact that he was the one who had guarded Osiris’s body and performed the first divine mummification made him the perfect example of fidelity and efficacy before death, and this prestige was consolidated to such a point that in funeral ceremonies, the priest in charge of embalming the deceased often covered his head with a jackal mask, symbolizing Anubis’ presence. Death, understood by the Egyptians not as an absolute end, but as a transit toward another form of existence, required this god’s help and blessing to guarantee spiritual continuity. In the underworld, Anubis also plays the role of companion to the deceased during the famous weighing of the heart, which occurs before Osiris’s tribunal, who presides over the hall with impartiality and solemnity. The deceased’s heart, container of their acts and memories, is placed on one scale of the balance, while on the other rests the ostrich feather that represents the goddess Maat, symbol of justice and universal harmony.
If the heart is lighter than the feather, it is considered that the person led a righteous life free of serious faults and therefore deserves to enter the Egyptian paradise known as Aaru or the field of reeds, but if on the contrary the heart weighs more, it means that sins exceed virtues. Then the devouring beast called Ammit, a mixture of crocodile, lion, and hippopotamus, engulfs the heart, thus destroying the soul forever, nevertheless, cases are narrated in which Anubis, taking pity on certain souls, could slightly manipulate the balance in favor of the deceased. This possibility arises from Anubis’ closeness to the ritual and his knowledge of souls, and although it is not a frequent occurrence, Anubis’ capacity to tip the scales a little to safeguard those who managed to win his sympathy was contemplated, with everything, the final judgment remaining in Osiris’s hands, who after hearing the testimonies and seeing the real weight of the heart, dictated the definitive verdict.
The Egyptian embalming process went beyond simple preservation of the corpse, because for them, death was similar to an illness that could be cured through rites and sacred formulas, hence the priests personifying Anubis applied unguent resins and bandages to maintain the corporal form and prepare the deceased for rebirth in the kingdom of the dead. This ritual was based on the idea that by surrounding the body with care, the soul’s survival was favored, and even the heart had to remain protected since it was the seat of conscience and morality. In certain ceremonies, the symbolic opening of the mouth and ears was carried out so that upon awakening in the beyond, the deceased could speak, see, hear, and breathe, and it was believed that Anubis helped in these procedures, restoring sensory capacities and even making the heartbeat again in the spiritual realm. It is not surprising then that Anubis is recognized as Lord of the Necropolis and he who presides over embalming, and in statues, reliefs, and papyri, he is represented with a human body and a black canid head associated with the fertility of the Nile’s dark earth and the regeneration of flesh, performing the role of a divine physician and guardian who instead of stealing bodies from tombs, defended them and returned them to a new form of existence.
Throughout Egyptian history, Anubis received many names and honorific titles, and he was called Ipu or Anu in the most ancient hieroglyphic texts, terms that could be related to the root that designated dogs and jackals. Other epithets are he who is on his mountain, alluding to the hills that border the Nile valleys where jackals lurked, or lord of secrets in recognition of his mastery of rituals and occult arts, and he was also called he who counts hearts because in the final judgment it is he who weighs the hearts of the deceased and records their actions. In some passages, his presence is mentioned as guardian of the underworld’s gates, and the enormous variety of titles reflects the breadth of competencies that Anubis was acquiring or assimilating as the cult of Osiris expanded and he integrated into the myths and ceremonies of the Osirian family, being accepted as a funerary god of primary importance. It is paradoxical that despite having so many names and representations, there are relatively few accounts where he embodies a central role, but it is no less true that his image as protector and guide of souls became so deeply rooted that for centuries in almost any tomb or funerary right some illusion or image of him appeared, with different cities erecting sanctuaries where he was worshiped, notably the region that the Greeks would call Cynopolis, meaning the city of the dog.
Over time, Egypt was conquered by foreign powers, first the Assyrians and Persians, then Alexander the Great and the Ptolemaic dynasty, and finally the Romans, but however, the cult of Anubis persisted, adopting syncretic adaptations. The Greeks mixed him with Hermes, another psychopomp god who guides souls to the underworld, originating the divinity known as Hermanubis, and in other later representations, attempts were made to assimilate him with local divinities, even suggesting that some early images of St. Christopher with a canine head might be distant echoes of Anubis’ iconography. Be that as it may, Anubis’ enduring image in Egyptian popular memory relates to that capacity to watch over, accompany, and measure human actions, and during funeral ceremonies, his name was invoked to ensure peaceful transit, while in the collective imagination, his black and imposing figure remained firm against chaos. His legendary cunning, his loyalty to Osiris, and his dedication to protecting the dead cemented a reputation difficult to equal.
In the present, when one delves into Egyptian funerary texts or contemplates the reliefs of mastabas and pyramids, Anubis’ silhouette usually appears at the crucial moment when the deceased soul prepares to make the definitive leap toward eternity, and even when his prominence in the narratives of the Egyptian pantheon proves lesser than that of other gods, the symbolic power of his figure is undeniable. In his way, Anubis has remained as a guardian who awaits travelers on the shore of the great desert that separates life from death, ready to escort them with the seriousness and compassion of one who understands the fragility of existence. In this way, the story of Anubis with all its variations and secrets does not cease to remind us of the importance of loyalty, justice, and protection of the helpless, ranging from the instant of his birth, sheltered by dogs that symbolize nobility amid adversity, to his consecration as arbiter of the final judgment, as his journey illuminates the Egyptians’ belief in the continuity of life beyond the tomb. That his footprints remain engraved in Egypt’s sacred sand is testimony that the transit to the other side deserves as much respect and care as life itself, and Anubis, eternal guardian of invisible doors, remains alive in every tale that delves into the enigma of death and the hope of rebirth.
