Task 2 - Egyptian Gods and Goddesses

Anubis

Anubis is the jackal-headed Egyptian god of the dead. Anubis was known to prowl ancient cemeteries as a scavenger, but the Egyptians then turned him into a god, who protected the ancient graves. As the god of the dead Anubis presided over funerals, guided the dead through the underworld and finally into the kingdom of Osiris. As the guide of the dead Anubis assimilated the character of the earlier Egyptian god Wepawet. Wepawet was known as "he who opens the ways." Anubis is portrayed as a man with the head and neck of a dog. He is described in the Latin novel The Golden Ass (Book II), as the "messenger between heaven and hell, displaying alternately a face black as night and golden as day."

Anubis was common to both celestial and infernal regions. He was known in more than one religion. To the Greeks he was known as Anubis and to the Egyptians he was known as Anpu. There are many theories and myths that revolve around Anubis. Anubis was the son of the goddess Nephthys and his father was the god Osiris, who happened to be Nephtyhs's sister. At birth Anubis was abandoned by his mother. He was found and raised by the goddess Isis, who was Osiris's sister and wife. Anubis then accompanied Osiris on his conquest of the world. Osiris was then murdered and dismembered. Anubis found his body and embalmed it so well that it resisted the influences of tim and decay. This was the birth of burial rites. Another well known myth was how the leopard came to get it's spots. It was said that when the god Seth, who was a leopard, approached Osiris's body Anubis seizd Seth and branded him with a hot iron, giving him his spots.