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EGYPTIAN
INTERNATIONAL ART
Mayfair
Mall, 2500
N. Mayfair Road, Wauwatosa,
Wisconsin 53226 Phone 414.475.6071 |

PAPYRUS
ANUBIS
Anubis,
the jackal god, was the protector of the dead and custodian
of "secret things" to the ancient Egyptians. Anubis
was a dog-like god of the dead, of the necropolis, and of embalmers.
He was a protective deity who conducted the ceremony of the
judgement of the dead-the "Weighing of the Heart"-before
Osiris and assembled deities. Entrances to tombs in the Valley
of the Kings were stamped with a seal that contained an image
of Anubis above a set of nine bound captives. This was meant
to protect the tomb from thieves. In some areas he was considered
the son of Osiris and Isis-Sekhmet. This Anubis is from the
tomb of King Tutankhamen and was the finest portrayal of the
guardian of the necropolis. He was found resting on a gilded
wooden shrine at the entrance to the room Howard Carter called
"The Treasury." The original was of wood, heavily
painted with black gesso. His collar, inner ears, eyes and eyebrows
were lined with gold and his toenails were made of silver. The
statue was draped with a cloth that was thousands of years old,
dating from the reign of Akhenaten about the time King Tut lived.
Anubis, the "black god", was the first to embalm Osiris
and presided over the embalmment ritual. He is named after jackals,
wild dogs that roamed around the dead and were well known for
feeding on cadavers and separating the flesh and organs from
the bones, one aspect of embalmment. Also, jackals could be
heard howling in the desert west of the Nile at sunset - at
the time when burials usually took place. After the funeral,
Anubis would take the dead by the hand and introduce him to
the the sovereign judges where the soul of the deceased would
be weighed. The statue was decorated with the symbols for djed
and tat, signs of eternity and life, making Anubis "he
who presides over the Secrets."
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Book
of the Dead, spell 151: Anubis Jackal on Shrine. KV 47, Dated
New Kingdom, Dynasty 19, Siptah, Valley of the Kings, Thebes.
Theban
Mapping Project
Kent
Weeks
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