Anubis: God Of The Dead - (Egyptian Mythology Explained)

anubis dog-headed god of the dead thy clawed hand stripped blood red taken souls to the way in scale watching closely as some win some fail those that are light to paradise they proceed but those that are heavy to omit you feed the feather of my heart is too light to defy what is in the soul and to justify so from that day forth your claws are blood red for every human soul you sever from the mummy dead anubis hear my plea i beseech thee my soul is pure and will weigh lightly tarnish it not with your claws of red but place it with care in the place of the heavenly dead anubis is perhaps one of the most recognizable gods in the egyptian pantheon often we associate him today with the afterlife and as the god of mummification the ancient egyptians first referred to him as inpu or anpu the word inpu closely relating to imp meaning decay it wasn't until the arrival of the ancient greeks that he began to be known as anubis the iconic appearance of the god is what makes him so easy to identify he was often depicted as a man with the head of a jackal and other times he was seen as a regular jackal or dog that would accompany the goddess isis in more recent artwork these two depictions seem to have been somewhat merged together given us a more menacing and mysterious looking god one that we'd almost expect as a guardian of the underworld the association between anubis and the jackal is one that was formed because it was pretty common for egyptian jackals to lurk around tombs and graves perhaps one of the main reasons that tombs became so intricate and elaborate was to keep the bodies of the dead safe from jackals and other animals the host of genetic research that's been done over the years would suggest that the egyptian jackal associated with anubis is in fact not a jackal at all but rather an ancient wolf anubis fur or skin was depicted as black and jackals typically have brown fur the colour black was thought to be a symbol of death but it was also a symbol of fertility thought to represent the river nile's fertile black soil the first ever mentions of anubis can be found in the ancient pyramid texts as well as in some of the ancient tombs of the old kingdom where he was seen as the guardian and protector of the dead after all it was anubis who was originally considered to be the god of the underworld only later he then became associated with the embalming process and mummification when all of the body parts of osiris had been collected the responsibility of mummification fell to anubis a process that had not been seen before and one that would provide a model for all subsequent mummifications to follow it was believed that when osiris's body was embalmed and the funeral rights were ready to be performed his brother set once again attempted to attack him this time taking the form of a leopard anubis was able to stop the god branding him in his leopard form with a hot iron rod and then flay in his skin wearing the leopard coat as a warning against anyone who would dare to defile the bodies of the dead it became pretty common practice that any priest attending to the dead would wear leopard skin to celebrate the victory of anubis over set interestingly enough the story of anubis brandon set while he was a leopard is a story that is used to explain how leopards got their [Music] when osiris did eventually pass into the underworld out of respect for the god anubis stepped down making osiris the new ruler anubis however did maintain a crucial role helping guide source through to the afterlife when a new soul would arrive in the underworld anubis would escort them to the hall of two truths where they would have their heart weighed against a feather the feather was thought to represent mahat the goddess of balance and order the weighing process was overseen by anubis and the ceremony was performed in front of osiris and the judges of the underworld the demon known as amit waited by anubis's side if the heart weighed heavier than the feather they would not be granted passage to the afterlife they would be given one last chance to convince osiris and his judges that they live their fair and balanced life if they were unable to do this then they will be devoured by amit and cursed to suffer a second death this entire ceremony led many to refer to anubis as the guardian of the scales like many of the other gods in egyptian mythology anubis's parents were quite an ambiguous topic in some accounts it was believed to be ra and his wife hathur and in later myths he was believed to be the son of either osiris or set there are even links of bastet as a potential mother because of her association of perfumed oils similar to those that would be used during the embalming process anubis's wife and put was thought to represent the female aspect of anubis in name as well as an association as she was also seen as a goddess of funeral and mummification together they had one child known as kebachet the goddess of purification and cool in water she was often described as the serpent that purified the pharaoh many also associated her with the embalming liquid during the mummification process it was even believed that while the spirits of the dead waited during the mummification process kebashet provided them with water to help purify their souls most of the individuals involved in the embalming and mummification process would worship anubis by wearing masks that resembled the god during the embalming ritual it's believed that anubis possessed a vast anatomical knowledge because of the skills he displayed when embalming bodies the priests of anubis were regarded as very skilled healers of a vast knowledge of herbal remedies the large popularity of anubis meant that he was worshipped all over egypt and his cult center was in sinopolis located in upper egypt the ancient greeks translated this to mean city of the dog which ties into anubis close association with jackals and dogs [Music] the ancient greeks drew some interesting parallels between anubis and the god hermes hermes may have been seen as the messenger of the gods but he did also play a small role in the underworld helping guide those to the river styx and the beginning of their boat journey they even merged the two gods together creating a god that would be known as home anubis his role was quite similar to that of anubis and he even took the form of a man of the head of a jackal the worship of this variation of anubis was particularly popular during the roman rule over egypt despite how much of a predominant role anubis had in egyptian mythology he doesn't really feature in many stories and i guess we can attribute this to the difficulty of his task death isn't exactly something that stops and all of anubis's time was spent helping the dead like many of the other deities associated with death in anubis we have a stoic figure who shows complete devotion to his task anubis both respects and protects the dead and he plays an important role in the underworld and in that role he remains unbiased and impartial trusting that fate will determine the outcome of the souls that he escorts the recent depiction of anubis in the tv show american gods is one that i feel captures this quite well anubis is an extremely unselfish god who cares not for glory or status and we can clearly see this when he allows osiris to become the ruler of the underworld as it does not affect his ability to protect and help the dead i hope everyone enjoyed today's video on anubis if you did then let me know what you thought in the comments below i'd like to thank all my patrons who voted on this week's video this week was extremely close and anubis did actually win by just one vote for those of you interested in supporting the channel further and becoming a patron and having a say in future videos then i'll leave an end screen and a link in the description for you guys to click on but as always i've been your host mythology and fiction explained you

Channel: Mythology & Fiction Explained

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Keywords: Anubis, Anubis Egyptian Mythology, Anubis god of the dead, God Anubis, Egyptian God Anubis, Anubis egyptian god, SMITE - Know Your God #2 - Anubis, Gods of Egypt: All Anubis Scenes, Why is Anubis Black?, Who is the god of death in Egyptian mythology?, Is Anubis the god of death?, Who is the most powerful Egyptian god?, Anubis the jackel god, The Egyptian God Anubis, Anubis American Gods, the story of anubis, Anubis smite

Id: r1SFKq4iHDk

Length: 7min 32sec (452 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 02 2018