Anubis is an ancient Egyptian funerary god represented as a black canine or a man with a canine head. He guards burial places, oversees embalming, and guides the dead. The animal is often called a jackal, although its exact species identification is less important than its cemetery association.
Embalming and protection
Texts call Anubis lord of the sacred land and connect him with the place of embalming. Priests could wear canine masks in funerary ritual. His black color refers to decomposition, fertile Nile soil, and regeneration rather than the natural coat of one animal.
The weighing of the heart
In Book of the Dead scenes, Anubis leads the deceased to judgment and checks the balance that weighs the heart against the feather of Maat. Thoth records the result, and Osiris presides. Anubis is therefore not simply replaced by Osiris as if one god lost a job.
Changing parentage
Early traditions can make Anubis a son of Ra or Hesat. A later influential account names Osiris and Nephthys as his parents, with Isis protecting or raising him. These variations reflect changing regional and theological relationships, not an error that ancient Egyptians resolved into one genealogy.