Iconography

The various roles played by Anubis are seen in the iconography and representation of the god. In zoomorphic form, the identity of the animal depicted in representations of Anubis is uncertain, as the term used by the Egyptians for him, sab, was used of the jackal and of other canines. The animal bears certain traits of the dog family such as the long muzzle, its round-pupilled eyes, five-toed forefeet and four-toed hind feet, while on the other hand, its

Tail is wide and club shaped and characteristically carried down more like that of the jackal, fox or wolf. It is therefore possible that the original Anubis animal was a hybrid form, perhaps a jackal crossed with some type of dog. The black colouring of the animal was certainly symbolic and was connected with the discolouration of the corpse after its preparation for burial and the black colouration of the fertile earth which was itself a symbol of regeneration. In this animal form, Anubis is usually depicted lying on a shrine or simply as if he were doing so, with his ears erect, his legs stretched out before him, and his tail hanging down, vertically, behind him. Often he weai's a collar and a ceremonial tie around his neck, and either a sekhem sceptre or flail (or both) may be depicted rising from his back.

Anthropomorphically, the god is depicted - with rare fully human exceptions - with the head of the Anubis animal on a human body and sometimes with a tail, though usually without specific items of insignia or other iconographic attributes. He is shown performing the ‘opening of the mouth’ ceremony on the mummy and statues of the deceased, attending the mummy in the tomb and escorting the .spirit of the deceased into the underworld. He is frequently depicted weighing the heart of the deceased against the feather of truth in the presence of Thoth and also leading the deceased before Osiris. His mythical role in protecting Isis at the rime of her giving birth to Horus and his relationship with the well-being of the king led to the appearance of Anubis in the mammisi or birth-houses of the Graeco-Roman Period. In very late representations, as on the walls of the catacombs of .Alexandria, Anubis could be shown dressed in the

Mamma lion Deities

Armour of a soldier in his protective role and with the lower half of his body in serpent form to reflect some of his later aspects.