Anubis was an ancient Egyptian god of the dead, represented as a jackal or a man with the head of a jackal. Anubis is sometimes also called Anpu.
Why is Anubis head a jackal?
Often represented by a man with the head of a jackal (cynocephalus literally means "dogheaded"), Anubis is said to have that feature because jackals specifically were associated with death and were known to lurk around cemeteries looking for meals of decomposing flesh.
What breed is the Anubis?
The Basenji is the most often cited as the inspiration for the image of Anubis, one of the principal gods of the dead who guided the soul to judgment in the afterlife (although the Greyhound, Pharoah, and Ibizan are also contenders).
Was Anubis a wolf?
The Egyptian jackal, which may have been the inspiration for the Egyptian god Anubis, is actually not a jackal at all but a member of the wolf family. New genetic research in the open-access journal PLoS ONE finds that the Egyptian jackal is Africa's only member of the gray wolf family.
What is a jackal in Egyptian mythology?
The Egyptian jackal gods, represented with jackal heads on human bodies or entirely as animals, are distinctively Egyptian deities. They served essential functions in the Egyptians' understanding of what happened after death and acted as guides and protectors in the complex process of reaching the afterlife.
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