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| Two renditions of Anubis, the guide of the dead in the underworld and general mortuary god of Egypt. |
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, i.e. the feather + water + square symbol (followed by a "jackal"), meaning "wind, water, mountain" (Hornung, 1982), rendered as the sound ı͗npw, vocalized in Egyptian, according to the Akkadian transcription in the Amarna letters, as "Anapa" (Conder, 1894) (Ѻ), is the son of either "Set + Nephthys" or "Osiris + Nephthys" (Plutarch, 100AD), depending on version of myth (from another older point of view, he was the sun of Ra), noted for being the general anointer of the mummified Osiris prior to his resurrection (see: death and resurrection of Osiris); some versions assert he was the baptizer of Horus. [1]“The small dog, placed in the sky for faithfulness, drinks from the Milky Way, once thought to be a river. In Egypt, he was Anubis, the jackal god. The Greeks called the whole group Prochon.”
“At most underworld entrances and in many sarcophagus rooms, the black dogs Anubis and Upuaut appear. While Anubis prepares the human vessel for its entrance into the underworld, Upuaut guards the gateway and opens the way into altered states of being. These jackals appear as openers of the way as early as the First Dynasty of Egypt. The Dogon tribe of Sudan, who probably are linked to Egypt's early ancestors, have a strong connection to the star Sirius, the bright Dog Star, which appears in the constellation Canis Major. They know, for example, that there are actually two stars: Sirius A and Sirius B, which appear to circle each other. The Canis Major and Canis Minor constellations may represent Anubis and Upuaut, but the Dog Star itself, called Sothis by the Egyptians, is linked to Isis, and the hidden twin star may be linked to Nephthys.”
“In the Theban Recension [2040-720BC] of the Book of the Dead, Anubis plays some very prominent parts, the most important of all being those which are connected with the judgment and the embalming of the deceased. Tradition declared that Anubis embalmed the body of Osiris, and that he swathed it in the linen swathings which were woven by Isis and Nephthys for their brother; and it was believed that his work was so thoroughly well performed under the direction of Horus and Isis and Nephthys, that it resisted the influences of time and decay.”— Wallis Budge (1904), The Gods of the Egyptians, Volume Two (pg. 262)
“His worship is very ancient, and there is no doubt that even in the earliest times his cult was general in Egypt; it is probable that it is older than that of Osiris. In the text of Unas (line 70) [2500BC] he is associated with the Eye of Horus, and his duty as the guide of the dead in the Underworld on their way to Osiris was well defined, even at the remote period when this composition was written, for we read, ‘Unas standeth with the Spirits, get thee onwards, Anubis, into Amenti (the Underworld), onwards, onwards to Osiris’.”
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“They relate that Isis, learning that Osiris in his love had consorted with her sister [Nephthys] through ignorance, in the belief that she was Isis, and seeing the proof of this in the garland of melilote (Ѻ) which he had left with Nephthys, sought to find the child; for the mother, immediately after its birth, had exposed it because of her fear of Typhon [Set]. And when the child had been found, after a great toil and trouble, with the help of dogs which led Isis to it, it was brought up and became her guardian and attendant, receiving the name of Anubis, and it is said to protect the gods just as dogs protect men.”— Plutarch (100AD), On Isis and Osiris (pg. 39)
“Of the stars, the Egyptians think that the Dog Star [aka Sirius] [its name reflecting its prominence in Canis Major (Greater Dog)] is the star of Isis, because it is the bringer of water [the heliacal rising of Sirius marks the start of the annual 150-day Nile River flood].”— Plutarch (100AD), On Isis and Osiris (§38) (pg. 91)
