Anubis on stretches Statue

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Anubis is the god of mummification. This  funerary symbol was embodied in the image of a black jackal believed to have belonged to the canine family, or the so-called jackal in the ancient Egyptian mythology. The god Anubis was represented in this manner because he was the protector of the graves. He protected the tombs of the dead from above the mountains west of the banks of the Nile in Thebes, which was in turn a region where the Egyptians always buried their dead. Anubis was called by several titles, including he “belonging to the mummy scrolls”, and the “head of the divine pavilion” where mummification takes place. He also became the patron of the experts of embalming and the master of the cemetery, because he used to lead the dead in to the underworld and guard the cemeteries. He is illustrated with the body of a man and a head of a jackal and supervising the weighing of the heart ceremony, in which the heart of the deceased is balanced against the feather of the goddess of justice Maat in order to determine how just and true he or she had been during their lifetime.