Anubis | Denial Isn’t Just a River

Perky little ears and a terrifying visage, we’re talking this week about the god of mummification, Anubis! Featuring a zoology corner where we learn about jackals that aren’t actually jackals, watch a guy REALLY go through it, and more as we discuss our little rotty prince.

Content Warning: This episode contains conversations about or mentions of death, decay, murder, infidelity, animal attacks, cannibalism, body desecration, castration, incest, sexual acts, pregnancy and birth. 

Housekeeping

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Cast & Crew

- Co-Hosts: Julia Schifini and Amanda McLoughlin

- Editor: Bren Frederick

- Music: Brandon Grugle, based on "Danger Storm" by Kevin MacLeod

- Artwork: Allyson Wakeman

- Multitude: multitude.productions

About Us

Spirits is a boozy podcast about mythology, legends, and folklore. Every episode, co-hosts Julia and Amanda mix a drink and discuss a new story or character from a wide range of places, eras, and cultures. Learn brand-new stories and enjoy retellings of your favorite myths, served over ice every week, on Spirits.

Transcript

[theme]

Amanda: Welcome to Spirits Podcast, a boozy dive into mythology, legends, and folklore. Every week, we pour a drink and learn about a new story from around the world. I'm Amanda--

Julia: And I'm Julia, and we're back this week, Amanda with another episode of Denial Isn't Just A River in Egypt, it's what we've been doing by keeping an Egyptian mythology series from you on Spirits Podcast by Spirits Podcast

Amanda: by Spirits Podcast. I love that you ended with the thing we say every time, Julia by Spirits Podcasts.

Julia: So we are getting close to the end of this series, I think, and it makes a lot of sense to me that we've saved this god for close to the end, if not the end, because I think he's a god that a lot of people recognize from art and pop culture, but I don't think that everyone knows a ton about him, and that, of course, is the god Anubis. Now Amanda, first thoughts when I say the god Anubis?

Amanda: Join the Party, Campaign 2 because Anubis was the god of the underworld and judging and weighing people's hearts in our second campaign of our Dungeons and Dragons podcast. So listen to that. But otherwise, I get a I get scales, I get weighing, I get judgment. I also have a distinctive image of Anubis as sort of like long snoot, big old ears, in a way that remind me of, you know, both like a dog and a cat at the same time, and usually wearing a fancy hat or carrying an ankh.

Julia: Okay.

Amanda: That's my that's my general, uh, vibe.

Julia: I would say he lacks the fancy hat, which we will get into, but usually is carrying an ankh. You're correct about that.

Amanda: You know, Julia, you're right. That's a pope. I'm thinking of a pope. A pope is the one with the fancy hat, not Anubis.

Julia: You know, when in doubt, Pope's got a fancy hat, you know. So I think you got a like decent amount about Anubis from your description. First thought, best thought. There's a couple more aspects to him that I think are important, that people sort of forget about but first things first for the Egyptians, Amanda Anubis was a terrifying figure. It was a scary image to see Anubis, and that makes sense when we think about it, because of how important the Afterlife is to the ancient Egyptians, right? And Anubis as a god who presided over the mummification process of bodies and also guarded burials and tombs. You did not want to be on his bad side.

Amanda: Very true if you are seeing him in the afterlife, regular if you are seeing Anubis on this mortal coil, some bad is happening.

Julia: Exactly.

Amanda: Exactly.

Julia: And as you pointed out, Amanda, he also helped with the judgment of the dead, which is something that we have discussed quite a bit on this show so far. But not only did he help to judge the dead, but sometimes he didn't wait to do the judgment, sometimes he was also in charge of punishing those who violated tombs or offended the gods.

Amanda: That makes a lot of sense. It's very like, you know, meeting a dean or a vice principal before they introduce themselves to you, and it's like, Uh oh, if you know my name and it's uh August or September, something's wrong.

Julia: You shouldn't know that. Oh, I did something bad. But Amanda. Before we really dig into all of that, let's talk about, as we always do, how we could identify Anubis, in case we didn't know already. So Anubis, as you sort of pointed out, is usually shown as a man with the head of a jackal or a wild dog, or else is just shown as a seated or laying down black jackal. Now, scholars believe that the black color of the Jackal was symbolic for the ancient Egyptians. It represented both the discoloration of a corpse's skin as it was being prepared for burial, but also the color of fertile earth, a symbol of fertility and regeneration, which, as we know, for the Ancient Egyptians, extremely important in those aspects of the afterlife.

Amanda: Cool and yeah, there is nothing like I can I can smell it in front of me, just like the most fertile, incredible soil you've ever seen. I almost said tasted. I mean, you can almost taste it with the smell. But the most fertile soil you've ever seen is like, dark, dark, dark, black. Exactly.

Julia: 

Exactly. And we will talk a little bit about the fact that, in case you didn't know, because I don't know if a lot of people have seen images of jackals before, they're usually not black.

Amanda: Okay, this is a thing I didn't know.

Julia: There you go. I think because we think of Anubis and the jackal and they're so intrinsically linked for us here in, like, not Egypt, that we just assumed that jackals are black.

Amanda: Cool.

Julia: So when in his jackal form, as I mentioned, he is usually depicted seated or lying down, ears erect, as you pointed out, legs stretched out in front of him, and tail hanging down vertically behind him, usually like if the statue is like on a pedestal or on top of something, it is resting in a place so that the tail can hang down off the side of it.

Amanda: Adorable. I don't know if that's what they're going for, but I love this feature.

Julia: I think, I think it is adorable honestly. I mean, it's supposed to evoke fear. We're supposed to be afraid of that image, but in our minds, not worrying about what's going to happen to us in the afterlife. In Ancient Egypt.

Amanda: Yes.

Julia: Adorable. So he's often adorned either with a collar or a ceremonial tie around his neck, not like a men's tie in modern fashion, but just like, you know, a tied piece of fabric.

Amanda: Julia, you know, I was picturing a jackal in a like double Windsor full with like stockbroker tie.

Julia: I was picturing a bow tie.

Amanda: So cute.

Julia: Occasionally in this portrayal where he is seated or lying down, usually in the lying down position, from his back, there emerges a second scepter, which sort of looks like a torch in hieroglyphics, which symbolizes life, or a flail which represents authority.

Amanda: Wow.

Julia: Say, if we're looking at a statue or a sculpture of Anubis in jackal form, it would like have the scepter coming out of its back, or the flail coming out of its back.

Amanda: Extremely metal for the animal form of this god to have tools.

Julia: Yeah.

Amanda: Exactly.

Julia: Exactly. So, as an aside about the jackal form, before we get into Anubis anthropomorphic form, scholars actually believe that it wasn't fully a jackal or fully a wild dog. Now, part of this is because the Ancient Egyptians used the term “sab”, which describes the animal that they associate with Anubis, but it also they used it for basically any kind of canine. So like jackals, wild dogs, wolves, foxes, anything like that.

Amanda: So we don't have a super specific linguistic clue as to what exact species Anubis was sort of inspired by or modeled on exactly.

Julia: And it gets more complicated when you look at portrayals of Anubis, especially early art of Anubis because it seems like it's almost a sort of hybrid animal. It seems like it was maybe a mix of jackal and fox and wolf, because it has this, like long muzzle, these round pupiled eyes, five-toed four feet, but four-toed hind feet.

Amanda: Oh!

Julia: It also has this sort of wide, club-shaped tail, sort of like, if you can picture a fox's tail and how, kind of fluffy and like, sort of like a bowling pin shape, that's the kind of shape that it usually is in art. So it really kind of suggests that this is a hybrid creature, not just a jackal. Somewhat interestingly, from a zoological point, the Egyptian jackal was originally classified as a subspecies of golden jackal, but in recent years, zoologists have found through DNA evidence that they're actually a subspecies of gray wolf, and they shouldn't even be called a jackal. They should be called the African wolf instead of the Egyptian jackal.

Amanda: Tight, adorable. Don't want to come across them in real life, but I would love to look at pictures.

Julia: Oh, yes, Amanda, let me send you a couple of images real quick. So the first image I sent you is a picture of Anubis reclining with the flail attached to his back. You can see very, very pointy ears, long, long muzzle, that kind of club shaped tail that we discussed.

Amanda: It does look like a bowling pin. You're so right.

Julia: It does. And then if you scroll to the third image I sent you.

Amanda: Oh.

Julia: That is the Egyptian jackal, aka the African Wolf.

Amanda: I see the wolf in the face. I get it.

Julia: But there's also the theory that the jackal that the Anubis form is based off of might be the black backed jackal, which I also sent you an image of, though those are typically not located in Egypt, but rather Eastern or Southern Africa.

Amanda: This is a creature that looks like, if I had to do a matching puzzle of what Anubis animal form looks like, I would choose the black backed jackal, because it's got those big old ears, long snoot, even the eyes look like the Eye of Horus in Egyptian hieroglyphics, so I completely see it.

Julia: I also like the legs are a lot longer, but also thinner, which I think is reflected in a lot of the art as well.

Amanda: Yes

Julia: The the Egyptian jackal does just kind of look like a wolf. It really doesn't resemble the Anubis depictions at all.

Amanda: No.

Julia: And also, you'll note, neither of these are black. 

Amanda: No, they're not. And so it makes a lot more sense to me that the inspiration for the you know, a god associated with death and. Aerial preparation would be a rarer animal to see. And so maybe, you know, folks in Egypt only rarely stumbled across or you know, the black backed jackal made its way up into upper Africa, into northern Africa, into Egypt. And then someone was like, Holy shit, look at that. But 100% my inexpert opinion is, while this is an adorable little wolf, looks like a wolf on a tropical vacation in anime where, you know the highlights are in the coat is short, but it's the black backed jackal that I am casting my lot in as the Anubis inspo.

Julia: Hell yeah. I love it for the sake of shorthand, though, both Egyptologists and myself, as well as the depictions developing over time. We just kind of use jackal as shorthand, you know, to describe what the creature is that Anubis is. So in his most common form, he is a man with the head of a jackal. Sometimes he has a tail, sometimes he doesn't. There are very, very few depictions of Anubis as a full human, which I think is interesting, because for the majority part, a lot of the gods have like, okay, some are like, mostly human, but do have a lot of animal representation, or animal headed representation. Anubis almost exclusively either is full animal or anthropomorphized animal, never human.

Amanda: Do we know why?

Julia: I have a theory Amanda, and part of that has to do with why Anubis is associated with the jackal in the first place, and why early Egyptians might not have wanted to have a human form of Anubis. We'll get to it in a second though.

Amanda: Okay

Julia: Most of the art that we have of Anubis in this form, the half human half jackal, shows him performing mummification ceremonies on people. Usually what we see him doing in art is the opening of the mouth ceremony, which I don't think we've talked about really in previous episodes, but this is a really important part of the mummification process, especially for the belief that, you know, the body influences the afterlife in Egyptian mythology, but it's basically Anubis would touch the mouth, eyes and ears of the deceased with special implements so that he was restoring the senses, so that the deceased could eat, drink, see and hear in the afterlife. 

Amanda: Very important and meaningful part of the process,

Julia: Yes. Especially when you consider the fact that, like, food offerings were left for deceased Egyptians because it was believed that they needed to eat and drink in the afterlife. So he's also depicted as being in the tombs of the deceased themselves, and then escorting the spirits of the deceased into the afterlife. And obviously we know that he was involved in the judgment of the dead, and much of art also depicts him in the the weighing of the heart ceremony against the feather of Maat, something we've definitely talked about a lot on the show so far. Now, what's interesting to me is in later years in Egypt, particularly in the city of Alexandria, and after like Roman influence started becoming extremely prevalent in Egypt, he is shown dressed in soldiers’ attire, including armor, which signified his role in protecting the tombs of the dead against raiders and those that would do them harm.

Amanda: That's really interesting and I also got to say, Julia, this might be the first human animal hybrid in a male body that I found really hot, I think, a hot man with a jackal head. That's great. I'm all for it.

Julia: Amanda, that's the most furry thing you've ever said on this podcast.

Amanda: Nothing but respect for my furry community members. Not not my bag. Love that for you, but I'm all for it. Hell yeah.

Julia: Hell yeah. Shout out to the one time we did a live show at a convention and the entire tech crew were furries, and we're really excited that we were talking about werewolves.

Amanda: They were really excited, and they were so kind. And, you know, as always, furries backbone of the internet and any convention you've ever attended. Thank you. Thank you for your service.

Julia: Three quarters of the staff that were helping us were like, my fursona is a wolf. I'm like, That's That's awesome. Hell yeah.

Amanda: I love that for you.

Julia: It was great. It was a great time.

Amanda: What sweeties.

Julia: Now Amanda, at this point, we should ask ourselves, where did Anubis come from? So we have a couple of different parentage. Stories for him, from a mythological standpoint, in the coffin texts, he is mentioned to be the son of one of the cow goddesses, hesat, who is sometimes seen as an aspect of Hathor, and who was said to provide humanity with milk and to have suckled the pharaohs.

Amanda: Sure, cool.

Julia: Important. Very good.

Amanda: That's why they're so big and strong.

Julia: Nurturing ourselves very important. There is another story where we've talked about this in previous episodes as well, where he is the son of set and Nephthys, but set believed that Osiris may have fathered Anubis, and that is one of the reasons that set kills his brother. Yeah. And but regardless of whether or not Osiris was like the real baby daddy, or if it was set, eventually, Osiris goes on to adopt Anubis. He and Isis kind of adopt Anubis. Nephthys is kind of like a secondary parent to Anubis in that sense.

Amanda: Stories like this really help me contextualize and understand how the sort of, like Puritan and puritanical understandings of, you know, like heteronormative marriage and family units is not regular for all of humanity, where raising kids is a communal project, and we all need a lot of help, and families come in many forms.

Julia: Yeah. And we also talked about that in the, the like Nephthys set episodes where Nephthys, like, tried to pose as ISIS and sleep with Osiris, and we were like, yeah, you know, could have been worse.

Amanda: Exactly.

Julia: So it's all, it's all, you know, upholding the patriarchy, when you think about it.

Amanda: It is.

Julia: So regardless of where Anubis came from, mythologically, we know that historically, he has always been associated with jackals and wild dogs. And this is the part Amanda where my pet theory is going to come into play here. So jackals and wild dogs, particularly, and historically, lived on the edge of the desert and were carrion eaters. So in early Egypt, before we really started developing the process of like mummification and entombing bodies and stuff like that, a lot of jackals and wild dogs were digging up shallowly buried corpses and eating them. And what we know from Ancient Egyptian beliefs, especially about the afterlife, the destruction of the body is a fate worse than death, right? So Anubis, one of his epithets is the dog who swallows millions.

Amanda: Oh, shit.

Julia: So he needed to be placated to protect the dead. I see that's why he was so important, especially in early Egyptian mythology and history.

Amanda: It also makes sense that, you know, it is not an uncommon image, unfortunately, to have a wild dog, a jackal, you know, around bodies. And so to make that connection and elevate it into mythology, folklore, world building makes all the sense in the world.

Julia: And this is also why I think that Anubis is very rarely portrayed in human form, because the idea of desecrating the dead like that, eating the dead, is something they would never put to like a human face. You know what? I mean?

Amanda: Yes, that that makes total sense. Why you wouldn't necessarily want to, like, look upon the Visage and be like, Wow, my kid really looks like Anubis human form like? No, no, no, no, no, that's not. We don't even want to go there. That is not the dog who swallows millions.

Julia: Nope. So Anubis cult very quickly was recognized throughout Egypt, with his image appearing in mortuary temples and tombs from upper to Lower Egypt and throughout the Pharaonic period, the period in which the pharaohs ruled.

Amanda: What a good name.

Julia: So he became the patron god of embalmers. Makes sense, very important for the mummification process. Memphis, particularly at the necropolis in Memphis. This was the center of Anubis' cult, the priest there in performing the mummification process and the ceremony of mummification, because not only was it a process, it was also a religious ceremony to do the mummification process. So in this ceremony, they would wear jackal headed masks in order to represent Anubis impersonate the god, so that he presided over every single mummification.

Amanda: That's amazing. And I also really love the image of a an embalmer being like, all right, if I do my job correctly, Anubis, you're not going to want to munch on this body, not even one. And so at the end of the process, the embalmers like, eh? And then Anubis goes, like, sniff, sniff, I don't even want to lick. Nope.

Julia: Sniff, sniff, thumbs up. I really like this image and the idea that you are Anubis in the ceremony. Like the idea that not only are these gods doing great works, but they are doing the works that the god Himself did first. We're all trying to be Anubis.

Amanda: Yeah, this is central to so many religious ceremonies. That is what you know Catholic priests are doing as they enact Transubstantiation, like right there on the altar. You are, you are doing that in, you know, Yom Kippur. You are enacting and opening and closing the book of life, like high priests and you know, the God before us used to do so it's, it's well known, and I think, a little bit of magic every single time we do it to this day in our religious ceremonies.

Julia: I agree. I agree 100% and I think that is something that human beings very much enjoy doing across the world, you know? That they are like, hey, in this moment, I am representing what the god before me did, and that is incredibly powerful. Incredibly important.

Amanda: Yeah, every ofrenda, every altar like if we don't want as human beings to see ourselves as part of an unbroken lineage of people doing the same thing. I don't know what makes us human. You know that is, that is, to me, the the core desire and need.

Julia: So Anubis obviously incredibly important to all of that, and we can also attest to Anubis importance by how many representations of the god have survived into modernity, since that means both they were extremely commonplace, but also well protected, which means incredibly important when you come down to it. So this includes not only carvings in tombs and temples, but also amulets of the god in order to further protect the dead that were often placed in these tombs and temples.

Amanda: Oh, right on. I was like, I don't think people would want to carry those around with them, but of course, they'd want to adorn the dead. What? What more could you want going into the afterlife than the the image and evidence that the one in charge of getting your body there safely is valuable to you.

Julia: Yes, and that we love him and he should keep us safe.

Amanda: Yes, please.

Julia: Interestingly, during the Old Kingdom, prayers for Anubis were carved on funerary columns, which served as gravestones, as well as on the walls of tombs which addressed the god directly in their invocations. So it's really cool that, like, we have these actual recordings of prayers that would be said to Anubis, or else would be like read by the dead to Anubis in their afterlife and in the Pyramid Texts, he is mentioned literally dozens of times in connection to the burial and mummification of the king in particular. Eventually, the cult of Anubis was strongly linked to Osiris' because they were both gods of the dead. But it's important to note that, like Anubis, I think, predates Osiris in terms of popularity and historically. And it wasn't until Osiris is cult became extremely popular that Anubis kind of became, I don't want to say subservient, but a deputy, almost to Osiris.

Amanda: I could have guessed, without that context, that Anubis is the oldest and most powerful of the gods, or at least up there, because something to do with the safeguarding of the dead. That is always going to be among the first things that human beings like, coalesce and ritualize around, and that proximity to death like literally being the the god that you know, touches or tries to prevent from touching, you know, any, any like bad actors to the newly dead. That's going to be like so core and early in the timeline.

Julia: Yeah and it's just this idea too, again, thinking of those images of the jackals and the wild dogs basically digging up and consuming your loved ones, there's a certain level of grief that has to coincide with, oh, we have to protect the bodies of the dead. We have to keep their memory going on, and by doing so, they really solidified a very, very extensive and very important ritualization of the afterlife in Ancient Egyptian mythology.

Amanda: I want to learn more.

Julia: Well, Amanda, we will learn more about Anubis role in ancient Egypt, particularly the details of his role in the afterlife and a couple of stories, but we're gonna have to go grab our refill first.

Amanda: Let's do it.

Julia: Hey, this is Julia, and welcome to the refill. As always, we have to start by thanking our news patrons. So thank you, Diane, for joining us at patreon.com/spiritspodcast. You join the ranks of our supporting producer love a patrons like Uhleeseeuh, Anne, Hannah, Jane, Lily, Matthew, Rikoelike, Captain Jonathan MAL-uh-kye Cosmos, Scott, Wil and AE (Ah), as well as our legend-level patrons, Audra, Bex, Chibi Yokai, Michael, Morgan H., Sarah, and Bea Me Up Scottyand hey, if you want cool rewards, like ad free episodes, recipe cards for every single episode, both cocktails and mocktails, as well as bonus urban legends episodes, my favorite reward to give you all, you should go to patreon.com/spiritspodcast today. And hey, also buy a ticket to our March 23rd live show in Portland by going to spiritspodcast.com/live. It is going to be so much fun. I am recreating one of my favorite games of all time that we did on the rolling bones tour. Is it a bird? Is it a cryptid who can say they all have very funny names, but if you want to see that live, go to spiritspodcast.com/live, and join us March 23rd in Portland, Oregon, it's gonna be a blast. I also would love to recommend some things to you. Hey, first off, maybe visit and support your National and state parks. Not only is it wonderful, they also need your support right now, because they're being defunded and it's really sad and I am a huge national and state park person, and I think that they should have as much money as they need to preserve these beautiful national landmarks. Just it makes me sad. Anyway, go to your National and state parks. Give them some money, you know, buy some merch from them, whatever it takes. Let's try to help them get better funded. Also, if you need a little escapism, I'm really enjoying this one book right now. It's called Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell , and it is a spooky, queer, kind of gruesome, but in a beautiful and sort of funny way, love story. And if you don't like that thing, what do you what do you do when listening to this podcast? Hey, you'd probably love someone you can build a nest in. I think you'd also probably love another show here at the multitude collective, which is Wow, if true. Wow, if true is your one stop internet culture shop explaining how what's happening online shapes the real world. And they are the internet experts and real life besties to unravel it. Tech Culture journalist Amanda silberling and science fiction author slash attorney Isabel J Kim Esquire. Most importantly, they're the only podcast that will also mention Neopets as well as horizontal mergers in the same podcast episode. And that's kind of incredible, honestly They're asking and answering your burning questions about the internet, like, who is big A listicles, and why are Silicon Valley bros bio hacking their mouths, and why are YouTubers locking people in grocery stores? And just how many secret babies does Elon Musk have? He has so many secret babies. So check out. Wow, If True, wherever on the internet you find your podcasts with new episodes every other Wednesday, and this episode is sponsored by BetterHelp listen. We hear about red flags in relationships all the time, which means like, ooh, we should avoid these. This is not good for us and it's not good for the people that we're in a relationship with. But what if we focused more on looking for green flags in our friends and our partners. If you're not sure what those green flags look like, therapy can help you identify them by actively helping you practice them in your relationships and also embody that green flag energy yourself. You too can be a green flag. So whether you are dating, married, building a friendship or just working on yourself, it is time to form relationships that love you back, that are green flags. Making friends as an adult is very hard, and sometimes you like try to start a friendship, and you're just not sure whether or not they're vibing with you, whether or not this person is a good fit for you in your life and the way that you go about in the world. And I know that talking to my therapist about these, like, newly formed friendships, has helped me realize, like, yeah, these people are great, and they're going to be a great addition to my life. Or maybe we'll scale back a little, because I'm not entirely sure about them. And hey, if you're thinking about trying therapy, give BetterHelp a try. It is fully online, making therapy affordable, convenient and serving over 5 million people worldwide, you can access a diverse network of more than 30,000 credentialed therapists with a wide range of specialties, and it is easy to switch therapists anytime for no extra cost. Discover your relationship green flags with better help. Visit betterhelp.com/spirits. Today to get 10% off your first month. That's better help, H, E, L, P.com/spirits,

Willa Paskin: Hi. I'm Willa Paskin, the host of Decoder Ring Slate's podcast about cracking cultural mysteries on Decoder Ring, we dive down rabbit holes and obsessively explore questions hiding in plain sight, like, why has slow dancing gone out of style? And when did we all become obsessed with hydration? And where did the word mullet, you know, to describe a hairstyle, come from? That's Decoder Ring named one of the best podcasts of 2023 by the New York Times. Listen to new episodes every two weeks and make sure to follow us so you never miss one.

Julia: And now let's get back to the show.

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Julia: Amanda, we are back and this cocktail honoring Anubis, I wanted to do a strong cocktail, because, as we mentioned, Anubis is a protective god. But I also wanted to include something that evoked the preservation aspect in his role of mummification. Now, a lot of ancient people, especially the Ancient Egyptians, did a lot of preservation of food, especially in a desert setting makes sense. Mainly, they did a lot of like salting of meat. But also important to their preservation aspects was drying out fruit in order to preserve it, particularly raisins. And important to this cocktail dates

Amanda: Ey!

Julia: So I present to you my version of an Anubis cocktail, which is a twist on the old fashioned using medjugal date syrup. Julia,

Amanda: This drink is so delicious. Dates are so incredible. And in fact, we both have a date palm in our house that I grew out of medulla date pits. So yours is outclassing mine. She's growing like a motherfucker.

Julia: Mine's not doing so hot. I had to when I went on my trip recently. Kind of dried out because I didn't have anyone take care of my house plants.

Amanda: Alright, well-

Julia: Because it was kind of last minute, but, you know, she's still growing. She's still there. I had to trim away her bad parts, but she's doing okay. 

Amanda: You lovo see it. This drink is delicious. I'm going to be making this fairly often. I can tell.

Julia: Yeah, it's really good. It's kind of got that little dark sweetness here that I think fits the vibe of Anubis pretty well.

Amanda: And you know what age your digestion? Let's be honest, folks, dates great for digestion.

Julia: Listen, is this a new digestive cocktail? I don't know. Who can say?

Amanda: Date syrup and Seltzer sounds like a hella mocktail.

Julia: That does sound really good, right? Actually, with a little bit of like, angora bitters.

Amanda: Yeah.

Julia: Oh, baby.

Amanda: Let's go.

Julia: Oh, baby. Alright, let's get back to Anubis, these are great. So Anubis, for most of the Old Kingdom, as I mentioned before, was the most important funerary deity. His image, as we've said before, was meant to evoke fear. It was carved into tomb entrances to ward off grave robbers, reminding them of the punishment that they would face if they desecrated the tomb. Now, keep in mind, Amanda, this is really interesting. This was a time period where no other deities could be shown on non-royal tombs.

Amanda: Oh!

Julia: So basically, representations of the gods were reserved for the pharaohs and other royal people, but Anubis, in charge of mummification, was for everyone.

Amanda: Right on the people's god.

Julia: Exactly, exactly, not just the royal family. Anyone who was being mummified could have this image of Anubis on their tomb or on their sarcophagi or anywhere related to their death.

Amanda: We all have a body. We're all going to die, and Anubis will be needed to help us make that transition, no matter who you are.

Julia: However, by the end of the third millennium, BCE, Osiris had overtaken Anubis importance as King of the dead. But Anubis was not to be forgotten, Amanda. He was incorporated into the Osiris myth that we've told so many times at this point, in order to stress his importance in the mummification process, you'll remember that Anubis is the one who basically invents mummification in this story so that Osiris could become the first mummy. Now, in this story, and it will become important later, when I tell another story about Anubis. But in the story, Anubis is one of the guardians of Osiris' body, which further cements his role in the protection of the dead. Now, this relationship with both the dead and the god Osiris is reflected in several epithets that are used for Anubis. He's not only just the dog that devours millions, Amanda.

Amanda: Are you sure, Julia? Because that has got to be on our like Spirits Podcast, top five all time epithets.

Julia: It's pretty good. It's pretty good. He's got some other good ones, but I think that one is perhaps his best.

Amanda: I'm just being honest, it's going to be really hard to unsee that epithet for me.

Julia: That's fair. That's fair. Okay, so Anubis name actually comes from. There's two theories. Sometimes they're linked together, sometimes they're separate, but there's two theories where Anubis name comes from. One is that it comes from the ancient Egyptian word meaning to putrefy.

Amanda: Oh!

Julia: Basically to rot.

Amanda: Yeah.

Julia: But it's also linked for the words that represents the king's son.

Amanda: I see it's like, imagine if the words princeling and like little rottie boy were pretty much the same word.

Julia: Little rotting prince!

Amanda: You little rotten royal.

Julia: Oh, god, wait, that's so funny. Someone write me a children's book that's like that. One of the epithets I mentioned earlier was the dog that swallows millions but perhaps more darkly, linking him to Osiris in this later period is the epithet the one who eats his father.

Amanda: Ah, okay, no, that's pretty metal. Yep. No, that's pretty good.

Julia: Pretty good.

Amanda: Pretty good.

Julia: That's pretty good. There's a few more epithets that I think also really sum up how the Ancient Egyptians viewed Anubis. First was the foremost of the Westerners.

Amanda: Oh, like coming from, coming from the underworld, like as the sun sets in the west?

Julia: Yes.

Amanda: I got you. I got you.

Julia: So the majority of Egyptian, I don't think you know this Amanda, but the majority of Egyptian cemeteries were constructed on the west bank of the Nile, which, like you said, not only represents the setting of the sun but is also the symbolic direction of the underworld. So the deceased were actually referred to as Westerners.

Amanda: Oh, my God, that's so poetic. That's amazing.

Julia: Isn't that beautiful?

Amanda: Yeah. Also, I'm. Just imagining, like, the, the images of the setting sun, and like silhouetting, you know, cemeteries and, you know, just thinking about the underworld and progression of the sun setting behind, you know, where your loved one's been laid to rest. Like, that's humans are so good. Humans are so good at ritual/

Julia: We are. We're really good at that. So this is a really important title for him, because it places Anubis as the leader of the dead, the most important god to them. He was also known as the Lord of the sacred land.

Amanda: Oh.

Julia: Now this also is kind of connected to the one that we just previously mentioned, the various necropolis, which is the plural for necropolis, Amanda. I don't know if you knew that.

Amanda: I did not know that, and I am already obsessed with it. It's pretty cool. It's pretty cool.

Julia: So these necropolis were located outside of the cities and usually in the desert. So Anubis was seen as the Lord of these desert areas, which were also referred to as the pure lands.

Amanda: Oh, boy.

Julia: So the sacred lands or the pure lands.

Amanda: The word pure is, is so weighty that every time I read it, it's like, the hair on my arm stands up, you know?

Julia: Yeah, definitely, definitely has some slightly more negative connotations now. But for the Egyptians, I think they were just like, This is good. This is a good area.

Amanda: Unsullied, right? We're in translation from modern, from ancient to modern Egyptian, and then into English. So there's, there's so many things happening here, but yeah, I just my little goosebumps stood up there.

Julia: Anubis is also He who is upon his sacred mountain, which refers to the way that he presided over the burials of the dead, often portrayed as watching from the heights of the desert Cliffs overlooking the necropolis.

Amanda: Cool.

Julia: And of course, he was also known as he who is in the place of embalming. So he was the master of the per wabet, which was the Egyptian term for the ritual tent or pavilion in which embalming was carried out. It was also known as the divine booth, which is, similarly his title that we'll talk about next is foremost of the divine booth.

Amanda: Amazing. Again, I feel like the "booth" is probably, you know, not exactly have the connotations that it did at the time, but I am, I am sure picturing, you know, those old timey, bathing, changing huts that were, like, straight on?

Julia: Yes.

Amanda: Like cabana fabric. That is what I'm picturing.

Julia: That's extremely funny. It the embalming booth is, again, it's up to kind of interpretation and translation. The divine booth might also be a reference to the burial chamber itself. So just the guy who's in charge of those things.

Amanda: I mean, yeah, also you're welcome to refer to me as she who is in the place of spreadsheets at any point. If you want to talk about the Multitude office.

Julia: There you go. There you go. So this is also important that he is foremost of the divine booth, because you'll find his fully jackal form laying atop funerary chests in order to protect them, and most famously, a statue of Anubis, like a fully gilded gold statue of Anubis in this form was found in the tomb of King Tut and is referred to in the carvings In King Tut's tomb, specifically as the epithet foremost in the divine booth.

Amanda: Wow, pretty cool. I mean nothing but the best for our most well-known in the US ancient Egyptian pharaoh.

Julia: There you go. And then finally, he is referred to as the master of secrets.

Amanda: Oh, sure.

Julia: Now this specifically is referring to the quote, unquote, gruesome secrets of the embalming tent, which includes, obviously, the removal of the internal organs and preserving them in the canopic jars. Now the master of secrets, title also refers to his role in the enforcement of curses, which I think many people in modernity think of when they think of him. It's this idea of, like, the curse of the mummy's tomb. It's a very well-known trend, for sure,

Amanda: But also, if you understand it as interrupting the thing that is literally worse than death, which is the desecration of a body, then it's like, yeah, I'm gonna have a God specifically for coming the fuck after you Tomb Raider.

Julia: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Like the Westerners who were going into Egypt and breaking into tombs and then taking them back to mainly England, but also other places, including the Americas, they're just as bad as the people who were doing it 1000s of years before.

Amanda: Yeah, 1,000%.

Julia: So in the later years, during the Roman occupation, Anubis remained an important funerary figure, but the Romans were, like, particularly critical of his worship.

Amanda: Oh, why is that?

Julia: They kind of saw it as a like necromancy thing, for lack of a better phrase.

Amanda: I mean, okay, Rome, take a look at your own streets and sewers before we start getting pissy about treating embalming and preserving the dead, because Egyptians knew what they were doing, okay?

Julia: So the Romans pretty biased against Anubis in a lot of their writings. They considered his worship almost like demonic in a way. They said that necromancers would summon Anubis using the blood of a black dog. And then they would find Anubis, which is already how you can tell their way out of their depth. And they would use Anubis as a go between to fetch gods and spirits from the underworld to answer the necromancers questions.

Amanda: Yeah, this feels fully like fan fiction.

Julia: Yeah. That's not real

Amanda: Your one, one uncle like deep into his third bottle of wine, he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, let me tell you about Anubis. Like, okay.

Julia: So this, of course, obvious Roman bias to it, but with the fall of the Egyptian empire, it kind of led to the eventual decline in the worship of Anubis, despite his importance for pretty much the entire history of what we understand to be Ancient Egypt. So there are a few important relationships to talk about with Anubis before we kind of get into his foundational stories. There is, of course, Anput, who is his wife and also female counterpart. So she is portrayed as a woman, usually wearing a headdress, a fancy poke hat, if you will. Amanda, which shows a jackal lying atop a feather, much like Ma’at’s. It's actually really cool. I gotta send it to you one second.

Amanda: This is a sick headdress. This is so good.

Julia: It's pretty dope.

Amanda: Oh, my god. I love, I love the little Anubis on his little platform.

Julia: Amanda, if I got you a hat that just had a picture of, like, Eric lying down, would you wear it on like a chaise lounge?  And he'd be, like, mm-hmmm.

Amanda: I would totally wear it 100%

Julia: Perfect. So she is also a goddess of the dead. She presided over funerals and mummification, though, to obviously, a lesser degree than Anubis. She's also a goddess of protection and was said to have been one of the goddesses to watch over the body of Osiris when he was killed. She is sometimes depicted as a serpent, but one who, quote, refreshes and purifies the dead and brings water to the spirits of the dead while they wait for their bodies to be mummified.

Amanda: Cool.

Julia: I really like that. It's this idea too, that like, Hey, your body and your soul need to be nourished, even when you're like, waiting for your body to be prepared to be sent to the afterlife.

Amanda: Indeed.

Julia: There's also their daughter who is Kebechet, and she was the goddess of embalming liquid, which I think is kind of neat and kind of dope. She was also said to bring water to the spirits of the dead, much like her mother. And she was said to fortify the body against corruption or rot, so that it would stay fresh for reanimation by the deceased's Ka, or soul.

Amanda: Important role, and makes total sense. Am I picturing a sort of like water slide in an Osmosis Jones situation, as the embalming liquid replaces other fluids I am and I just want to be honest about that.

Julia: And I appreciate that. Thank you. Anubis also is said, especially in earlier versions of his mythology to have a brother named Bata, who we will talk about in a second.

Amanda: Cool.

Julia: There are two stories of Anubis that I want to mention. The first one is a quick one called how the leopard got its spots.

Amanda: Oh, classic.

Julia: So this takes place after the death of Osiris, with Set attempting to destroy his brother's body for a second time. As you remember, he cut it all up, Isis and Nephthys went and found all the body pieces, put them back together again, and then there was like a little period of time that they were trying to reanimate him, right. Now, this story was first recorded in the first millennium BCE, and in the story Set, had disguised himself as a leopard with the intention of devouring the body of Osiris so that he could not be brought back to life. However, Anubis was the one who was on guard duty at the time, and when he saw the leopard approaching, he seized the creature, and with a hot iron branded its body all over, which resulted in its signature spots.

Amanda: Hey! It's pretty good.

Julia: The story goes on to say that Anubis then flayed Set in leopard form and wore his skin as a warning to evildoers.

Amanda: Ah, that's very intense.

Julia: And so that is why priests of Anubis, who tended to the dead, were said to wear leopard skins to commemorate Anubis victory over set and to really solidify and send home the fact that he is a protector god.

Amanda: Yeah, if, if he can fuck up a leopard like this, you don't want to try robbing any grave.

Julia: Exactly, exactly. And then finally. Amanda Anubis doesn't have a ton of stories. He doesn't really exist in the mythology in a way that, like a lot of the other gods and goddesses that we have talked about, do, but he does have this one story that, again, this kind of predates the, I want to call it like the Osiris canon, you know? This idea of like Osiris and Set and Horus being so like central to the mythological stories. This one predates it, and you'll kind of see why that is because the gods are a little bit more personified, less holy than they are in those later myths.

Amanda: Okay.

Julia: So this story centers around Anubis and his younger brother Bata. Now Anubis was said to be married, and the two brothers worked together, farming the land and raising cattle tales all this time, but like not a story that normally you would hear about gods doing right? So one day, Anubis wife approaches Bata and attempts to seduce him. Bata rejects her advances, enraged that she did not get what she desired, the wife then tells Anubis that actually Bata attempted to seduce her, and that Anubis should do something about it.

Amanda: I see.

Julia: Now Anubis becomes enraged hearing about this, and attempts to kill Bata, but Bata flees, and he prays to Ra, who hears his plea for help. Now, Ra summons a crocodile infested lake between the two brothers, which stops Anubis from following Bata.

Amanda: That'll do it.

Julia: You're not gonna try to cross the crocodile infested lake, you're not gonna do it.

Amanda: Even the most rage filled, you know, aggravated mood would not get me running across a lake with crocodiles.

Julia: As Anubis is trying to figure out a way to get to Bata. Bata has an opportunity to explain the situation to his brother from across the lake, basically shouting his side of the story and emphasizing how much he does not want his brother's wife, so much to the point where he cuts off his genitalia and tosses them into the water where they are devoured, either by crocodiles, or, in some versions of the story, catfish.

Amanda: Oh! I do think catfish would get into the mix, but okay.

Julia: Bata then tells Anubis that he is going to go off to live in the valley of the cedars-

Amanda: Uh-huh.

Julia: And that he is going to place his heart on the blossom of a cedar tree so that, if it is cut down, Anubis will be able to find it and allow Bata to live again, basically, to resurrect him.

Amanda: Bata got a really tough deal in the story.

Julia: Bata comes through it a little bit in the story.

Amanda: But is like, I literally was at work and I don't want this.

Julia: Bata also tells Anubis that if Anubis ever is given a jar of beer that froths, that he has to come and seek Bata out, because it means that he's died.

Amanda: Okay.

Julia: So Anubis hears him out, returns home, kills his wife.

Amanda: Tough. Yeah? This, this story has some misogynistic, you know, underpinnings, but what doesn't in mythology?

Julia: And we only hit half of the misogyny in the subway, but here, here we go, great. So Bata goes to the valley of the cedar, starts living his life there. And while he's living there, he comes across the Ennead, who are the the, like main Council of Egyptian gods. They were the ones who you might remember, were the judges in the Horus set trials.

Amanda: Yes, yes, yes.

Julia: So this group of Gods hears about Bata's sad, sad tale, takes pity on him. And Khnum, who is the god who was said to have created humans out of pottery is like, I got you my guy, and he creates a wife for Bata, who is so, so beautiful.

Amanda: Wonderful.

Julia: It is wonderful until word of her beauty and the fact that she was created by the gods gets out and tales of her reach the Pharaoh who proclaims, that's gonna be my wife.

Amanda: That's, that sounds like what the job of a Pharaoh is is to look around point and say, that's mine now. That's mine now

Julia: And everyone goes, okay, okay. So the Pharaoh goes, collects the wife of Bata, and Bata's wife tells him, tells the pharaoh that in order to make their marriage legal, he has to cut down the cedar tree that Bata put his heart into killing him.

Amanda: Does he do that?

Julia: He does that.

Amanda: Ah, Bata, what a sad life.

Julia: Shortly after, Anubis is served a jar of beer, sees that it's frothy, and so sets out to the valley of the cedar to find his brother's heart.

Amanda: I do love the idea that every time I get, like, a badly poured pint of beer at a bar, and that's like half head, you know, I'll be like, well, someone's died.

Julia: Whoops. So Anubis searches for his brother's heart, knowing that he must have died for seven years. Seven years. The story also specifies that he searched for three years and then four years, which I think is really fun. I don't know why it's like linguistically specified like that, but total of seven years. Finally finds it, he follows the instructions that Bata left for him, and he puts the heart in a bowl of cold water, which brings Bata back to life.

Amanda: Cool.

Julia: However, it brings Bata back to life in the form of a bull. Anubis is like, okay, weird, but hey, you're back back to life, great. Bata, then, in the form of this bull, goes to find his wife in the Pharaoh. He gets there and his wife somehow recognizes him in bull form.

Amanda: Okay.

Julia: And goes to her husband, the pharaoh, hey, I want to eat that bull's liver. Oh, and the Pharaoh's like, fair enough sacrifices the bull.

Amanda: Bata! 

Julia: Bata is killed again.

Amanda: No!

Julia: But where the blood falls, grows two trees.

Amanda: Sure. 

Julia: Now Bata, in the form of a tree, speaks to his wife. Is like, hey, please come back to me. You're my wife that the gods made for me. But the wife tells the Pharaoh, hey, see those trees? They'd make great furniture.

Amanda: Oh, my God, this is a real mah wife. You know what I mean kind of story?

Julia: Yeah, it really is.

Amanda: Oh boy. 

Julia: As the tree is cut down, however, Amanda, somehow it's not specified how a splinter ends up in the wife's mouth.

Amanda: No, no, no, no. Julia, sorry, this can't there can't be more! 

Julia: And for some reason that impregnates her.

Amanda: No! No, no, no, no!

Julia: Now eventually, after being impregnated by this splinter, she gives birth to a son who is actually the resurrected Bata.

Amanda: This is so fucked up. I know this is your job, Julia, but this is so fucked up.

Julia: Yeah.

Amanda: Oh my god!

Julia: So now the resurrected Bata is the son of the pharaoh, is made the crown prince, and when the Pharaoh dies, Bata becomes king and appoints Anubis to be his Crown Prince. And basically, everyone lives happily ever after.

Amanda: Does he have sex with his mom-wife?

Julia: I don't think so.

Amanda: Okay.

Julia: Yeah, no, she just gives birth to him, and he's like, I'm a baby king.

Amanda: Let's run this all back of it this time, I am the son of my hot wife, and I'm the Pharaoh.

Julia: It's really like, Third time's the charm. You know? He's like, bull didn't work. Tree didn't work. Crown Prince, pretty good.

Amanda: Pretty good. Julia, I can't believe that both me at 13 and Ancient Egyptians, 5000 years ago, were asking themselves, can a blow job get you pregnant?

Julia: Oh my God.

Amanda: The more humans age, the more they stay the same.

Julia: Oh my god.

Amanda: I licked the sexy tree. Can I be pregnant?

Julia: Man, it's a sad thing that Yahoo Answers is gone. It's a sad thing.

Amanda: Who says mythology isn't fun? Not me.

Julia: So this is probably an older myth. Again, it's probably before the canon of Anubis as the son of son of Osiris. Once again, it ties him, however, to resurrection and caring for the dead, which I think is interesting.

Amanda: I think it's interesting too. 

Julia: Alright, we have to finish out with a poetry corner, which really feels more like spell corner in Denial Isn't Just A River in Egypt. It's also what we've been doing by keeping an Egyptian mythology series from you on Spirits Podcast

Amanda and Julia: By Spirits Podcast.

Julia: So here is a spell for Anubis from the coffin texts used to assemble a spirit's members to him in the realm of the dead.

Amanda: Okay!

Julia: Wake! Wake! wake! See what your son Horus has done for you, hear what your father Geb has done for you; he has set your foes beneath you for you. Go up and bathe in the Lake of Life; what is evil on you will be purged in the Lake of the Firmament. You have come into being complete as any god; your head is Re, your face is Wepwawet, your nose is the Jackal, your lips are the Twins, your ears are Isis and Nephthys, your eyes are the twin children of Re-Atum, your tongue is Thoth, your throat is Nut, your neck is Geb, your shoulders are Horus, your chest is He who pleases the spirit of Re, the great god who is in you, your flanks are Hu and Khopri, your navel is the Jackal of the Double Lion, your back is Anubis,your belly is the Double Lion, your arms are the two sons of Horus, Hapy and Imsety, your fingers and your finger-nails are the Children of Horus, your back is the Extender of the Sunshine, your legs are Anubis, your buttocks are Isis and Nephthys, your feet are Duamutef and Kebhsenuf, and there is no member in you which lacks a god; raise yourself!

Amanda: Wow. That is so baller and reminds me so much of Walt Whitman, who is like, there is not one inch of you that is not holy, like top to toe, also have sex with me in this field. I am, I am feeling so great and connected to this prayer, amazing.

Julia: I also love that the buttocks are Isis and Nephthys.

Amanda: I know they get double duty.

Julia: One butt's, Isis, one butt's,

 Amanda:  Julia, Isis and Nephthys get ears and the butt.

Julia: Yeah.

Amanda: Which, you know, two underappreciated parts of the average form. I would say

Julia: Anubis is back and legs too. It's doing a lot of the supporting.

Amanda: Strong all the way down.

Julia: Strong, all the way down, baby. All right, Amanda, that is all we have on Anubis. I think we might have one more episode of Denial Isn't Just A River in Egypt, it's what we've been doing by keeping a mythology series from you on Spirits Podcast-

 Amanda and Julia: by Spirits Podcast

Julia: Since we've covered most of the major gods at this point. But hey, if you're listening to this and there's one that you wanted to hear an episode on that we didn't cover right into us. Or hey, we're introducing a new tier on our Patreon for our highest tier members. And if you want a like mini episode of Spirits on a topic of your choice, you should sign up today.

Amanda: That's the reward you get and we will be doing a whole bunch of those for patrons in the upcoming months. We are so excited about it. So if you are dying to have Julia research a thing that you grew up with, or a thing you're interested in, or a story that we passed in, sort of like reference, and you want a full mini episode on it, get in touch. It's a great way to do it.

Julia: Yeah, it's gonna be really fun. I'm actually really excited to see what people want to hear episodes on.

Amanda: Me too. That's at patreon.com/spiritspodcast

Julia: And the next time that you are looking out to the West and you think you see a jackal headed figure, remember, stay creepy.

Amanda: Stay cool.

Julia:  Later, satyrs!

Transcriptionist: KM Transcripts