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Anubis, a MythSource painting
Egyptian

Anubis

He Who Is Upon His Mountain · Lord of the Sacred Land · Foremost of the Westerners

01Identity

Anubis in Egyptian tradition

Anubis guards burials and presides over the mummification of bodies, taking the form of a black jackal or a jackal-headed man. He is the Egyptian deity of funerary rites, tomb protection, guidance of souls and judgment. Unlike Osiris, who rules the underworld and judges the dead, Anubis prepares and protects the body and supervises the weighing of hearts. He also punishes tomb violators and leads the dead as Foremost of the Westerners.

Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Anubis?

    Anubis is an Egyptian deity associated with mummification and embalming, funerary rites, protection of the dead and tombs, guidance of souls, the judgment of the dead.
    Source

    Source

    • Essential Visual History of World Mythology
    • Handbook of Egyptian Mythology

  • What is Anubis the god of?

    mummification and embalming, funerary rites, protection of the dead and tombs, guidance of souls, the judgment of the dead
    Source

    Source

    • Essential Visual History of World Mythology
    • Handbook of Egyptian Mythology

  • What family links are recorded for Anubis?

    Father: Osiris, Mother: Nephthys, Spouse: Anput, 1 child.
02Family

Anubis’s family, at a glance

Parents above, children below, and the figure’s consorts named in between, the same family data as the fact box, laid out as a chart instead of a field list.

OsirisSethNephthys
Anubis

with Anput

Kebehet
03The names

The names Anubis answers to

Anpu

The ancient Egyptian form of Anubis's name

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

Khenty-amentiu

Foremost of the Westerners

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

Tepy-dju-ef

He Who Is Upon His Mountain

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

Neb-ta-djeser

Lord of the Sacred Land

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

Neb-qereset

Lord of the Embalming Place

SourceHandbook of Egyptian Mythology

04The myths

The myths of Anubis

3 myths, each traced to its primary text and corpus sources.

Anubis Guards the Body of Osiris

Seth attacked Osiris and cast him into the Nile. Some traditions say that Seth took the form of a bull, a hippopotamus, or a crocodile. Other accounts say that he struck Osiris down, trampled him, or tore his body apart. Isis and Nephthys searched for the remains and found them. Isis used magic to reverse the effects of decay.

Anubis prepared Osiris’s body. He supplied unguents and medicines and made Osiris into the first mummy. Isis and Horus preserved the remains, while Anubis guarded them. The burial and restoration of Osiris became a model for Egyptian funerary rites, including embalming, entombment, and the restoration of the dead body.

Seth and his followers repeatedly tried to destroy or despoil the corpse. Thoth’s magic and Anubis’s force protected it. Anubis guarded the tomb as Lord of the Sacred Land. His messengers punished those who violated burials or offended the gods. In a story recorded in the first millennium BCE, Seth disguised himself as a leopard and approached Osiris’s body. Anubis seized him and branded him with a hot iron. He flayed Seth and wore the bloody skin as a warning to evildoers. The branding marks were said to explain the leopard’s spots.

In Papyrus Jumilhac, Anubis, the Sons of Horus, and other gods defeat Seth and imprison him beneath Osiris’s throne. Isis, Horus, and Anubis continue to protect the restored body.

Anubis Guards the Body of Osiris, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Egyptian MythologyT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Anubis prepared and guarded Osiris’s restored body, defending it from Seth and making its burial a model for funerary rites.”

    the ancient sources

  3. 3Handbook of Egyptian MythologyT1

The Birth and Rescue of Anubis

After Osiris died, dogs led Isis to the infant Anubis. She found him and saved his life. Anubis was the son of Nephthys and Osiris. Nephthys had deceived Osiris into giving her this son. Isis adopted the child and raised him, while Nephthys remained beside her through the troubles surrounding Osiris and his family.

When Anubis grew up, he became Isis's guard. He also became associated with the dead and with the rites performed for them. He presided over the mummification of bodies and guarded burials. He watched over the body, the tomb, and the proper treatment of the deceased. He protected the dead from those who threatened them and punished those who violated tombs or offended the gods.

After Osiris's body was recovered, Anubis helped prepare it. He administered medicines as well as poison, and he provided unguents and rare medicaments. In the struggle over Osiris's remains, he guarded the corpse from Seth and Seth's followers. He prevented them from despoiling the body and watched over the tomb where the remains rested.

Anubis therefore remained beside the dead as their guardian. His care extended from the body and its preparation to the tomb and the defence of Osiris's remains.

The Birth and Rescue of Anubis, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

3 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Handbook of Egyptian MythologyT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Isis adopted Anubis and raised him, and he later became a guardian of the dead and of Osiris’s body.”

    the ancient sources

  3. 3Handbook of Egyptian MythologyT1

Anubis and Bata

Anubis accepted his wife’s accusation against his brother Bata. She falsely claimed that Bata had tried to rape her. Deceived by the charge, Anubis turned against Bata, although Bata was innocent. The brothers share the names of the gods Anubis and Bata and possess some superhuman powers.

Bata fled from Anubis. Anubis pursued him. He later killed the wife whose false accusation had caused the conflict. The tale belongs to a setting where gods and monsters could be encountered beyond Egypt’s borders. It also contains the motif of the sea attempting to seize a beautiful woman. The supplied account does not explain how that event connects with the brothers’ pursuit.

Bata’s life was bound to his heart. After Bata’s death, Anubis found the heart that carried his brother’s life and restored it. Bata returned to life. The tale is identified with the story of the Two Brothers, but the supplied passages do not preserve the full sequence of Bata’s flight, the wife’s later betrayal, or the circumstances in which Anubis found the heart. They also do not identify a primary source for this version.

Anubis and Bata, a MythSource painting of the scene

In the modern world

No modern rework confirmed yet.

2 sources· checked 2026-08-19

  1. 1Handbook of Egyptian MythologyT1
  2. 2the ancient sourcesT1

    Quote

    “Anubis was deceived by his wife’s charge against Bata, pursued him, and later restored him by returning the heart on which his life depended.”

    the ancient sources

Also appears in

The myths across MythSource where Anubis features, each on that figure’s page.

The film

The Underdrawing video on Anubis embeds here once it publishes.

Continue the road

More of Anubis’s family, sourced

OsirisFatherSethFather