Anubis, God of the Dead, represented with a head of a jackal or
simply as a jackal opened the road to other world and presided over
embalmment. After a funeral, Anubis would take the deceased by he
hand and introduce him into the presence of the sovereign judges
where the soul of the deceased would be weighed. Anubis was the
Guardian of Offerings brought to the ceremony by heirs of the
deceased and he also guarded the mummy from evil forces in the
night. When the body was embalmed, a priest wearing a jackal mask
acted as Anubis's representative. He also was the guardian of the
Sacred Esoteric Mysteries. The origin of this God lay in the fact
that jackals could be heard howling in the desert to the west of
the Nile at sunset-at the time when burials took place. Here, Anubis
is shown carrying the long 'was' scepter and the crook and flail,
symbols of kingship.

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