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Gods
& Goddesses
ANUBIS
Shown as a
jackal or a jackal-headed human, Anubis was one of Egypt's earliest
funerary deities. He was the god of embalming who was thought
to protect the mummy from evil forces. He also conducted the weighing
of the heart that took place in the Hall of Judgment before Osiris,
the lord of the dead. When a person died, his heart was believed
to be weighed opposite the feather of Maat,
which symbolized truth and goodness. If the heart was not heavier
than the feather, the deceased could enter the afterlife. If it
was heavier, the heart was eaten by a hideous monster with gaping
jaws who sat by the scale on which the heart was weighed.
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Egypt
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