cosmos-godsWe're still mapping where this idea was first discussed. Key passages and related ideas below.
Anubis — Embalmer & Guardian of the Dead
The jackal-headed god of the embalming table, who steadied the scales when your heart was weighed.
Egyptians revered Anubis (Egyptian Inpu) as the jackal-headed god who presided over the dead: master of embalming and mummification, guardian of the cemetery (the 'sacred land' of the desert necropolis), and guide of the deceased through the dangers of the afterlife. In the judgment scene he tends the scales while the heart is weighed, with Thoth recording. Anubis was Egypt's pre-eminent funerary god before Osiris rose to that role, and he never lost his place at the embalming table.
Key passages(1)
The Pyramid Texts · 2350 BCE
High