Anubis
Anubis
('῎Ανουβις, derivation unknown), the name of an Egyptian deity, who had a temple in Rome, where Mundus, by personating the god, through the contrivance of a freed-woman and the collusion of the priests, secured the gratification of his passion for Paulina, a chaste matron (Josephus, Ant. 18, 3, 3). His worship in Egypt is referred to by Herodotus (2, 66), and was widely disseminated during the Roman Empire (Appian, Bell. Civ. 4, 47; Apul. Met. 11, 262; Lamprid. Commod. 9; Spartian, Pescenn. Nig. 6; Anton. Carac. 9). He appears to have been adored under the figure of a dog-headed man, a myth of which the ancients give various interpretations (see Smith's Dict. of Class. Antiq. s.v.). In the temples of Egypt he is represented as the guard of other gods, particularly the attendant of Osiris and Isis, occupying, in accordance with the form under which he is symbolized, the space in front of the temple (Strabo, 17, p. 805; Stat. Sylv. 3, 2, 12). For his rites, see Jablonsky, Panth. AEg. 5,1, § 12 etc.; Champollion (Le Jeune), Pantheon Egypt. (Par. 1823); Pritchard, Egyptian Mythology. See NIBHAZ.
